Time Spent Using Smartphones (2024 Statistics)

In a relatively short period of time, smartphones have grown to a near-ubiquitous status.

With each passing new release, smartphones are becoming more powerful and all-encompassing. Understandably, this is leading to increased user adoption and a surge in daily screen time.

We’ll explore the statistics around smartphone screen time, breaking things down into these subcategories:

• Time Spent On Smartphone Stats 2024 (Editor’s Picks)
• Time Spent Using Smartphones Annually
• Time Spent Using Smartphones By Region
• Smartphone Use In The US
• Time Spent Using Smartphones By Demographic
• How Time Is Spent On Smartphones
• Smartphone Use Perceived Effects
• Smartphone Use Projections

Time Spent on Smartphone Stats 2024 (Editor’s Picks)

Here are some highlights from this smartphone stats page:

• On average, people spend 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phones each day.
• Individuals check their phones an average of 58 times each day.
• Filipinos spend the highest amount of average time on their phones each day.
• Japanese citizens spend under half of the global average time on their smartphones.
• 3 in 4 Gen Zers claim to spend too much time on their smartphones.

For further context and more data, keep reading.

Time Spent Using Smartphones Annually

According to recent data, the average person spends 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone every day. That's the equivalent of over 1 day per week or 6 days per month. Across a year, that's approximately 70 days spent looking at a phone.

Perhaps surprisingly, weekdays average more smartphone use than weekends. On average, people check their phones 58 times per day. And almost 52% of phone checks (30 per day) occur during work hours.

Picking your phone up can become a habit as data shows that half of all screen time sessions begin within 3 minutes of the last.

Here’s a breakdown of time spent on smartphones by pick-up:

Time Spent on Smartphone	Average Amount of Times Per Day	Percentage of Daily Pick-Ups
Less Than 2 Minutes	40	69%
2 to 10 Minutes	15	26%
10+ Minutes	3	5%

Across the day, the mean time spent on a smartphone per pick-up is around 1 minute 15 seconds.

Sources: Harmony Healthcare IT, Rescue Time

Time Spent Using Smartphones by Region

Data from Q3 2023, shows that Filipinos spend over 5 hours 20 minutes per day on their smartphones.

In total, 4 countries exceed 5 hours of screen time per day on their phones. And 22 nations examined exceeded the average for Q3 2023 (3 hours 50 minutes).

Remarkably, 4 South American nations feature in the top 10. While 4 South-East Asian countries also make up the top 10.

Here’s the full breakdown of each nation’s daily smartphone use in hours and minutes:

Rank	Country	Continent	Time Spent on Smartphone per Day	Comparison to Average
1	Philippines	Asia	5 hours and 20 minutes	↑ 1 hr 30 mins
2	Brazil	South America	5 hours and 19 minutes	↑ 1 hr 29 mins
3	South Africa	Africa	5 hours and 15 minutes	↑ 1 hr 25 mins
4	Thailand	Asia	5 hours and 2 minutes	↑ 1 hr 12 mins
5	Ghana	Africa	4 hours and 58 minutes	↑ 1 hr 8 mins
6	Chile	South America	4 hours and 48 minutes	↑ 58 mins
7	Colombia	South America	4 hours and 47 minutes	↑ 57 mins
8	Indonesia	Asia	4 hours and 45 minutes	↑ 55 mins
=9	Argentina	South America	4 hours and 37 minutes	↑ 47 mins
=9	Malaysia	Asia	4 hours and 37 minutes	↑ 47 mins
11	Kenya	Africa	4 hours and 36 minutes	↑ 46 mins
12	UAE	Asia	4 hours and 34 minutes	↑ 44 mins
13	Egypt	Africa	4 hours and 25 minutes	↑ 35 mins
=14	Mexico	North America	4 hours and 23 minutes	↑ 33 mins
=14	Saudi Arabia	Asia	4 hours and 23 minutes	↑ 33 mins
16	Nigeria	Africa	4 hours and 20 minutes	↑ 30 mins
17	Turkey	Europe/Asia	4 hours and 7 minutes	↑ 17 mins
18	Taiwan	Asia	4 hours and 5 minutes	↑ 15 mins
19	India	Asia	4 hours and 3 minutes	↑ 13 mins
20	Russia	Europe/Asia	3 hours and 56 minutes	↑ 6 mins
21	Israel	Asia	3 hours and 52 minutes	↑ 2 mins
22	Romania	Europe	3 hours and 51 minutes	↑ 1 min
-	Global Average	-	3 hours and 50 minutes	-
23	Bulgaria	Europe	3 hours and 49 minutes	↓ 1 min
24	US	North America	3 hours and 39 minutes	↓ 11 mins
25	Portugal	Europe	3 hours and 33 minutes	↓ 17 mins
26	China	Asia	3 hours and 31 minutes	↓ 19 mins
27	Vietnam	Asia	3 hours and 30 minutes	↓ 20 mins
28	Singapore	Asia	3 hours and 26 minutes	↓ 24 mins
=29	Croatia	Europe	3 hours and 17 minutes	↓ 33 mins
=29	Hong Kong	Asia	3 hours and 17 minutes	↓ 33 mins
31	Ireland	Europe	3 hours and 15 minutes	↓ 35 mins
32	Hungary	Europe	3 hours and 14 minutes	↓ 36 mins
33	New Zealand	Oceania	3 hours and 13 minutes	↓ 37 mins
34	Sweden	Europe	3 hours and 10 minutes	↓ 40 mins
35	Poland	Europe	3 hours and 5 minutes	↓ 45 mins
36	Canada	North America	2 hours and 59 minutes	↓ 51 mins
37	Norway	Europe	2 hours and 58 minutes	↓ 52 mins
=38	Italy	Europe	2 hours and 57 minutes	↓ 53 mins
=38	UK	Europe	2 hours and 57 minutes	↓ 53 mins
=40	Australia	Oceania	2 hours and 56 minutes	↓ 54 mins
=40	Czechia	Europe	2 hours and 56 minutes	↓ 54 mins
42	Greece	Europe	2 hours and 54 minutes	↓ 56 mins
43	Spain	Europe	2 hours and 53 minutes	↓ 57 mins
44	Netherlands	Europe	2 hours and 46 minutes	↓ 1 hr 4 mins
45	South Korea	Asia	2 hours and 43 minutes	↓ 1 hr 7 mins
46	Austria	Europe	2 hours and 41 minutes	↓ 1 hr 9 mins
47	Switzerland	Europe	2 hours and 38 minutes	↓ 1 hr 12 mins
48	Germany	Europe	2 hours and 36 minutes	↓ 1 hr 14 mins
49	France	Europe	2 hours and 34 minutes	↓ 1 hr 16 mins
50	Belgium	Europe	2 hours and 26 minutes	↓ 1 hr 24 mins
51	Denmark	Europe	2 hours and 24 minutes	↓ 1 hr 26 mins
52	Morocco	Africa	2 hours and 21 minutes	↓ 1 hr 29 mins
53	Japan	Asia	1 hour and 54 minutes	↓ 1 hr 56 mins

Source: DataReportal

Smartphone Use in the US

Around 1 in 3 (36%) Americans believe they spend too much time on their smartphones each day.

And 40% aim to cut down on their smartphone use. However, 27% don't think they will be successful.

Split by age, there is a correlation between generation and phone screen time:

Generation	Average Daily Screen Time	Proportion Who Feel Addicted
Gen Z	6 hours and 5 minutes	56%
Millennial	4 hours and 36 minutes	48%
Gen x	4 hours and 9 minutes	44%
Baby Boomer	3 hours and 31 minutes	29%

A recent study found that, on average, children get their first phone at age 12. That means that the average American is expected to spend approximately 12 years of their life looking at their phone.

More than half of Americans believe they are too dependent on their phones (52%). As many as 3 in 5 (59%) use their phones on the toilet while 27% will text when at stoplights.

Time spent on non-voice activities continues to rise in the US. Between 2019 and 2024, the amount of time spent on daily mobile phone use has risen from 3 hours and 45 minutes to 4 hours and 49 minutes according to eMarketer.

Here's a breakdown of that change over time:

Year	Time Spent on Non-Voice Mobile Phone Use
2019	3 hours and 45 minutes
2020	4 hours and 16 minutes
2021	4 hours and 24 minutes
2022	4 hours and 30 minutes
2023*	4 hours and 36 minutes
2024*	4 hours and 49 minutes

*Projected figures.

Sources: Harmony Healthcare IT, Stanford Medicine, eMarketer

Time Spent Using Smartphones by Demographic

Around 3 in 4 Gen Zers admit to spending more time on their smartphones than they would like each day. By comparison, just over half of the Baby Boomers feel the same way.

In fact, 24% of Gen Z respondents claimed that smartphone overuse had become a problem in their lives. And 41% of Gen Zers claim to be actively taking steps towards reducing their screen time.

Here is the generational breakdown of smartphone use:

Generation	On Phone More Than Preferable	Taking Steps to Reduce Screen Time
Baby Boomers	51.6%	31.3%
Gen X	66.7%	40.7%
Millennials	67.3%	30.5%
Gen Z	76.3%	41%

Another research study found that females are more likely to use smartphones for longer durations of time than males. From a sample of over 30,000 people, the daily average smartphone screen time for females was approximately 2 hours and 47 minutes, compared to 2 hours and 34 minutes for males.

This corroborates findings from a 2022 paper that asked respondents if they spend more time on their smartphones than their partners.

In total, 78% of females claim to spend more time on their smartphones than their partners.

And although the majority of males asked also believe they spend more time on their smartphones than their partners, a lower proportion claimed to do so (64%).

Source: SimpleTexting, ResearchGate, SellCell

How Time is Spent on Smartphones

Unsurprisingly, using smartphones to access the internet has become increasingly commonplace.

In 2014, just under 1/3rd of time on smartphones was spent using the internet. By 2019, internet usage accounted for more than half of the time spent on smartphones. And this figure continues to grow.

Here’s a look at internet usage as a share of total time spent on smartphones since 2013:

Quarter	Share of Time Spent on Smartphones	Percentage Change Over Previous Year
Q3 2013	27.3%	-
Q3 2014	33.1%	↑ 5.8%
Q3 2015	37.7%	↑ 4.6%
Q3 2016	39.1%	↑ 1.4%
Q3 2017	45.6%	↑ 6.5%
Q3 2018	49.4%	↑ 3.8%
Q3 2019	50.8%	↑ 1.4%
Q3 2020	52.8%	↑ 2%
Q3 2021	53.5%	↑ 0.7%
Q3 2022	56.9%	↑ 3.4%
Q3 2023	57.6%	↑ 0.7%

The raw minutes spent accessing the internet via smartphones have also risen year-over-year during the last decade.

In 2011, this figure accounted for just over half an hour (32 minutes). By 2014, this had almost doubled, reaching 1 hour and 3 minutes. And as of 2023, the average daily time spent using the internet on a smartphone was approximately 3 hours and 50 minutes.

This rise coincides with the steady decline of internet usage via desktop.

Here’s a closer look at internet usage by the device since 2011:

Year	Desktop Internet Use	Mobile Internet Use	Mobile Internet Use Change Over Previous Year	Difference Between Desktop and Mobile Internet Use
2011	43 mins	32 mins	-	Desktop +11 mins
2012	47 mins	36 mins	↑ 4 mins	Desktop +11 mins
2013	49 mins	45 mins	↑ 9 mins	Desktop +4 mins
2014	47 mins	1 hour 3 mins	↑ 18 mins	Mobile +16 mins
2015	42 mins	1 hour 21 mins	↑ 18 mins	Mobile +39 mins
2016	40 mins	1 hour 34 mins	↑ 13 mins	Mobile +54 mins
2017	42 mins	1 hour 49 mins	↑ 15 mins	Mobile +1 hour 7 mins
2018	39 mins	2 hours 2 mins	↑ 13 mins	Mobile +1 hour 23 mins
2019	39 mins	2 hours 12 mins	↑ 11 mins	Mobile +1 hour 33 mins
2020	38 mins	2 hours 23 mins	↑ 11 mins	Mobile +1 hour 45 mins
2021	37 mins	2 hours 35 mins	↑ 12 mins	Mobile +1 hour 58 mins
2022*	2 hours 51 mins	3 hours 46 mins	↑ 1 hour 11 mins	Mobile +55 mins
2023*	2 hours 50 mins	3 hours 50 mins	↑ 4 mins	Mobile +1 hour

*Change in methodology.

Social media is a huge part of both smartphone and internet use.

According to research, the main reason people use social media apps is boredom (51.8%).

Other reasons for using smartphones to access social media include:

• Curiosity – 18.6%
• Information – 16%
• Loneliness – 9.4%
• Necessity/Work – 3.8%
• Health purposes – 0.4%

Source: DataReportal, Zenith, SimpleTexting

Smartphone Use Perceived Effects

Despite increasing daily smartphone use, only around 1 in 10 people (10.3%) believe screen time has a positive effect on mental health.

By contrast, 68.6% of those surveyed believe that screen time affects mental health negatively.

The same study asked respondents what things they associate with screen time. The response with the highest proportion of agreement (54.7%) was that screen time is associated with eye strain.

Results show a mixed bag of both positive and negative associations:

Screen Time Effect	Positive/Negative	Respondents Who Accept an Association
Eye strain	Negative	54.7%
Being more informed	Positive	54.1%
Not getting work done	Negative	50.3%
Feeling more connected	Positive	48.1%
Trouble paying attention	Negative	42.8%
Wider worldview	Positive	36.6%
Anxiety	Negative	29.5%
Back issues	Negative	25.9%
Feeling less connected	Negative	22.6%
Depression	Negative	21.0%
Being more productive	Positive	18.4%
Narrower worldview	Negative	6.1%
None of the above	Neutral	4.8%

Source: SimpleTexting

Smartphone Use Projections

The $1 trillion+ global mobile industry continues to grow each year.

Smartphone users have risen year over year since 2016 and are projected to continue on that upward trajectory for at least another half-decade.

There were approximately 3.67 billion smartphone subscriptions worldwide as of 2016.

This number has increased by between 300 million and 800 million each year. And hit an estimated 6.57 billion in 2022.

By 2027, there will be an estimated 7.69 billion smartphone subscriptions – just 200 million shy of the current global population.

Given these projections and the above data, increased smartphone screen time for the foreseeable future appears almost inevitable.

Source: GSMA, Ericsson

Conclusion

Screen time is evidently on the rise.

Whether that’s positive or negative is debatable, but globally it is an undeniable fact.

Naturally, we will reach a plateau, but there is little to indicate that this will arrive in the coming years.

For more related content check out Mobile App Development Trends and In-Demand Mobile App Startups.