Kwan (2007) argues that to understand the effects of ICTs on travel and activities, it is important to acknowledge that ICTs relieve spatio-temporal constraints and the role of distance on which traditional models of mobility behaviour (such as gravity models, four stage models or time geography) are based. In particular, the point based representation in these models of people and social networks is limiting when investigating the effects of ICTs on activities and travel. Kwan argues that alternative metaphors may help us to understand the effect of ICTs on travel. In this section we elaborate on the application of AT as such a metaphor to better understand the working and implications of apps. A particular feature of AT is that it is not based on notions of distance or proximity, and that it is not limited to activities and tools taking place in physical locations. As discussed, tools and objects in AT may be physical, mental or virtual. Therefore, AT is a potentially promising theory to study ICTs (here apps), acknowledging both the physical, mental and virtual levels in which apps work out.
The taxonomy outlined in “Apps, activities and travel: a taxonomy” section already provided first indications of the potential effects of smartphone apps. However, their exact effects depend on their use as tools as part of activities by subjects while working on a specific object, as suggested by AT. It should be noted that also within (sub)classes of this taxonomy, apps may have different effects, as their functionalities, but also their rules and communities and the motives of their use may differ. Below we present such specific analyses based on AT for apps from specific subclasses: a communication by instant messaging App (Whatsapp) and travel related (travel feedback) apps. As specific instances of their subclass, they illustrate how travel related and other effects of apps can be analysed using AT.
Whatsapp
Whatsapp is an instant messaging app, which can be downloaded on smartphone free of charge. The basic working is such that once access to Internet is available, users may send messages to each other free of charge, which appear directly on the smartphone screen, and can be replied to easily by typing text directly in a data window and send it. In addition, photo, video and audio clips can be easily attached and sent. Whatsapp is regarded as a significant improvement over earlier messaging system such as SMS, in that acquisition and use are free, and different media (text, photo, video and audio) are integrated and easy to use. Another improvement is that Whatsapp allows for the specification of groups, allowing each group member to send messages simultaneously to all other group members. Whatsapp has been adopted by large segments of the population (e.g. 9.8 million users on a total population of 17.0 million in the Netherlands in 2016) allowing it to be used easily for communication with friends, club members, colleagues etc. In the remainder of this section, we will discuss the activity system in which Whatsapp serves as a tool, followed by an analysis of potential travel effects.
Object and practices
Subjects use Whatsapp to work on an object. One may be tempted to define the object of Whatsapp as information being transferred from sender to receiver. However, the information delivered by Whatsapp is only a means to fulfil a more fundamental need: the fostering of friendship relationships. O’Hara et al. (2014) specifically describe Whatsapp as a tool for ‘doing friendship’. Users of Whatsapp describe the information exchanged as falling into different categories. There is exchange of practical information, such as notifications of being late, coordination of gatherings, instigating joint activities and checking others’ well-being and wherabouts, but also an exchange of gossip and tosh, jokes and mockery and discussion of philosophical issues. In short, any sort of communication in friendship relations appears to have a Whatsapp equivalent. The studies we reviewed suggest that Whatsapp offers the opportunity to have an ongoing conversation with others, which can be simultaneous (two users directly responding to each other) or paused. Users defined Whatsapp as being more ‘conversational’ and fluid than for instance SMS (Church and de Oliveira 2013). Although the literature is not fully conclusive, Whatsapp seems to be used in a complementary fashion to communicate with people that are also frequently met face to face. Whatsapp then offers a form of connected presence, i.e. being together with close ones almost continually in a virtual way (Licoppe and Smoreda 2006). Hence, the main object of Whatsapp appears to be the maintenance of social ties, rather than fulfilling travel related needs. As we will see, however, differences in the way friendship is done brought about by Whatsapp, may have implications for daily travel.
Community, labour division and rules
Using Whatsapp for doing friendship is embedded in a community of other Whatsapp users, with whom messages are exchanged, but probably also a community of non-users, such as friends and family members not using the App. Regarding the community of users, Whatsapp creates an in principal egalitarian environment, where all users have similar options to exchange information. As a consequence, there are no formal rules to the use of Whatsapp. The community may however apply informal rules, related to content, amount and timing of messages (O’Hara et al. 2014). In addition, receiving Whatsapp messages may raise expectations to respond to them within certain time limits. This is due to the possibility offered by Whatsapp to see if someone else is online, and whether she has already received and read your Whatsapp message. Also, expectations may be developed related to courtesies such as notifying late arrival or change of plans to Whatsapp relations.
Development and contradiction
AT claims that practices are (re)developed in connection to changes in the activity system. The literature suggests that this is also the case for WA. The availability of an instant messaging app has changed expectations of how friendship is done, and added a layer of connected presence with close ones, serving both practical and emotional/affective purposes. People’s creative and adaptive capacities have, with the increasing availability of social network applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc., led to a form of channel blending, where the most convenient or appropriate channel is chosen for a specific purpose. For instance O’Hara et al. (2014) report that whereas a group in Whatsapp served well for informal exchange of information and gossip, a more formal invitation for a party extending to the partners of the group members, was better distributed via Facebook.
However, the literature also reports contradictions that arise when using WA. In some cases, users had different expectations about the content of messages, such as using Whatsapp to invite someone for a romantic date. Also the amount of messages sent, especially in Whatsapp groups may easily accrue, especially when being offline for some time, leading to annoyance and stress. Also the pressure experienced by some to quickly respond to an incoming measure, due to the notification of a message being read sent to the sender, can be considered a contradiction. The literature is indecisive how such contradictions may influence the activity system of doing friendship in the future. One response seems to be to use unintended loopholes (e.g. reading the message in the push message rather than in the App), protecting oneself by staying away from the smartphone for a while, or withdrawing from a group.
Other contradictions may arise if the community in the activity system also includes non-WA users (or those being physically present when one is using WA). For instance, when meeting face to face with friends and family, exchanging Whatsapp messages with others at the same time impacts on (and likely disturbs) the communication with face-to-face company. When in the company of strangers, face-to-face company may be affected by others using smartphones. Although using Whatsapp may not be as intrusive as talking on the phone in public places (Bissell 2010) it likely impacts the atmosphere to some extent, ad can be experienced as annoying or not desirable.
Travel (and activity) implications
In the context of Whatsapp being part of an activity system for ‘doing friendship’, the literature suggests that using Whatsapp may have implications for travel, even if accommodating or coordinating travel is not the direct outcome that users seem to envision. At the most general level, we may conclude that Whatsapp has to some extent changed the practices of doing friendship, and thus impacts on the ties established and maintained with other individuals. As a considerable literature (e.g. Carrasco and Miller 2009) suggests that a direct relationship exists between size and content of one’s social network and the amount of travel one does, and that the type of relationships matters (strong ties vs. weak ties), we hypothesize that social ties supported by Whatsapp might invoke different travel behaviour than those not supported by WA.
The reasons for this may vary. At the most fundamental level, Whatsapp supported ties might be stronger, because one knows more about the ‘alter’ (such as activities undertaken and daily experiences), which may trigger the need to meet in person and talk. The literature suggests indeed that Whatsapp is mostly used as an additional contact mode with people living on close distance, with which one regularly meets (O’Hara et al. 2014). On the other hand, if Whatsapp contacts are mostly frequently met face-to-face, the travel impact of such an effect is likely not very large.
From a more practical angle, the literature suggests that Whatsapp is used for micro-coordination of activities, such as instigating spontaneous gatherings with others who happen to be in the vicinity, or changing destinations last minute. Especially the group function of Whatsapp allows for efficient last minute coordination and planning, suggesting that this may lead to social activities (and associated travel) that might not have happened otherwise. In addition, the literature suggests that Whatsapp is used to coordinate household tasks such that others do not have to travel (e.g. checking whether a household member needs something from a store where you are).
Other implications of Whatsapp for travel concern the experiential side of it, and can be understood from the activity system outlined above. For instance, in the context of doing friendship, Whatsapp is used not only to coordinate joint activities, but also to evaluate and relive them afterwards. While this may serve to strengthen the friendship tie in general, it also potentially influences the memory of a joint activity, thereby changing the culture in the community (e.g. a Whatsapp group) toward the activity and affecting its future occurrence (including the associated travel).
On the other hand, using Whatsapp during travel may influence how travel is experienced. According to Lyons et al. (2013) about one third of train passengers send text messages during travel (although unknown to what extent Whatsapp is used). Based on data collected in 2010, Ettema et al. (2012) found that use of ICT in public transport lead to worse travel experiences, which they attributed to the fact that they were used to kill time and fight boredom. However, since Whatsapp is of a more conversational character than SMS and provides a stronger sense of connected presence, Whatsapp use may not have this negative effect and even makes travelling more pleasant. An additional way in which it changes the travel experience is through the ability to almost instantly share photo or video images of what one encounters during travel (Wang et al. 2012). This option to share experiences directly with other may intensify travel experiences, both for the good and for the bad. However, all potential experiential outcomes are deliberately stated as hypotheses, since empirical work in this area is lacking.
Travel feedback apps
Over the past decade various apps have been developed, aimed at reducing peoples’ car use, by providing them feedback about their travel behaviour. These apps build on a tradition of studies regarding travel feedback, where travellers receive detailed information about their travel options and about the consequences of their current travel behaviour (e.g. Fujii and Taniguchi 2006). Such so called ‘soft policies’ (Richter et al. 2011) build on principles from theories such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and have demonstrated that both one’s belief about the consequences of travel outcomes, social approval and perceived behavioural control influence a change in travel behaviour. Typically, traditional travel feedback studies have been found to be effective in reducing car use more than 10% (Richter et al. 2011).
Various scholars have aimed to improve the efficiency of such programme with the use of apps. Since smartphone include a variety of sensors that can be used to monitor individuals’ travel behaviour, dedicated apps, that communicate with servers and algorithms in a back office, have been developed that monitor individuals’ travel behaviour and provide feedback on it, with the intention to change it in more sustainable directions. Such travel feedback apps also draw on gamification principles (Wells et al. 2014). For instance, travellers can earn rewards when displaying the desired behaviour, which can be only virtual but also monetary or in kind. In addition, travel feedback apps often use social comparison mechanisms. Travellers may be compared to the average of the other participants (sometimes called the community), or to self-set goals. In this section, we discuss the activity system based on a number of reported studies of travel feedback apps (Gabrielli and Maimone 2013; Wells et al. 2014; Broll et al. 2012; Meloni and di Teulada 2015; Jariyasunant et al. 2015; Brazil et al. 2013).
Subjects, objects, motives and practices
In terms of AT, the definition of subjects applying travel feedback App depends on how the AS is defined. One option is to define the activity system in terms of the traveller as the subject, who uses the tool (Travel feedback App) to adjust and optimize her travel behaviour under specific conditions, and based on information provided. The object and motive in this case is, according to the literature, somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, it can be defined as a sustainable and healthy travel pattern, as the travel feedback apps are aimed at promoting environmentally friendly travel modes and stimulating PA. On the other hand, it includes an element of maximizing the non-travel related output, such as virtual, material or monetary rewards, or social status. In this sense, travel behaviour becomes a polymotivational behaviour. The motivations of travel feedback App users are to our knowledge however not discussed in the literature. Based on the existing literature, fairly little is known regarding the practice of using travel feedback apps by travellers. The literature describes some outcomes of using travel feedback apps, but almost nothing about their daily use, such as how often, and at what times they are used, and which features of the apps and associated websites are used.
Community, labour division and rules
From the above, it follows that the community, labour division and rules can defined in different ways. From the perspective of the traveller as the subject, the community includes the consortium launching the App, which communicates with the traveller and determines the ‘rules of the game’ such as the behaviours that are valued/rewarded and the type and size of the rewards. In addition, the community includes other participants in the programme. These serve mainly as a benchmark against which the traveller’s behaviour is compared, or as the audience of announcements of achievement or status of the traveller. Occasionally, if travellers in the programme know each other (e.g. if multiple participants are colleagues), the social comparison included in the feedback program may have extra impact, as comparison to familiar people likely weighs more than a comparison to anonymous participants. The rules in this AS are defined by the consortium, and define what travel behaviour is rewarded/appreciated, the type and size of rewards, what feedback is delivered to the participant. Rules likely also include carrying one’s smartphone during travel with the app operational for tracking purposes, as well as the obligation to specify information by filling out surveys, especially if the travel feedback project is carried out for research purposes.
Contradictions and developments
AT suggests that activity systems may be part of networks of activity systems, that have different motives, which may lead to tensions and contradictions. The literature we reviewed suggests that this may indeed be the case when applying travel feedback apps. For instance, Wells et al. (2014) report the possibility that if rewards are not correctly specified, participants may maximize their rewards without necessarily displaying the preferable behaviour. This seems to be based on the (potential) difference in motives between the organizing consortium (reducing car travel) and participants (maximizing material or monetary gain). It should be noted that participants in travel feedback programmes are not necessarily (only) in it for the money. While the studies on travel feedback apps we reviewed did not explicitly discuss participants’ motivations for participating, an earlier study on travel feedback and reward (Ben-Elia and Ettema 2009) suggested that one third did not mention financial motives for participation, and many mentioned additional motivations such as curiosity and societal concern.
This contradiction may also have implications for the long term effects of travel feedback App programmes. If participants are involved with the motive of maximizing material or financial benefits, they are likely to not maintain the desired behaviour once the reward ends. This effect was for instance clearly shown in the Netherlands Spitsmijden project (Ben-Elia and Ettema 2011). Not all apps involve a monetary of material reward and they have mostly been applied in shorter lasting test cases. This raises the question to what extent travellers will remain sufficiently motivated to use the App and maintain their (possibly) changed behaviour. One App gives users abstract points for using basic functionalities of the App, but it is unclear whether this aligns with users motives to use the app.
Other contradictions, mainly stemming from different motives of consortium and travellers, are mentioned. Gabrielli and Maimone (2013) mention that participants may find the challenges posed as exaggerated, leading to lowered motivation in trying to meet them. More generally, being able to reconcile travel behaviour changes with one’s daily activities and activities seems to be a prerequisite for successful outcomes of travel demand management programmes. Ben-Elia and Ettema (2009) found that in a programme for peak hour avoidance, fixed work hours and household obligations were major reasons for not participating in such a programme. Others (Gabrielli and Maimone 2013) reported that they did not like to display their achievements on social media. In general, privacy concerns seem to be a major issue for people when deciding to enrol in a programme where their whereabouts are tracked. Hence, the factors that maximize behavioural change according to various behavioural theories (goal setting, social comparison) are not uniformly appreciated by participants, and may potentially lead to drop out or not signing up.
Finally, a contradiction was reported between the consortium’s aim to change participants’ behaviour but also their attitudes, and participants’ autonomous decision making (Jariyasunant et al. 2015). Direct questions regarding the effects of fossil fuels on greenhouse effect, asked before and after the study, showed a decline in reported awareness. On potential explanation raised by the authors was the obvious ‘environmentalist push’ of the experiment, which may be experienced as paternalistic by participants.
Outcomes and travel implications
Outcomes of travel feedback apps reported in the literature are of different kinds. From the traveller’s viewpoint, outcomes may relate to her travel behaviour. Various studies report that travellers’ behaviour in response to the App changed toward increased use of environmental travel modes, and less car use (Gabrielli and Maimone 2013; Jariyasunant et al. 2015). The studies are unclear about whether participants feel that their travel has improved and become more pleasant. However, both studies report that participants in their trials were positive about using the App, found it convenient and would consider it for future use. It should be noted, though, that the studies involves small samples which are likely self-selected based on a positive attitude toward travel feedback apps. Another reported outcome is that in general, participants became more aware of the environmental and health impacts of their travel behaviour, developed more positive attitudes towards sustainable forms of travel, and increased their intention of travelling in a sustainable way in the future.
These outcomes are in line with the implicit motives of the consortia launching the apps, which are embodied in the feedback and reward mechanisms. The main concern, however, seems to lie in the low numbers of participants. If this low number is based on major objections among large parts of the travel population, the efficiency of apps as a travel behaviour change tool can be questioned. Such objections might be based on contradictions in travellers’ activity systems, such as inability to change behaviour, care of privacy, fear of the hassle involved in participation or doubting the value of the outcomes envisioned by the consortium. Hence, the travel implications of travel feedback apps do not only depend on the effect observed for small pools of participants, but also on the acceptability (in a broad sense) of the tool by the general population of travellers.