From Displacement to Integration: An Examination of the Associations between Mobile Information and Communications Technology Use and Daily Time Use

The way information and communications technologies (ICTs) influence everyday life has long been discussed in time-use research. Though there has been a shift from stationary devices (e.g., desktops) to mobile devices (e.g., mobile phones) to accessing Internet, few studies thoroughly examine the impacts on time use caused by the latter. Moreover, mobile devices are used differently in daily life, entailing different implications on time use. Drawing upon urban population in the 2018 Time Use Survey in China, this study compares daily time use among four mobile ICT uses, namely, non-users, light users, medium users, and heavy users. A theoretical perspective of integration is proposed in this study to examine the associations between time use and mobile ICT use, which treats mobile ICT use as a channel to achieve multiple activity purposes instead of a homogenous free-time activity. Results show that mobile ICT use is integrated with paid work, part of non-paid labour including tutoring children and purchasing, and most of free-time activities including social communication and reading, which is inconsistent with the negative associations between ICT use and these activities in exiting literature. Mobile ICT use is also positively associated with travel, companions with other acquaintances, and secondary free-time activities, which is different from stationary ICT use. Moreover, the associations vary across different mobile ICT users. Light users have the most work and travel time, while heavy users have the least non-paid labour and the most free time, indicating group-specific implications. The explanation and implications of the associations are finally discussed.