Resumo

People are often attached to their devices and take care of them differently. However, do they ever stop to think that their devices can be a means of transmitting diseases? For that matter, it is critical to comprehend that touchscreen devices (e.g., cell phones, tablets) “are increasingly recognized as potential vehicles for disease transmission” (Jones et al., 2020, p. 147). Despite this, Spataro et al. (2018) suggest that its hygiene needs to be addressed by consumers.

Therefore, this essay discusses how consumer attachment and anthropomorphism influence people's care for their touchscreen devices.

We discuss the relationship between consumer attachment and touchscreen devices. Also, we present previous research that has focused on the anthropomorphism of objects and their positive effects on the consumer's attachment to these objects. Then, we focus on discussing how the consumer's attachment to a touchscreen device leads the person to care less about the hygiene of this device compared to other types of device care and how anthropomorphism can contribute to improving this relationship.

Consumer's attachment to their touchscreen devices is associated with several concerns with the object of attachment. Specifically, we propose that an individual with a high (vs. low) attachment to a touchscreen device tends to care less about the hygiene of this device compared to other types of care. In addition, when a touchscreen device is anthropomorphized (vs. not) by a person with a high (vs. low) attachment to this device, the person tends to care more about device hygiene. The salience of the perceived risk of disease transmission through the device explains this effect.

We proposed that there are fundamental differences between the care people take with their touchscreen devices in terms of hygiene and disinfection when compared to other types of care involved in the attachment relationship they maintain with their devices. We also discussed the influence of device anthropomorphism in changing this relationship and how this would motivate people to adopt a preventive behavior, starting to clean their device more.

Jones, M., Almeida, G., Jones, S. L., & Gibson, K. E. (2020). Prevalence and control of bacteria on single-user touchscreen mobile devices. Food Protection Trends, 40(3), 147-153. Schifferstein, H. N., & Zwartkruis-Pelgrim, E. P. (2008). Consumer-product attachment: Measurement and design implications. International journal of design, 2(3), 1-13. Spataro, G., Burgassi, S., Cevenini, G., Nante, N., Tani, M., & Messina, G. (2018). Smartphone or Crossphone: Contamination at Hand. American Journal of Infection Control, 46(6), S32.