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SMARTPHONE USERS SPEND a third of their day using their mobiles, a study has revealed.
The survey by Nottingham Trent University found that 23 participants within the 18-33 age bracket checked their phones about once every 10 minutes – up to 85 times a day.
Scientists placed an app on test subjects’ phones in order to track how often participants checked their screens, used an app, listened to music or checked the time.
The study also revealed people accessed their phones twice as often as they thought.
It also found mobile use was typically confined to short bursts, with more than half of sessions lasting less than 30 seconds.
Speaking about the findings on RTE Radio 1′s Dave Fanning Show, Dr Sally Andrews said:
“We put an app on peoples phones which measure how often they used their phones.
“As a result we managed to get an objective measure of people’s smartphone use but we also asked them to give their own measurement.
We found that their own perceived usage was often a lot lower than their usage in reality.
“People also checked their phones more in afternoon and evening than they did at in the morning or at night time.”
Users spent one third of their day on their phones assuming that they slept for eight hours.
Currently 56% of the population carry smartphones and this is predicted to rise to 69% of the population by 2018, according to figures by Millennial Media research.
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and most of that time spent watching people argue in the comment section of the Journal..
Trolling is correct term.
jaysus, what did we do with our time before smartphones?
Snake on 3210
how did we find out things before google came along?
Talked to each other.
encyclopaedia Brittanica. People used to see them door to door.
People read books.
I was on the Dart the other day and this guy was reading one.
People were staring at him as if he had two heads.
Paperback sales of books are soaring this year as less people use the digital readers and with vinyl sales increasing every year, it shows technology ain’t all that.
People do all of those things on their phone now,they’re called Apps.
Fecking book w**ker
Is that a bad thing? So far today I’ve been able to read the news, check my email and my bank account on my device. Smart phones are great. You have the world in your pocket.
they’re great at making you stare downwards for 5 hours a day while simultaneously making you believe that you are more in touch with the world when in fact, you are not.
Spot on Joanna and they will literally take over in 5 years time. People are ditching laptops and tablets in favour of smartphones which just keep getting exponentially more powerful with each passing year. We are only scratching the surface with ‘the Internet of Things’..wait until smartphones become fully integrated with that – the possibilities are endless. Your phone will become more fantastical , science fiction made reality. Exciting times ahead.
I am going on a digital fast on Sundays from now on. No smart phones no tablets computers nothing. It’s in an effort to be more creative in the time I spend with my son. So landline and possibly TV late at night but that’s it I’m afraid. Wish me luck!
I’ve started turning mine off as soon as I get home from work.
Only way to get through a days work lol
It’s the ones that are driving at the same time, that I’m worried about. I was in a roundabout yesterday & this lassie drives straight through without looking up from her smartphone, – I knew it was a smartphone by the way it lit up her face. I would be very slow to ‘squeal ‘ on anyone, but I was tempted.
That is sad.
And there is 24 hours in a day..
and 168 in a week
so they rounded down 20 minutes
compulsive communicating with a smart phones is the worse form of communicating, with no consideration of regarding the person/persons that they are calling and that they can afford the time to take there call are read there stupid text,checking your mail, are reading emails while your walking are in your car is a disaster to happen.
5 hours a day staring at their phones,sad.
I recommend downloading the quality time app. it tells you how long you spend using your phone but more importantly, the time spent using each app. really makes you realise how much time you waste thumbing through Facebook or reading Journal comments
I do not have broadband or a landline at home. Since I now have unlimited data on my phone, I use my phone. The smartphone is brilliant for me.
I image that in for most people, in the mythical utopia that they are working towards every day, the dont intend to use their smartphone. But they need to use it todat. To check that email, book that restaurant, find out about that thing you need to know about for that stuff and to message so and so so you keep in with whats-her-face.
But we will never get where we are going, and the closest we will ever come to living in the present is if we get wheeled out a novelty cake to give Enda Kenny a lapdance.
And so what? It’s the way the world is now. I wouldn’t look at the journal only I’m on the train bored.
Anyone spending 5 hours a day looking at their phone seriously needs to get a life.
I can’t find the a life app?
is the data excluding listening to music available? I spend a lot of time doing that on my phone and wouldn’t usually stare at the screen for it.
Kevin Reilly
have your say