The average American spends close to 40 hours on his phone each week
40 hours is nearly a quarter of the hours available in one week and over the course of a year, it equates to 87 days. Thus, the average American spends 25% of each year using his phone; remove hours spent sleeping and that percentage rises to 36%.
TikTok is the most popular social media app in the U.S.
Interestingly, 52% of those responding to the survey could not identify which apps they use the most. The survey also discovered that Americans use social media apps more than apps from any other category with TikTok being the most popular one. With 85 million users in the U.S. alone, Americans use TikTok an average of 1.6 hours per day with 90% of its users opening the app at least once per day (which works out to 76.5 million Americans visiting TikTok every day).
The study also attempts to figure out how so much phone usage impacts Americans. 53% of those responding to the survey admit that they have tried to cut back on their phone usage for various reasons. 31% said that they were motivated to use their phone less because of a negative comment made by a friend or relative. 36% said that their phone usage has been an issue during a previous relationship.
A Solitaired spokesman said, “This data demonstrates that many people are not aware of their real screen time usage, despite often being aware that it can be damaging, or having received complaints about their excessive phone use.” The spokesman added that since 2018, when Apple added Screen Time to iOS, iPhone users have had the ability to see their weekly phone usage.
Even with this ability Solitaired states that “it seems like these stats are lost on many individuals. If used in the correct and healthy way phones are powerful and useful tools which facilitate everyday life and keep us connected with the world. Using your phone is by no means a bad habit, but it’s important to do so with wisdom and control it rather than let it control you.”
83% of Americans surveyed feel panicky when they realize they’ve left their phone at home
Results from another survey
In the same vein, 54% admitted to feeling panicky when their phone’s battery drops under 20%, and 62% sleep with their phones at night. 52% have never gone more than 48 hours without having their phone. Yet, only 48% consider themselves addicted to their handsets.
