Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, January 26, 2024
Summary
People use connected devices to be productive, actively engaging in a broad set of activities spread among their various devices. The use of smartphones for productivity is growing while the use of computers has flattened or is even in decline. Younger adults have embraced productivity activities, although Gen X and millennials use different types of devices to get things done.
This MetaFAQs reports on the number and percentage of online adults who regularly perform a set of productivity activities, from work file collaboration to appointment scheduling. These results are further split by mean age and generation and trended by age and device type for Americans from 2020 through 2023.
Smartphones are the leading productivity tool
- More online adults use smartphones for productivity than either home computers or those provided by employers
- Only one productivity activity – collaborating on work files – is done by more adults with work PCs than with smartphones, and in this specific case, the difference is nominal
- Across home PCs, regularly collaborating on personal files stands out as a top productivity activity
- The most robust productivity activities using smartphones are oriented toward communication, allowing adults to stay in touch with coworkers
Smartphones surpass any type of PC for productivity
- Nearly three-fourths of online adults regularly use some type of connected device for productivity activities
- Just over half of adults use a smartphone, and four in nine use their primary computer
- Although paid work is associated with productivity, when looking through a total market lens, only one in five online adults use an employer-provided computer for any productivity activities
Productivity activities are done more often by younger adults
- There is a slight skew toward younger adults for the active users of productivity activities
- There is no significant difference in mean age by the choice of platform for productivity activities
Most active productivity users are either millennials or Gen Z
- The largest group of adults regularly performing productivity activities are millennials born between 1981 and 1996. Those using work PCs for productivity activities have an even higher share of millennials, which is largely due to millennials making up a higher share of adults using an employer-provided PC for any task.
- Gen Z and Gen X adults each have a similar share of productivity users, with Gen X making up a slightly larger share using a work PC for productivity and Gen Z adults conversely making up a larger share using a home PC for productivity
Americans continue to favor smartphones over PCs for productivity
- A higher share of American adults use a smartphone for productivity activities, and the trend has been slightly increasing towards the mid-way mark since 2020
- Regular use of a primary PC, home PC, or work PC for productivity has declined since 2020
Employment is associated positively with productivity activities
- Online Americans who are employed make up a larger share of those regularly performing productivity activities with their connected devices
- Although later generations – namely Gen Z and millennials – have a higher share performing productivity activities, among these generations, those who are not employed, not students, or not college graduates, the share is lower
Youth is positively associated with productivity activity
- From a broad perspective, a higher share of younger adults – such as those aged between 18 and 44 – have the highest percentage of those who regularly do productivity activities
- Age alone is not the sole factor in explaining the use of productivity activities although it is a strong factor that highly correlates with employment status as well as type of occupation
Productivity is a slightly growing set of activities
- Productivity activities are being performed regularly by nearly 150 million online American adults, a number that has been slightly increasing since 2020
- Much of the overall growth has been supported by the increasing use of smartphones for productivity activities, a number that has risen to 111 million in 2023
- Meanwhile, the use of computers, whether it is someone’s primary PC, home PC, or work PC, has remained flat or even declined from 2020 to 2023
About MetaFAQs
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2023, which is TUP’s 41st annual.
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Indexing
Lenses: Activities, Mobile Phones, PCs, User Profile, Devices, Communication
Tables: AGEGENxPRODUCTIVITY, ACTS_PRODxDEV_TYPE, AGExPRODUCTIVITY
Tags: Activities, Age, Age generations, Age groups, Baby Boomers, Boomers, Collaboration, Commercial, Communication, Devices, Gen X, Gen Z, Home PC activities, Microsoft Teams, PC activities, Personal activities, Productivity, Slack, Smartphone activities, Trends, Usage, Video calling, Video calls, Videoconferencing, Webex, Work PC activities, Work PCs, Work-related activities, Zoom
Waves: TUP 2020, TUP 2021, TUP 2022, TUP 2023
Item: TUP_doc_2024_0126_prod
Productivity-is-increasingly-lead-by-smartphones-and-younger-adults-TUP-2023-TUP_doc_2024_0126_prod-20240412