11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
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How Much Time Do People Spend
on Their Mobile Phones in 2017?
May 9th 2017
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uest
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We’d all agree that people are on their phones “all the time.” But what
does that look like in minutes and hours? How much time do people
spend on their mobile phones in 2017?
Thankfully, there’s been a lot of research done on this recently. We’ll
share that research below, and give you a breakdown on what it means
for our day-to-day lives.
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
So, how much time do people spend on their mobile phones in 2017?
Let’s dig in!
Where’d we get all this information?
We’ll link to everyone as we reference their work, but we included
research from industry titans like:
comScore
Nielsen
SmartInsights
eMarketer
MediaKix
Pew Research Center
and more
Our goal with this report was not to prove a point, but to see what
people are actually doing, and then to understand its practical
application. We hope you enjoy it!
How much time do people spend on their mobile phones
in 2017?
The simple answer is “over 4 hours a day.”
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
According to comScore’s 2017 Cross Platform Future in Focus report,
the average American adult (18+) spends 2 hours, 51 minutes on their
smartphone every day.
That’s about 86 hours a month! This might be a record, but growth has
certainly flattened out over the last year-and-a-half.
Related: How Many Texts Do People Send Every Day?
We’re spending more time involved in digital media overall, but less of
that time on desktop and laptop computers. Mobile now accounts for
about 65% of total digital media consumption.
As you might imagine, college-age adults (18–24) spend signi cantly
more time on mobile phones than older demographics.
eMarketer also released a study in 2016 that gives a signi cantly
different answer. Their mobile research report shows total time spent
by mobile users as 4 hours, 5 minutes per day.
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
Their study does also include tablet users, and only includes active
mobile device users, both of which could account for the more-thanhour per day difference.
The study leaves room for potential overlap between users who might
multi-task between a smartphone and tablet, too. Even though tablet
usage accounts for roughly 15% of total mobile time, tablet users could
still skew the numbers.
PC: eMarketer
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
Another study, conducted by Flurry, shows U.S. consumers actually
spend over 5 hours a day on mobile devices! About 86% of that time
was taken up by smartphones, meaning we spend about 4 hours, 15
minutes on our mobile phones every day.
Flurry’s study aligns more closely with eMarketer’s study, leaving
comScore’s research out on the edge.
Flurry and eMarketer’s reports also coincide more closely with past
research, which has shown we spend about 4 hours, 40 minutes on our
mobile phones every day.
It’s dif cult to pin down an exact gure for how much time people
spend on their mobile phones in 2017, but the simple answer is “over 4
hours a day.”
PC: Flurry
What are we doing on our phones?
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
5/22
11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
Everything!
We use our mobile phones for entertainment, to connect with friends
and colleagues, to stay informed, to shop, and for just about everything
else!
At least 81% of American adults now own a smartphone, and these
devices have become an integral part of both our work and personal
lives.
Here’s what that looks like in hours and minutes.
Social Media
According to MediaKix, we spend an average of 1 hour, 56 minutes on
the top 5 social media platforms alone. The top 5 being (by usage):
1. YouTube
2. Facebook
3. Snapchat
4. Instagram
5. Twitter
And according to comScore’s 2017 Future in Focus report, 66% of that
time takes place on smartphones. (Only 21% of social media time takes
place on a desktop.)
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
6/22
11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
Though this doesn’t include sites like Pinterest, LinkedIn, and other
heavy hitters, it means we spend about 1 hour, 16 minutes a day
engaging with the top 5 social media platforms on our phones.
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
7/22
11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
8/22
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How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
PC: MediaKix
Actual Communication
It’s amazing how the purpose of mobile phones has changed through
the years. They started as another way to communicate, and now
they’re tools to experience the whole world from your ngers!
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
As social media, entertainment, search, and shopping take up larger
portions of our time, how much time are we spending on actual
communication?
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
11/22
11/3/2019
How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
Unfortunately, what research is available (and accessible) is a bit dated,
and no study agrees with the next!
Related: How Many Emails Do People Get Every Day?
For instance, one study by Informate (Jan. 2015) reports that the
average American smartphone user goes through 32 texts and 6 phone
calls per day.
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
12/22
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How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
This takes up a total of 26 minutes and 21 minutes, respectively. If only
other studies shared the same results!
PC: Informate
A study by Nielsen shows we spend an average of 5.3% of our time
emailing, and 13.4% of our time texting.
Based on our total mobile time of 4+ hours a day, Nielsen shows we
spend about 13 minutes and 35 minutes per day on emailing and
texting.
Next, comScore’s 2017 Future in Focus report shows we spend 3% (7
min.) of our time emailing, and 2% (5 min.) on instant messengers,
which are very different gures from the rst two reports!
However, comScore’s study only includes app usage, so standard SMS
and email accessed through a browser are not included.
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
Related: What Does It Mean to Be Mobile Dependent?
eMarketer’s Mobile Usage report (pulled Nov. 2015) offers a much
simpler breakdown in time, though it’s even more different than the rst
two!
According to eMarketer, 22% of mobile phone time is taken up by
texting, 22% by phone calls, and 10% by email.
This would mean we spend, on average, about 55 minutes a day texting,
55 minutes a day on phone calls, and 25 minutes a day on mobile email.
Maybe we do actually use our phones for communication!
PC: eMarketer
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2017? - By
eMarketer’s report is most consistent with past research. Behaviors can
and do change, but there might be a better reason for all these
differences.
Today’s mobile landscape is dominated by multipurpose apps. You
might use WhatsApp — or any number of similar options — to text or to
call. You might use Snapchat to message, send pictures, and scroll
through a feed.
A lot of our communication today takes place within “social media
apps.” And because so many of these apps have so many functions, it’s
hard to say how much time we spend on any one thing, like texting.
Apps
Roughly 90% of our mobile time is spent using apps.
Today’s digital landscape is very much app-focused. In fact, according
to comScore’s Mobile Hierarchy Report (Jan. 2017), apps make up 87%
of total mobile minutes.
Although, Flurry Analytics reported in December 2016, that apps take
up 92% of total mobile time, while browsers account for the other 8%.
It might be dif cult to nail down an exact gure, but roughly 90% of our
mobile time is spent using apps.
https://hackernoon.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-their-mobile-phones-in-2017-e5f90a0b10a6
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