From Small to Big: Smartwatch Use in Mitigating COVID-19 – Understanding User Experience from Social Media Content Analysis

Abstract

Smartwatches offer both functions and convenience that can have great potentials for technological interventions. Despite widespread discussion of technological interventions for COVID-19, smartwatch use has received little attention in the literature. This research aims to fill the literature gap by providing a broad understanding of smartwatch use for COVID-19 mitigation. We investigate smartwatch use through content analysis of the data collected from two social media platforms. The method allows us to draw on user experience beyond technological features and functions.In addition to functions, we also identified the concerns of using smartwatches for mitigating COVID-19. Furthermore, we uncovered both similarities and differences between the different social media platforms in terms of functions and concerns of smartwatch use. Our findings have implications for various stakeholders of the smartwatch technology and for mitigating the impact of the pandemic.