Smartphones have become a major part of our lives. They’ve changed the way we communicate, work, travel and consume information. Smartphones have even allowed us to stay connected with family regardless of where they live. Grandparents can now easily see their newborn granddaughter thanks to apps like Facetime and share the news with friends on social media.
With nearly everyone using smartphones nowadays, we were curious to find out how smartphone screen time habits vary across different age groups.
After surveying 1,000 Baby Boomers and 1,000 millennials, we found that both generations share similarities when it comes to how much time they spend on their smartphones.
Here’s more about what we found on our smartphone screen time survey.
Smartphone Screen Time Breakdown
On average, Baby Boomers spend five hours per day on their phones, which is nearly the same amount of time as millennials, who clock in an average of 5.7 hours per day. However, things begin to vary when it comes to where and how each age group spends their time. Overall, social media takes up the bulk of smartphone screen time. For example, both Baby Boomers and millennials spend an average of one hour or more on Facebook per day. Instagram ranks 2nd among both generations in terms of usage and activity with 52 minutes for millennials and 44 minutes for Baby Boomers. From there, Baby Boomers spend a large portion of time on email with an average of 43 minutes per day. For millennials, texting ranks 3rd with an average of 48 minutes per day.
According to our survey, millennials surprisingly spend more time making good old-fashioned phone calls than Baby Boomers. They also spend more time using their smartphones to listen to music on apps like Spotify and Pandora. However, both generations spend a fair amount of time on the internet. When it comes to surfing the web on their smartphones, millennials spend about 40 minutes per day and Baby Boomers spend about 23 minutes per day.
Overall, after taking our survey, 1 in 3 respondents said they underestimated how much time they spend on their smartphone, but 2 in 3 said they don’t plan on cutting back on their phone use anytime soon.
Whether you believe smartphones have helped us become better connected, or hurt us by becoming too connected, it’s clear that they have certainly changed the way we communicate regardless of how old we might be or where we might live.
Source: Provision Living Senior Communities
