I have a vivid memory of walking into a Tweetup about four years ago at an MPI conference and seeing every single person with their heads down, immersed in whatever was happening on their smartphone. Having been connected to these people in the virtual world for months and even years, I was excited to finally get some face-to-face interaction. Sadly, people couldn't break away.
Smartphone addiction is a real thing. According to WebMD:
- 70% said they check their smartphone within an hour of getting up.
- 56% check their phone within an hour of going to sleep.
- 48% check over the weekend, including on Friday and Saturday nights.
- 51% check continuously during vacation.
- 44% said they would experience "a great deal of anxiety" if they lost their phone and couldn't replace it for a week.
- Use the app to help people find sessions easier, make it easier for people to meet-up in person.
- Help them get the information they need to decide if they want to meet with a particular vendor.
- Use polls to give more people a chance to hear from and interact with the speaker.
- Create incentives for them to have real conversation onsite and take photos. Reward people for quality interactions.
- Design non-digital spaces where people can take a time out.