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There has been a rapid proliferation in the use of smartphones and their applications. It is no longer surprising that the excessive use of smartphones extends beyond borders and timelessness. Interestingly, irrespective of culture and country, a person's gender affects the smartphone usage patterns significantly (Chen, Zhang, Gong, Zhao, Lee, & Liang, 2017a; Yang, Lin, Huang, & Chang, 2018). There are many studies on gender differences in preferred patterns and activities through information communication technology (ICT). Earlier literature showed that males tend to smartphones for entertainment, such as an online game, while females prefer social activities such as social networking sites (SNS) or online shopping. Studies on various cultures have verified these different patterns of smartphone usage based on gender (Bisen & Deshpande, 2016; Chen et al., 2017a; Chen, Liu, Ding, Ying, Wang, & Wen, 2017b; Yang et al., 2018).
Despite the ongoing research on the significant difference in gender, another critical variable, that is, age, needs as much attention. It is known that a person's behavior changes with age; the smartphone usage pattern is expected to change because people's needs and desires change. However, not much is known about the influence of age on the relationship between gender and smartphone usage patterns because, in most countries, the rate of smartphone penetration among older people is relatively low, which makes it challenging to gather enough data on more senior users. However, given that nearly ten years have passed since the smartphones were first introduced, smartphone usage patterns due to growing age would be an interesting topic for research. Moreover, so far, studies have focused on subjective responses such as respondents' self-reported surveys; therefore, analysis using objective data such as actual smartphone usage is essential to prevent a biased response arising from socially undesirable behavior (Andone, Błaszkiewicz, Eibes, Trendafilov, Montag, & Markowetz, 2016; Ok & Lim, 2017; Wilcockson, Ellis, & Shaw, 2018).
The present study investigates the moderating role of age on the differences in smartphone usage patterns by gender. Therefore, a literature review is first made to verify the differences in smartphone usage patterns by gender, as well as the role of age in the relationship between gender and smartphone usage patterns. Based on these reviews, age moderating effects are hypothesized in the relationship between gender and smartphone usage patterns. The empirical study includes 182,204 data points derived from 9,566 individuals, which reflected the actual use of smartphones. The relevant theoretical and practical implications are presented based on the study results.