Irish people pick up their smartphones at least three times every waking hour, according to the latest research.
The survey – Mobile Consumer Survey 2019 – was carried out by consultancy organisation Deloitte and shows that the average person in Ireland checks their phone 50 times a day.
Women check their device slightly more often than men, with ladies checking an average of 56 times per day, compared with 46 for fellas.
While our phones clearly occupy a huge amount of our thoughts, the figures actually show a decline from the previous year when we checked our phones an average of 55 times per day.
One in 25 people admitted to checking their phone every five minutes – or 200 times per day!
Over half of the people who took part said they thought they were looking at their phones too often and 29% said it was having a negative effect on their concentration levels.
WhatsApp was the most popular reason for checking phones, with 85% saying the are looking for notifications from the app.
This is followed by checking work emails (72%) and making a phone call (60%).
Over a quarter of people use their phones to stream a movie or TV show at least once a week and 21% said they want to switch to 5G as soon as it becomes available.
Only 4% of people in Ireland don’t have a mobile phone. The vast majority of those that do have a smart phone (91%).
The most popular brand is Samsung, with 34% of users owning one of the company’s models. Samsung is followed by Apple (30%) and Huawei (14%).
