Brits carry out a staggering 221 tasks every day using their mobile phone, according to new research.
A study of 2,000 smartphone owners revealed the incredible extent to which we now rely on our handheld devices in our everyday lives.
It showed the average Brit first reaches for their phone at 7:31am to check personal emails before checking the Facebook app to read any posts missed overnight.
And before we’ve even got out of bed in the morning, we’ll check the weather, read the recent news updates and send a text or two to friends.
It also emerged we will check the train times, do our banking and update Instagram early on in the day.
Richard Heyes, Managing Director for Tecmark, which commissioned the study, said: ”Smartphones are an easier way to access information and our friends through the Internet.
‘For most of us, it’s now second nature. And certainly we’re not surprised to see this huge reliance on our handheld devices. But many people may not realise just how many times a day they check their phone or carry out a simple task on it.”
”We’re all guilty of picking up our phones and checking the news or work emails when we first wake up – for many it’s how we set ourselves up for the day.
”It’s so much easier checking your phone for Facebook updates rather than waiting for a desktop or laptop computer to load – we don’t have that much time in the mornings.”
In an average week, Brits will pick up their phone more than 1,500 times to complete various tasks from emails through to playing games and updating social media.
And the average smartphone user is on their phone for three hours and sixteen minutes every day.
This amounts to almost one full day a week using their mobile phone, so it’s no wonder almost four in ten users feel lost when they don’t have their device with them.
Many Brits have confessed to finding themselves using their phone without realising they are doing so, with two thirds saying they have managed to log in and browse Facebook without thinking.
And surprisingly, four in ten said they have, at one time or another, checked their emails automatically without thinking.
The study has also revealed that our smartphones are now becoming more of a ‘go-to-gadget’ than our desktops or laptop, as we only turn to these for 140 tasks in a typical day, close to half the amount.
Which means it shouldn’t be unexpected that almost two thirds of smartphone users know they use their mobile much more than their desktop or laptop.
They tend to use check social media such as Facebook and Twitter 14 times a day on their mobile phone, and 11 on their computer.
The online food shopping is more likely to be done on a smartphone now than on a desktop or laptop.
But maps are used on both phone and desktop computer equally – four times a day on average for both devices.
Surprisingly, Brits will use their phone for general Internet browsing seven times a day, but six times on their computer.
Richard Heyes added: ”More than 1,500 times a week is a lot of times to pick up a small gadget like a mobile phone and demonstrates perfectly just how engrained in our daily lives our smartphones have become.”
