What does your phone say about you? Canadians share the story behind their homescreens. Dr Veissière,The Globe and Mail

Behind the smartphone apps that power your daily life, chances are you have a picture that means something to you. You may have chosen your pet to be your background photo, for example. And those apps on your home screen? You may have organized them alphabetically or by colour. This personalization process can say a lot about who we are and what we value.

Samuel Veissière, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and co-director of Culture, Mind and Brain Program at McGill University, studies smartphone addiction and social monitoring – or the desire to watch and monitor others, but also to be seen and monitored ourselves. He says the placement of apps on our homescreens, such as social media tools, news sites or health apps, says something about how we monitor and connect with people in our lives. “We would not even have meaning in our lives without others,” Dr. Veissière said.

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