After noticing an 18% increase in searches for phone chargers in the past twelve months, a money saving website has decided to investigate the matter further. The site has conducted a study aimed at further understanding the attachments Britons feel towards their mobile phones, and questioned 2,163 smartphone-owning adults from the UK as part of the research.
The poll, carried out bywww.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, found that 68% would describe themselves as being “addicted” to their mobile phone, with 21% of those asked admitting that, since the initial purchase of their smartphone, they have never let their handset run out of battery or switched their phone off. What’s more, 43% of respondents claimed to have more than two phone chargers (either plug-in, USB cable, in-car charger) in order to keep a full mobile battery whenever possible.
When asked to estimate the amount of time they spent on their mobile phone in a typical day, in total, the average answer transpired as 3 hours and 28 minutes. Respondents were then asked to name the activities that led to them spending the longest amount of time on their mobile phones during the day, with the top five answers listed below:
1.Using social media (checking/updating) (29%)
2.Texts and Phone calls to friends/family (24%)
3.Work emails and calls (22%)
4.Listening to music/playing games(13%)
5.Checking news online (4%)
In order to gain further insight, the study questioned respondents on their attachment towards their mobile phones. 53% of those asked acknowledged that they regularly took their mobile phones to bed to sleep next to, whilst 44% claimed to take theirs with them into the bathroom.
36% of those polled admitted that they felt panicked when separated from their phone and all its features for an elongated length of time, such as on a plane or on an underground train. What’s more, two thirds (67%) of respondents disclosed that they would rather lose or have their wallet/purse stolen than their smartphone.
George Charles, spokesperson for www.vouchercodespro.co.uk, commented on the findings of the study “After noticing an increase in searches for phone chargers recently on our site, we wanted to investigate the obsession and fixation we seem to have with our smartphones further. People can near enough run their lives through their smartphones these days, both in a professional and personal sense."
He continued “Not only can we send and receive work emails on the go, we can meet prospective romantic partners through dating apps, and even use our phones to pay for goods through contactless payments. Taking all this into account, it’s really no wonder we spend over 3 hours a day on our phones and a fifth of us have never turned our phones off. As for the 44% of those polled that admitted to using their phones in the bathroom, I just certainly hope these individuals wash their hands, and their phone, thoroughly afterwards!”