Just how hooked is Britain on mobile technology?
According to research by the antivirus software company, Kaspersky, more than 55% of Brits would feel devastated if anything happened to their device and 47% have stated they can’t live without their phone.
In other words, “nomophobia”, – short for “no mobile phone phobia”, the persistent fear that comes from not having your phone and affects your daily life, possibly even your sleep — is on the rise.
This will come as interesting news to mobile broadband providers, whose services help people on the move or who have a need to be able to connect to broadband wherever they go.
Recognising that there are internet users out there like this, the providers offer a variety of mobile broadband deals so that their customers can stay as connected as possible. They can make the most of the tech to transform their phones into hotspots or get online by plugging a dongle into their laptops.
In light of this new information, they may choose to step up their marketing efforts. More than a quarter of Brits spend between five and ten hours a day online.
The market research company YouGov throws further light on the statistics, providing insight into who they may be and how they may feel about their phones.
In recent research, they asked their participants to what extent they agreed or disagreed with the statement “I couldn’t get through the day without mobile communication.”
One in eight Brits firmly believed they couldn’t spend a whole day without using their phone.
Surprisingly, middle-aged people have been the ones who are more likely to fall into this group.
When it came to the statements “The internet is my main source of information” and “I wouldn’t be able to cope without the internet”, 90% of the adults who said they couldn’t spend a day without using their phone agreed with the statements.
Of those who said they could go a day without their phone, 77% agreed with the statement “I often scroll aimlessly through social media”. The statement “Super-fast broadband is important to me” got a nod of agreement from 84%.
As you may or may not expect, the lockdown has led to increased dependence on mobile apps. In a study of 2 000 adults, commissioned by eToro earlier this year, 41% said they’d been using their apps more than ever since the lockdown.
Thirty-one percent confessed they couldn’t bear the thought of being without their social media apps, as people call upon the technology to help them communicate with friends or family.
According to the study, the average adult has 36 apps on their phone. The most used of these apps are Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
Interestingly, 44% of the people in the study felt you could learn a lot about someone from the way they organise their phone.
The apps you have on your phone may reveal whether you’re carefree, stressed and even whether you have a tidy home.
Organising your phone into tidy folders can be a sign that you’re unlikely to have a messy home, whereas a hotchpotch of work and leisure apps may suggest you find it hard to separate your home life and your career.
If you’re one of the many who struggles to go more than five minutes without picking up your phone, possible approaches to curb the habit include turning off as many notifications as possible and, so that your phone is less desirable to look at, turning the colour down to greyscale.
