Can't go to bed without first spending 10 minutes on and then sleeping next to your smart, or cell, phone? You are not alone. According to a recent Pew study [3], America has never been more wired, or rather, unwired to some form of constant form of telecommunications. Among the findings: 91% of all American adults have a cell phone, with this number rising if one is male (93%), black non-Hispanic (93%), is between 18-29 (97%), college graduated (95%), lives in a city (92%), and makes over $75,000 (98%). But that's just the tip of the iceberg. As the chart below shows, Americans have never owned more, or had a broader selection of gadgets to chose from, than they do now.
[4]
Some additional findings:
- 56% of American adults have a smartphone
- 28% of cell owners own an Android; 25% own an iPhone; 4% own a Blackberry
- 24% of Americans ages 16 and older own an e-reader
- 35% of Americans ages 16 and older own a tablet computer
- 67% of cell owners find themselves checking their phone for messages, alerts, or calls — even when they don’t notice their phone ringing or vibrating.
- 44% of cell owners have slept with their phone next to their bed because they wanted to make sure they didn’t miss any calls, text messages, or other updates during the night.
- 29% of cell owners describe their cell phone as “something they can’t imagine living without."
- 34% of cell internet users go online mostly using their phones, and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer.
- 74% of adult smartphone owners ages 18 and older say they use their phone to get directions or other information based on their current location.
- Among adult social media users ages 18 and older, 30% say that at least one of their accounts is currently set up to include their location in their posts.
- 12% of adult smartphone owners say they use a geosocial service to “check in” to certain locations or share their location with friends, down from 18% in early 2012.
- Among these geosocial service users, 39% say they check into places on Facebook, 18% say they use Foursquare, and 14% say they use Google Plus, among other services.
- Coordinate a meeting or get-together -- 41% of cell phone owners have done this in the past 30 days.
- Solve an unexpected problem that they or someone else had encountered -- 35% have used their phones to do this in the past 30 days.
- Decide whether to visit a business, such as a restaurant -- 30% have used their phone to do this in the past 30 days.
- Find information to help settle an argument they were having -- 27% haveused their phone to get information for that reason in the past 30 days.
- Look up a score of a sporting event -- 23% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.
- Get up-to-the-minute traffic or public transit information to find the fastest way to get somewhere -- 20% have used their phone to get that kind of information in the past 30 days.
- Get help in an emergency situation -- 19% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.
And in table format - The demographic breakdown of cell and smartphone owners (May 2013):
How Americans use their cell phones (activities):
