Why it matters: Smartphone addiction has become a real problem in the past decade, as people spend more and more time browsing through social media and playing mobile games. There's even a word for this fear of being without your phone or without cellular service, nomophobia.
In 2019, Asurion published a study indicating that US residents checked their smartphones an average of 96 times per day, or about once every ten minutes (when accounting for eight hours of sleep).
The company has recently done a follow-up study and found that the number increased nearly four-fold to a whopping 352 times a day. That would mean the average American checks their phone about once every three minutes.
The survey was conducted between March 2 and 9 of this year and involved almost 2,000 US adults of various ages. According to Asurion, three-quarters of respondents consider their phone a necessity rather than a luxury, and 20 percent of them are unwilling to go without it for more than a few hours. Another 75 percent of people even admitted that they take their phones into the bathroom with them.
The statistics per generation are even more interesting, as 75 percent of Baby Boomers and 76 percent of Generation Xers consider their phones to be a necessity. That's slightly higher than the more-techie Gen Zers (71 percent) and Millenials (68 percent).
As for the reasons we're so attached to our phones, 86 percent of people said they mainly reach for their phones to keep in touch with friends and family by calling, texting, and through social media.
Taking photos and videos was the second most popular reason at 61 percent, followed by mobile banking at 46 percent, mobile gaming at 40 percent, and online shopping at 31 percent.