Understanding How Your Daily Travel Habits Shape Smartphone Use and What Research Reveals About Breaking the Cycle

Spending less time on your smartphone is a goal many people quietly carry into a new year. Whether it is endless scrolling, habitual app checking, or reflexively opening the same platforms without thinking, smartphone use often feels automatic. New research suggests that one overlooked factor plays a major role in this behavior: our everyday travel routines. According to a detailed study led by researchers at Oregon State University, the places we go and the routes we take—especially when chosen out of habit—can strongly reinforce how and when we use our phones.

At the center of this research is the idea that habits rarely exist in isolation. Instead, they tend to reinforce one another. The study shows that smartphone habits are stronger in locations that are themselves chosen automatically, such as daily commutes, familiar bus rides, or routine walks to work. When both movement and phone use run on “autopilot,” the result is a powerful feedback loop that can be hard to notice, let alone break.

Why Habits Matter More Than We Think

Habits are behaviors we repeat frequently without much conscious thought. They are efficient, often helpful, and deeply ingrained. However, their very strength can make them difficult to change. The lead researcher, Morgan Quinn Ross, an assistant professor of communication at Oregon State University, explains that habits automate our thinking. This automation helps us navigate daily life more easily, but it can also push us toward behaviors that clash with our goals, such as excessive smartphone use.

Previous research has already shown that mobility choices—where we go, how we get there, and which routes we take—are largely driven by habit. The same is true for smartphone use, which often happens reflexively. What has been studied far less is how these two types of habits interact. This study set out to examine that exact relationship.

How the Study Was Conducted

To explore the connection between travel habits and smartphone use, researchers from Oregon State University collaborated with colleagues from The Ohio State University, the University of Iowa, and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Together, they designed a custom smartphone app to collect real-world data rather than relying solely on self-reported surveys.

The study involved 419 participants over a two-week period. During that time, the app collected millions of data points related to participants’ movements and phone usage. It tracked travel routes, destinations, and the specific apps people used. The app also periodically asked participants questions to assess how automatic their choices felt—both in terms of travel decisions and app usage.

In addition to the app-based tracking, participants completed surveys about whether they used certain apps without consciously deciding to do so. This combination of behavioral data and self-reported insight allowed researchers to build a detailed picture of everyday habits as they unfolded in real time.

Measuring Habits in Two Dimensions

The researchers analyzed habits using six key indicators. Four of them related to spatial habits: how often participants took the same routes, how frequently they visited the same destinations, and how automatic those choices felt. The remaining two indicators focused on smartphone habits, measuring how often specific apps were used and whether that usage happened without much thought.

By combining these measures, the researchers could examine how strongly smartphone habits were tied to habitual spaces. The results were clear: smartphone habits were significantly stronger in locations that were themselves chosen out of habit.

What the Researchers Found

One of the most striking findings was that habitual app use increased in places that participants visited automatically, such as routine commuting routes or frequently visited destinations. This pattern held true across different types of apps.

Social apps like Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, and Signal showed strong habitual use overall. Non-social apps, including Venmo and Asana, also displayed this effect, though in slightly different ways. Social app habits were found to be less tied to specific locations, meaning people tended to use them habitually across many settings. Non-social app habits, on the other hand, were more closely linked to particular places.

Regardless of category, apps that were used out of habit appeared across many spatial contexts and were especially likely to be used in contexts that were themselves selected habitually. This reinforces the idea that habitual behaviors can multiply and strengthen one another.

Why Location Plays Such a Powerful Role

Smartphone habits are somewhat unique compared to other habits because they can occur almost anywhere. You can check your phone on a bus, in bed, at a café, or while waiting in line. This flexibility allows phone habits to “attach” themselves to many different environments.

When those environments are already habitual—such as a daily commute—the phone habit becomes even stronger. Over time, the location itself can act as a cue, triggering automatic phone use without conscious intention. This explains why many people find themselves opening the same apps every time they sit on a bus or lie down in bed.

Implications for Reducing Smartphone Use

The study does not suggest that habits are inherently bad. In fact, habits are essential for managing daily life efficiently. However, the findings highlight the importance of intentional habit design.

If smartphone habits are reinforced by spatial routines, then changing those routines—or how we behave within them—may help break unwanted patterns. For example, someone who wants to stay informed might deliberately read news articles during their commute. On the other hand, someone trying to reduce time spent on TikTok might avoid using their phone in bed or alter their nighttime routine altogether.

The key insight is that breaking a habit may require changing the context, not just exercising willpower. By becoming more aware of where habits occur, people can make more thoughtful choices about which behaviors they want to encourage or discourage.

The Broader Science of Habit Formation

This research fits into a growing body of work showing that habits are shaped by both internal tendencies and external environments. Habits form through repetition and reinforcement, especially when behaviors are rewarded with convenience, pleasure, or relief from boredom.

Smartphones are particularly effective at reinforcing habits because they offer quick rewards—notifications, messages, entertainment, and information—all delivered instantly. When these rewards become linked to specific locations or routines, the habit becomes deeply embedded.

Understanding this connection can be empowering. It shifts the focus away from self-blame and toward environmental awareness. Instead of asking why we lack discipline, we can ask which routines and settings are quietly shaping our behavior.

What This Research Ultimately Tells Us

The study underscores a simple but powerful idea: our phones are not just personal devices; they are deeply woven into the rhythms of our daily lives. Travel routines, spatial habits, and smartphone use interact in ways that often go unnoticed.

By recognizing how these habits reinforce one another, people can make more informed choices about how they use their phones. Whether the goal is staying productive, reducing screen time, or simply being more present, understanding the role of habitual spaces is an important step forward.

Research Paper Reference:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25174-2