Perceived Device Intimacy

What it measures

This scale assesses how personal and private a person considers a particular device, and how uncomfortable they would feel with someone else using it. Song and Sela (2023) used it in a pilot study to establish that smartphones are perceived as more intimate than other devices, a distinction central to their broader research on device use and self-perception.

Response Format

Response format not explicitly stated; possibly not at all (1) to very much so (7)

Representative items

• To what extent do you consider each device a very personal or private thing?
• To what extent would you feel uncomfortable if someone else used your device?

Citation

Song, Camilla Eunyoung and Aner Sela (2023), "Phone and Self: How Smartphone Use Increases Preference for Uniqueness," Journal of Marketing Research, 60 (3), 425-448.

Keywords