Smartphone use is inevitable these days. More so, many daily basic tasks rely on the use of technology. This could eventually lead to ‘smartphone addiction’. Often, this tends to happen when one overuses their device and the internet for prolonged periods of time.

Smartphone addiction is a common issue, one that is becoming increasingly problematic. Thus, Real Research — the online survey app, launched a survey seeking the public view about the use of smartphones. Here are the results.

Highlights

  • 36.91% use smartphones after waking up in the morning.
  • 57.48% have seen a drop in academic performance due to prolonged smartphone use.
  • 50.53% are addicted due to too much time spent on the smartphone.

Respondents Reveal the Average Smartphone Use Per Day

 Respondents’ average smartphone use
Figure 1: Respondents’ average smartphone use

The survey on smartphone addiction first starts by asking respondents how much time on average they spend on their smartphones. In reply, 13.95% say ‘less than an hour’, 6.99% say ‘1-2 hours’, and 5.20% say ‘2-3 hours’. Moreover, 5.07% say ‘3-4 hours’, 4.49% say ‘5-6 hours’, and 10.29% say ‘more than 6 hours’. 

Next, the survey asks when respondents use smartphones the most. To this, the majority (36.91%) say ‘after waking up in the morning’ while 24.65% say ‘before going to bed’. Moreover, 16.08% say ‘at school/work’, 8.25% say ‘while using public transport’, 6.84% say ‘while eating’, and 5.19% say ‘in the bathroom’.

The survey also asked what respondents mainly use smartphones for. To this, the majority (39.06%) said Social Networking Sites (SNS) while 12.10% say ‘phone/video calls’. Likewise, 8.46% say ‘chatting on text, messenger’, 6.59% ‘games’, and 6.48% suggest ‘financial purposes’. Lastly, 5.06% say ‘Internet search’, 4.94% say ‘online shopping’, and 4.33% say ‘to read news’. 

Many Respondents Feel Anxious Without Their Smartphone

majority feel anxious without their smartphone
Figure 2: The majority feel anxious without their smartphone

The ‘smartphone addiction’ survey asks if respondents get anxiety without smartphones. To this, the majority (36.20%) get ‘very anxious’, while 16.11% get anxious, and 22.69% are neutral. In contrast, 7.44% get a ‘little anxious’ whereas 5.11% say they do not get anxious at all.

Additionally, the survey also asked if respondents have experienced a drop in academic or work performance due to smartphone addiction. To this, all of 57.46% say ‘yes’, while 21.11% say ‘no’, and 21.43% are ‘unsure’.

Further on, the survey asks if respondents have had health problems due to smartphone addiction. In response, the majority (61.05%) say ‘yes’, while 20.01% say ‘no’ and 18.93% are ‘unsure’. Next, the survey asked respondents if they think they are addicted to smartphones. Here, more than 57% believe they are addicted to smartphones while 21.63% do not think so.

Respondents Choose Reasons Behind Smartphone Addiction

respondents feel addicted to smartphones
Figure 3: Reasons respondents feel addicted to smartphones

To highlight, the survey asks respondents why they believe they have a smartphone addiction. In response, 50.53% say ‘I spend too much time on smartphones’. In addition, 7.60% say ‘hands tremble, and I feel anxious’, 6.69% say ‘strongly desire to use smartphone’, and 4.14% say ‘check smartphone often even when with friends’.

Further on, 2.76% are very anxious when their smartphone battery runs out and 2.69% feel comfortable with their smartphone next to them when they sleep. Lastly, 2.35% use their smartphone even while driving and 17.69% say they are not addicted to smartphones.

Carrying on, the survey asks which smartphone syndromes apply to respondents. In answer, 43.07% chose ‘Nomophobia, fear of being without the phone’ and 14.42% chose ‘FOMO, Fear of Missing Out’. Additionally, 10.13% chose ‘Digital Isolated Syndrome’ and 5.55% chose ‘Phantom Vibration Syndrome’. Lastly, 26.83% say none of these apply to them.

To conclude, the survey asked how much time is the right amount to spend on smartphones? Here, 26.61% say ‘less than 30 minutes’, 20.61% say ‘1-2 hours’, and 15.88% say 30 minutes to an hour. To add on, 14.41% say ‘more than 4 hours’, 12.02% say ‘2-3 hours’, and 10.46% say ‘3-4 hours’.

Methodology

 
Survey TitleSurvey on Smartphone Addiction
DurationFebruary 12 – February 19, 2022
Number of Participants50,000
DemographicsMales and females, aged 21 to 99
Participating Countries Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, China (Hong Kong) China (Macao), China (Taiwan), Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greanada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, Maluritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar [Burma], Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.