As A Nation – We Check Our Phones 9 Billion Times Per Day

Deloitte’s newest survey on person-to-person communication is out — and it comes to the wholly unshocking conclusion that our phones are changing who we are.

More surprising in the investigation of 53,000 respondents aged 18 to 74 across 31 countries?  How many changes there have been — and how fast they keep coming.

Here in the U.S. alone, consumers check their phones a collective 9 billion times per day — a 1 billion increase in phone checks per day in the last year. Half of all users are looking at their phones at least once in the middle of the night — and a little under half of that half (40 percent) are using social media in the middle of the night.

When the sun coms up and it’s time to get out of bed — 66 percent of consumers check their phones within 15 minutes of opening their eyes. The most commonly checked area? Text messages.

The phone then acts as a constant companion for users throughout the day. 93 percent use their phones while shopping, 43 percent of 25-34-year-olds have used their phone to buy something this week and 58 percent used their phone to browse.

This mobile usage is driving businesses, Deloitte’s study notes. Sixty-five percent of respondents are interested in learning more about smart home and similar applications, up from 53 percent in 2015. Self-driving cars have also seen a big uptick in interest — 50 percent, with about 16 percent saying they are ready to hand over the keys for good.  Almost half — 48 percent — have said they would pay for the internet of things, and 33 percent think smart energy, smart transportation and smart healthcare would make their lives more livable.