Hello,
I’m working on a project and I wanted to know whether Activity 120308 computer usage includes smartphone usage for internet use. If not, if there a data extract that includes smartphone use?
Detailed codes for ACTIVITY computer usage (120308), listed in the documentation and page 47 of the 2019 activity lexicon, only refer to computer usage. This FAQ post on the BLS page might shed some light on this question. It indicates that activity focuses less on the tool a person uses and more on the actual activity. Therefore, ATUS data may not be able to tell you as much about HOW a person was doing an activity as WHAT activity they were doing. Whether or not to assume “Computer Use” includes smartphone usage is up to the interpretation of the user. You may want to look into time use literature to see if/how other researchers have addressed this. There are no variables that I am aware of that provide direct information on smartphone usage.