Meanings
- uncountableThe analysis of tapping, scrolling and other interactions with a smartphone.
Tappigraphy has also uncovered associations between sleep patterns and mental health.
2021 June 2, Stijn A. A. Massar, Xin Yu Chua, Chun Siong Soon, Alyssa S. C. Ng, Ju Lynn Ong, Nicholas I. Y. N. Chee, Tih Shih Lee, Arko Ghosh, Michael W. L. Chee, “Trait-like Nocturnal Sleep Behavior Identified by Combining Wearable, Phone-Use, and Self-report Data”, in NPJ Digital Medicine, volume 4, →DOI, →ISSN, page 12 more examples
We compared two standard methods used to estimate sleep with that of a new tappigraphy-based algorithm based on the gaps in smartphone usage. Pooling all of the measurements together (by concatenating the sleep-related estimates obtained from each participant), we found strong correlations between the putative sleep times determined by actigraphy versus tappigraphy
2019 July 29, Jay N. Borger, Reto Huber, Arko Ghosh, “Capturing Sleep–Wake Cycles by Using Day-to-Day Smartphone Touchscreen Interactions”, in NPJ Digital Medicine, volume 2, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, page 1This year Ghosh published a small clinical study of people with epilepsy that shows how subtle changes in smartphone tappigraphy alone could be used to infer abnormalities in their brainwaves.
2021 November 1, Zoë Corbyn, “The Dawn of Tappigraphy: Does Your Smartphone Know How You Feel Before You Do?”, in The Observer, London
Origin
From tap + -i- + -graphy. Coined by Anna Kutschireiter circa 2019.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tappigraphy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tappigraphy
“tappigraphy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tappigraphy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tappigraphy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tappigraphy.
Source: tappigraphy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.