How Much Do the British Spend on the Phone Every Day?
Smartphones first emerged in 1992 and have made impressive advancements since then. Everyone’s attitude towards mobile devices has changed, especially with the time spent on them.
Now that smartphones have become ubiquitous, the global average screen time is 3 hours and 46 minutes. Meanwhile, in the UK, people spend less time on their smartphones than the worldwide average.
Read on to learn how much the British spend on the phone daily.
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- Brits spend 4 hours and 14 minutes on the phone every day.
- Sixteen percent of Brits spend 3 to 4 hours scrolling on their phones.
- One-fifth of people in the UK scroll for over 5 hours on their smartphones, which is 3 times the length of the Eiffel Tower.
- Most people in the UK use their smartphones to make calls (93%), text (91%), and take photos and videos (80%).
- Browsing the Internet ranks as the fourth reason most smartphone users in the UK spend time on their devices.
- Accessing social media using smartphones is most popular among the UK’s younger end, while only 25% of Brits over 65 use phones to access social media.
Average Time Spent on the Phone in the UK
People in the UK spent an average of 4 hours and 14 minutes on their phones daily in 2022. Putting that into perspective, Brits allocate 17.6% of their day to using their smartphones.
Based on other data sets, 16% of Brits spend almost all their average screen time (3 to 4 hours) scrolling. Meanwhile, 20% of people in the UK spend more time on their phones than their country’s average and scroll for over 5 hours on their devices.
To help you visualise that data easily, Brits scroll 3 times the height of the Eiffel Tower daily, or 914 meters. That much time (or distance) consumed in such an activity is called ‘doomscrolling.’
Definition
Doomscrolling is a term for bingeing on online content, especially negative ones, through continuous scrolling. Most people give in to doomscrolling before bedtime when they scroll through news or social media platforms, but it can happen any day.
According to numerous studies, here’s more information on doom-scrolling that you must know:
- Men are slightly more likely to doomscroll than women.
- Younger people tend to give in to doomscrolling more than adults do.
- Severe doomscrolling is correlated with poor physical and mental health.
Doctors also say that doomscrolling could be a function of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In this scenario, the behaviour is not about finding the right news or content but reducing anxiety by constantly producing a distraction.
Find out what other activities Brits do within their daily average screen time and other helpful statistics on smartphone usage in the UK by reading on.
How the Average Time Spent on the Phone in the UK Changed Over the Years
Brits have always had a phone screen time close to the worldwide average. Based on the State of Mobile Report in 2022, the average screen time worldwide was 4 hours 48 minutes daily, 34 minutes higher than the UK average.
Looking at how the average time spent on the phone has changed in the UK, the numbers have experienced significant increases and minor declines. However, starting in 2018, the country saw continuous growth in screen time.
From an average of 2 hours and 30 minutes spent on the phone in 2018, the figure grew to 3 hours in 2019. The growth between 2018 and 2019 could be attributed to the increasing dependence on the device and other evolving factors such as:
- Increased social connectedness in various social media platforms.
- Fear of missing out (FOMO), resulting in constant posting on social media and checking the phone.
The amount of time spent on phones spiked during the height of the pandemic. COVID-19 triggered lockdowns worldwide and pushed people to stay at home. Everyone relied on being online using their smartphones to stay connected with others.
A big shift in the online world began as office workers transitioned to the work-from-home setup, and children needed to attend classes online. Although computers, PCs, and laptops are the primary devices for these setups, smartphones helped fulfill them faster and better.
Brits went from a 3-hour smartphone usage average in 2019 to using their phones for 3 hours and 42 minutes during the pandemic in 2020.
Having grown extremely dependent on the devices for communication and entertainment, the Brits spent more time on their phones despite the ease of COVID-19 lockdowns, prompting the return to office work and classrooms.
People in the UK generated higher smartphone screen times of 4 hours daily in 2021 and 4 hours and 14 minutes per day in 2022.
Did you know?
A high screen time reflects why “chronically online” is extremely popular nowadays. It’s a term that describes people who are always on the Internet and in the loop with what’s happening in the digital world.
Being chronically online could be related to having a high screen time, letting the person indulge in online content consistently.
It’s important to note that “chronically online” also has a negative connotation. This is the definition of the phrase according to Urban Dictionary:
“Someone who is basically always on the internet and their entire existence revolves around being on the internet. People who are chronically online typically have no real friends IRL, and stay online starting useless debates that literally achieve nothing outside of a screen.”
To show the varying understanding on the phrase “chronically online,” here are some definitions from the people of Reddit:
Comment
byu/who_nobody from discussion
inAskReddit
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byu/who_nobody from discussion
inAskReddit
The global smartphone users are set to increase to 5.1 billion in 2028 from 4.6 billion in 2023. That means smartphone dependence and adoption could grow worldwide, which the UK could also follow in terms of daily smartphone usage.
How Do People in the UK Use Their Smartphones?
Brits consume their average phone screen time of 4 hours and 14 minutes in various activities. Over half of that time (2 hours and 52 minutes) is spent online. The other half could be attributed to other smartphone activities.
Here’s how people in the UK use their smartphones:
In-depth analyses of these activities and why certain age groups are more active than others are available below:
Making calls
Using a smartphone to make calls is most popular among people over 65 in the UK. For older people, communicating through phone calls has been the norm for most of their lives. That’s why it’s easier for them to adopt this aspect of smartphone usage.
Texting
Generally, texting is prevalent among people between 16 and 65 years old in the UK. Zooming into that statistic, individuals aged 35 to 54 text the most. Familiarity with the activity has something to do with its popularity among the age groups.
Texting started when the first smartphone emerged in 1992, but the activity took off in 2007. The former was 31 years ago, while the latter was 16 years ago as of 2023. It continued to be one of the most used modes of communication worldwide.
That’s how younger people adopted it, and older people kept it as a usual way of staying connected.
Taking photos/videos
The first-ever smartphone didn’t have a camera. Its main functions were to make phone calls and receive faxes and emails. Camera phones emerged in 2000, and Apple released the first iPhone, one of the most advanced cameras, in 2007. Since then, camera phones have evolved and have become one of the qualities that most smartphone buyers look for in a mobile device.
The proliferation of smartphone advancements plays a role in why fewer older people in the UK use their smartphones to take photos and videos. Meanwhile, more Millenials and Gen X’ers take pictures and videos with their smartphones.
Smartphone users take pictures and videos for various reasons. Many people say it’s for capturing fleeting everyday moments. Most smartphone users take to social media to post photos and videos to share and “preserve” their captured memories.
Did you know?
Recent research suggests that recording and taking photos could actually “diminish” your memory of the moment instead of helping you preserve it. Capturing moments prevents you from fully experiencing them.
To create a real, lasting memory, you must pay attention to what the moment felt like, associate it with any smell, and familiarise yourself with what the scene looked like. Photos and videos only capture the latter, which could “distort” the moment’s accuracy.
Internet Browsing
Brits used 2 hours and 52 minutes of smartphone screen time to surf the internet, which is at the lower end of worldwide mobile internet usage in 2022.
Browsing the internet is most popular among the UK’s younger end, particularly between 16 and 34 years old. It’s slightly prevalent among individuals between 35 and 54 years old.
People in these age ranges are more digitally literate and socially connected through the Internet than older people.
Emails
Sending and receiving emails are popular smartphone activities overall as they’re major modes of communication nowadays. Email allows users to send high-quality images, documents, links, and other types of files.
Using a smartphone for sending and receiving emails is common among 25 to 54-year-old individuals in the UK.
News
Reading about the latest news on mobile phones was not a regular practice in the UK ten years ago. However, as people started to rely more on their phones for convenience, accessing news has become a common use of smartphones.
According to a decade-long survey by Statista, only 29% of Brits used their smartphones to access news in 2013, which grew to 63% in 2019. Then, the 2021 survey results revealed the highest share of respondents (68%) who read news on their phones.
Using Social Media
Accessing social media is one of the most popular uses of a smartphone. In the UK, 72% of people aged 18 to 49 are active social media users. Meanwhile, only 1 out of 4 people over 65 use their smartphones for social media.
WhatsApp is the most favoured social media platform by 22.4% of Internet users in the UK, followed by Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, favoured by 20.4% and 14.2% of users, respectively.
Listening to Music
Smartphones have changed how the world listens to music, from radios, jukeboxes, cassettes, CD players, and MP3 players like the iPod classic to incorporating music streaming apps on smartphones and other devices.
Sixty-five percent of the 16 to 24-year-old Brits use their phones to stream music. The share of smartphone users in the UK who use the device for listening to music declines with age.
European Countries’ Average Time Spent on Their Phones
The smartphone industry is a thriving ecosystem in the old continent. The device has been crucial in advancing European countries’ economies. In terms of smartphone user penetration, Europe experienced a 90% rate in 2023.
Here are the European countries ranked by smartphone users:
Smartphone habits vary in European countries; some nationwide average screen times are below the worldwide average, while others exceed it. While Turkey has the third-largest smartphone user base, people in Turkey access the Internet for 4 hours and 26 minutes through their smartphones, the most time spent using a mobile phone in Europe.
The United Kingdom has the biggest smartphone penetration rate in the continent, with over a 93% rate while Brits spend 4 hours and 14 minutes on their phones. Meanwhile, the European country with the highest smartphone subscriptions is Germany, but users only consume 2 hours and 14 minutes using their mobile devices.
The amount of smartphone users in Iceland is the lowest among all European countries. However, the country’s population is over 366,000, which means 81% of Icelanders own a smartphone.
Denmark has 5.28 million smartphone users, including children who own mobile phones. A Statista survey shows that 93% of respondents below 16 years old use smartphones in Denmark. In another related study, most Danish children own a smartphone before turning 10, which produces excessive screen time.
Wrap Up
Smartphone usage is heavily established in the daily lives of Brits as they spend an average of one-sixth of their day using their phones. Data showed that even children in the UK spend time online through smartphones.
In all the time spent on smartphones, Brits fit various activities like making calls, texting, taking photos and videos, reading news, and browsing the Internet. Smartphones’ impressive advancements will certainly continue over the years, letting people do more with the device.
5G technology is the likeliest to set the scene on the future of smartphones, and Europe is one of the frontrunners in this technology. With the anticipated increase of 5G-capable devices in the UK, smartphones could have a wider range of use cases, increasing their usage.
FAQs on How Much Do the British Spend on the Phone Everyday
What is the average cost of a phone in the UK?
The average cost of a phone in the UK is £275.
How many phone calls are made a day in the UK?
A mobile phone subscriber in the UK makes an average of 8 daily phone calls. The number of mobile phone subscribers in the country makes 638 million phone calls daily.
List of sources
Data.ai, Statista, Finder, Statista, Statista, Statista, GSMA, Statista, Statista, Statista