A new study reveals interesting statistics about the average cell phone

As the world continues adjusting to new technologies and social norms change at a rate on par with Moore’s Law, sociologists and pollsters have had a plethora of interesting data to examine. A new study from Pew Internet has shed some startling, if not somewhat humorous light on how Americans adults are using their cell phones. (Only 17 percent are without the device today.)

The survey of 2,277 adults found that 13 percent of cell phone users had faked checking their phone or being on it to avoid human interaction. The younger demographic, 18 to 29-year olds, cited the highest percentage of this behavior with 30 percent saying they’d avoided contact with someone by checking their phone.

Also of note, 42 percent of this demographic cited having trouble doing a task or work because their phone wasn’t nearby.

Across all demographics, “Half of all adult cell owners (51%) had used their phone at least once to get information they needed right away,” the study reported.

“One quarter (27%) said that they experienced a situation in the previous month in which they had trouble doing something because they did not have their phone at hand.” These results seem slightly more predictable, but do reveal a growing population that can’t be without its phone.

Roughly 35 percent of adults now own a smartphone.

Only 29 percent of adults say they’ve turned their cell phone off to get a break from use. Never hurts to tune out every now and then—even if you’re in the minority.

 

Showing 8 comments

  1. Jim Wiehoff at 10:28pm 16th August 2011 And 94.3% of them pretend to be driving while they're pretending to be on their cell phone...
  2. Sha Springfield at 10:26pm 16th August 2011 I've actually never thought about faking a call to not talk to salespeople. That's brilliant!! I'll start doing that right away
  3. Lindsworth Horatio Deer at 10:21pm 16th August 2011 I love statistics and studies, being as i am into numbers and statistical analysis, but the point? Is this done by questionnaire, or does PEW have some magical method of ascertaining which persons is actually using their phone!!!
  4. Benjamin Kubilus at 9:17pm 16th August 2011 You didn't know what you were going to be reading by reading the title? That's kinda' sad. That and that 1/4 of a page worth of text takes that much time.
  5. Charles Edward Hogan at 8:48pm 16th August 2011 And to think of how many man hours went into this useless dispatch of my attention. Thanks, Digital Trends for wasting another moment I could have caught an opportunity sailing my way...
  6. Benjamin Kubilus at 8:44pm 16th August 2011 I do that or, if I'm with my wife, start talking in another language. Same goes for people trying to throw bibles at me. :p
  7. Allison McCormick at 8:42pm 16th August 2011 This number seems way too low. I pretend to be using my phone every time I don't want to be bombarded by sales people at carts in the mall or asked to sign petitions while walking down the street. How can only 13 percent of people be this smart?
  8. Ryan Chapman at 8:41pm 16th August 2011 that's some weird shit, cell phones & data cost so much in america and canada. why the fck would you pretend ? lol
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