A short while ago, we decided that – in a world where smartphones and social media are so prominent – we wanted to investigate just how long people are using their mobile phones, on what, and whether there’s a difference between generations in these findings. So, we decided to test a bunch of respondents on their screentime habits to unveil the most up to date mobile phone statistics of 2019.
It’s a well-known stereotype that the younger generation is supposedly ”˜glued to their phones’, but is this the truth, or are generations such as Generation X and Baby Boomers just as bad, if not worse? Our screentime data project investigates…
About Our Smartphone Screentime Statistics Project
In short, we were keen to unearth smartphone habits amongst a number of different age groups. So we began to ask. We surveyed a number of individuals, with ages ranging from 18 to 60, to find out how often they’re using their mobile. And more importantly – what for.
We quizzed 61 different smartphone uses, who owned iPhones (so that they could access their screentime reports) on what their data showed. This included how long they were spending on their mobiles, how many times they’d pick it up a day, what apps they were using the most and how long was spent on each category.
Upon analysing the data, some interesting trends were revealed. And actually, things aren’t necessarily always as stereotypes would suggest. As we’ll explain below.
Here are the findings from our screentime data project.
General Mobile Phone Usage Statistics | 2019
Across our entire group of respondents, the average time spent on a smartphone per week was 29 hours and 8 minutes.
So in total, those across all generations are spending more than a total day collectively every week browsing their mobile phones.
As for other findings relating to smartphone usages, we wanted to investigate other entities including notifications and the number of times that smartphones are picked up. Just how many times are our mobile phones buzzing every day, and how many times are we picking them up as a result?
Average notifications weekly turned out to be around 817 notifications
Average notifications daily were 117 notifications
Pickups per day averaged out at 94 times
While average weekly pickups were 650 times
The highest number of notifications was a massive 2757 (that’s a lot of texts!) while the smallest figure was no notifications at all.
Trends Between Smartphone Use And Notifications
Being somewhat shocked at the amount of time spent on our mobiles weekly (some of us in the office couldn’t believe we’d spent over a working day a week using our smartphones collectively), we decided to further delve into the data and unearth whether there’s a correlation between smartphone use and notifications. If you’re getting more texts, are you likely to use your phone more – or is the time invested in scrolling through Instagram feeds instead?
We found that
Those with an average of 400 notifications had 45 hours screen time
Those with an average of 300 notifications had 45 hours screen time
Those with an average of 300 notifications had 42 hour screen time
So actually, there’s not that much difference between notifications and screentime.
Mobile Phone Usage Statistics By Generation
Generation was a big focus for us in this study, we wanted to find out whether millennials really do spend their life on social media, or whether older generations – such as Gen X were just as bad. This is what we discovered.
Gen Z average screentime – 29 hours, 29 minutes a week
Millennial average screentime – 12 hours, 20 minutes a week
Gen X average screentime – 29 hours, 29 minutes a week
Baby Boomer average screentime – 47 hours, 18 minutes a week
Our data also highlighted trends in social media usage amongst the ages. Gen Z used social media the most, followed closely by Millennials.
The most popular social media site for each generation was as follows:
- Gen Z – Instagram
- Millennial – Instagram
- Gen X – Facebook
- Baby Boomer – LinkedIn
Our biggest extreme difference also showed that the longest spent on a smartphone per week was 70 hours, this was by a millennial. The least time spent was just 54 minutes, this was also by another millennial. Showing there isn’t necessarily an age comparison amid the two extremes, but rather it would be pinned to lifestyle choices instead. For example, one respondent (who’s screentime averages out at 11 hours a week) told us it’s only that figure because they use their phone for driving directions as per their job.
Mobile Phone Usage Statistics By Category
Now that we have the information as to how long the nation is spending on their phones, and which generations are worse for screentime – we decided to look at what we’re spending those hours on. Breaking it down by categories, this is what we found:
Average time spent on social media was 14 hours, 26 minutes
Average time spent on reading & reference was 1 hour, 54 minutes
Average time spent on productivity was 2 hours
Average time spent on entertainment was 1 hour, 41 minutes
Average time spent on creativity was 34 minutes
Average time spent on games was 1 hour, 13 minutes
To find out more about our expertise in social and app use, get in touch with us through our contact form.
