This is based on research conducted by technology expert company Dscout. Based on the findings, while the average person makes 2,617 swipes and pokes at their mobile device (over 76 separate sessions), the heaviest users do so 5,427 times a day.
On hearing the news, software company Float (@gowithfloat) extrapolated the figures and tweeted: “The heaviest smartphone users touch their phone approximately 2 million times a year!”
To arrive at these figures, the technology research group recruited 94 Android device users. On the smartphones, special software was installed, designed to measure the number of times the device was touch (that is active use in terms of pressing apps, swiping or rotating the device.) Over a five day period, the installed app tracked each user’s “interaction.”
The number of interactions far exceeds the last published study on mobile device use. This was the Kleiner Perkins report, which indicated that the typical use was 150 mobile sessions a day. Either the 2013 report was woefully inaccurate or the amount of use a smartphone receives has increased considerably. This may be a reflection of the number of opportunities to use a smartphone (given the greater range of apps) or it is reflective of changing societal trends.
Is the new level of usage a good thing? Dscout isn’t sure. On the blog post reporting the findings, the company states: “Like a Greek tragedy, what we learned was simultaneously expected and astonishing—and a little bit sad.” Certainly the people surveyed, when told about the usage rate, completely underestimated the extent of their phone touching.
Another way of looking at the figures is time. Here Network World, in a dissection of the Scout report, notes the average user uses their devices for a total of 145 minutes each day; while the heavier users is occupied for 225 daily minutes.
