In terms of interesting statistics drawn from the Ofcom survey (“Communications and Market Report 2018“) are that a total of 78 percent of all adults in the U.K. own a smartphone and, typically, a person checks their device once every 12 minutes during their waking hours. Despite this high level of smartphone use, people are using them to make fewer calls and are instead using apps and Internet searchers at a higher level.
The study also draws some interesting benchmarks with the state of play ten years ago. Back in 2008, just 17 percent of the population owned a smartphone (in contrast to the 78 percent figure today). Instead more people owned a DVD player compared with today (83 percent compared with 63 percent). Also going down are music (MP3) players. In 2008, 44 percent of the British public had one; today it is 27 percent. There’s also been a start drop in PC ownership, from 69 percent down to just 28 percent.
On the up, however, are wearable devices. Unsurprisingly, in 2008 there were none commercially available; today 20 percent of people own a wearbale. The same applied to smart speakers: zero in 2008, 13 percent today; and also with smart televisions, which today stand at 42 percent.
Other smartphone facts of interest are that around two out of five adults look at their phone within five minutes of waking up. Furthermore, about a third check their smartphones just before falling asleep. Such is the dependency that 71 percent of those surveyed said that never turn off their phones and a higher 78 percent said they would find it impossible to live without their smartphones.
In terms of total usage, the typical daily time that people spend using a smartphone stands at two hours 28 minutes. This rises to three hours 14 minutes for 18 to 24-year-olds. This could be a sign of addiction given that the survey as found that fifth of British adults felt stressed if they could not access the Internet. With gender, it is women who spend slightly more time online than men.
Picking on the smartphone specifically, Ofcom’s director of market intelligence Ian Macrae, told the BBC: “”Over the last decade, people’s lives have been transformed by the rise of the smartphone, together with better access to the Internet and new services. Whether it is working flexibly, keeping up with current affairs or shopping online, we can do more on the move than ever before.”
