Survey finds average user picks up their smartphone 221 times a day

Users carry out 221 tasks per day on their smartphones, compared to just 140 on a desktop or laptop.

That’s just one of the statistics revealed by a recent survey of 2,000 UK smartphone users. 

And not only do we take to our phones to carry out more than 200 tasks a day, but we start early too.

The research found that the average user reaches for their phone before they’ve even gotten out of bed, checking the weather, picking up emails and seeing if we missed anything on our social channels before we even think about breakfast.

And we’re on them late, with the average time at which we last check our phones in a day of 11:21pm. We amass three hours and 16 minutes of time on our phones over the course of the day in total.

The death of the desktop?

Smartphone users go to their hand-held gadgets for far more tasks than they do their laptop or desktop.

Even web browsing, traditionally a desktop or laptop task, is now a smartphone-centric pastime.

Users will browse the internet on their smartphone seven times each day and just six times on a desktop. Can we expect to see an even greater drop off in desktop usage in years to come?

The data

It was polled 2,000 smartphone users in the UK (55.2 per cent female and 44.8 per cent male). We asked them 22 different questions about their smartphone usage.

Average time spent on phone per day: 3 hours and 15 minutes (global, 2023)

Top 3 activities on phone:

1. Social media
2. Video streaming
3. Gaming

Other popular activities on phones include:

• Communication (e.g., texting, emailing, phone calls)
• News and information
• Music
• Shopping
• Productivity (e.g., taking notes, managing tasks)

The amount of time users spend on each activity varies depending on their individual interests and needs. For example, people who use their phones for work may spend more time on productivity apps, while people who use their phones for entertainment may spend more time on social media or video streaming apps.

It is also important to note that smartphone usage is increasing. For example, in 2019, the average person spent 3 hours and 43 minutes on their phone per day. By 2023, this number had increased to 3 hours and 15 minutes per day.

This increase in smartphone usage is due to a number of factors, including:

• The increasing popularity of social media apps
• The increasing availability of high-quality video content on streaming services
• The increasing use of smartphones for work and productivity

While smartphone usage can be beneficial in many ways, it is important to be mindful of how much time we spend on our phones. Excessive smartphone usage can lead to problems with sleep, productivity, and relationships.