Half of Americans use a smartphone for work

Half of Americans use a smartphone for work – Over half of online American adults utilize smartphones for various work tasks, from emails to videoconferencing. One in six American workers relies solely on a smartphone. Another quarter have all three: a smartphone, computer and tablet, and 80% of these rely on smartphones for work activities. Interestingly, half lack employer-provided computers.

This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of online adults regularly using a smartphone for work-related activities. Report [TUP_doc_2023_1125_spwr] in TUP Lenses: Mobile Phones; Activities; Communication; Work/Life Balance

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Modern communication shifts to coalesce around three modes

Communication methods have evolved over the past few decades. While landlines were once predominant, they’ve now taken a backseat. Asynchronous communication, like email, offers the advantage of connecting without simultaneous availability, often more convenient and effective. Text messaging, in particular, has experienced a significant rise, now standing as a leading communication method alongside emails.

Interestingly, while smartphones are labeled “phones,” their initial use leaned more toward texting than calling. However, synchronous communication methods are making a comeback on these devices. Email, text messaging, and phone calls share nearly equal user numbers, showcasing varied preferences among users.

Meanwhile, group communication methods from shared platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack to video meetings hosted by Zoom and Webex have primarily met acceptance among a selected market subset.

Our communication choices often depend on reciprocation, given its two-way nature. As a result, user groups may flock together toward specific communication modes, either adopting new methods or moving away from older ones.

These trends offer invaluable insights for telecom companies, handset manufacturers, and those aiming to understand or influence consumer behaviors. The TUP data provides detailed information about communication preferences across different countries and generations, highlighting the frequency of use for email, text messaging, and phone calls among similar cohorts.

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How employees working from home are balancing their activities

Employees working from home have unique challenges in getting work done while often using personal and employer-provided devices. While seeking to balance their work and personal lives, they are also finding new ways to use their devices. A substantial share regularly does TikTok-type work – creating videos for work and personal purposes. This MetaFAQs reports on the top 10 activities employees that work from home do with their connected devices: smartphones, computers, and tablets. It also identifies which activities are done more often than the average online adult.

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Work follows employees home, although less so than last year

Home computers – those acquired with personal funds – are used by most employees for work-related activities. Americans and employees in Germany, the UK, Japan, and China peaked in 2021 and subsided in 2022. This MetaFAQs reports on employees using a home computer for work-related activities. It details the work activities with home computers, from communication to collaboration and productivity. As a historical contrast, it includes comparable results from the 1987 TUP/Technology User Profile wave.

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Smartphones achieve usage primacy

Smartphone primacy over personal computers has been reached, as activities from entertainment to productivity are more widely used. Productivity and collaboration activities were the most recent to reach the broadest usage. This MetaFAQs reports on the trend in the primacy of smartphones as compared to computers across eight classes of activities: entertainment, communication, social networking, graphics, entertainment, productivity, information, and cloud. It reports on the primary device type for each class of activity for 2019 through 2022 among adult users in the US and globally: the US, Germany, the UK, Japan, and China.

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Trends in webcam and video calls/meetings usage

Are video calls and meetings as widespread as tech media implies? How much have webcams and video calls and meetings reached into the everyday experience of the average online adult? This MetaFAQs reports on the usage trend since before the pandemic for online adults in the US, the UK, Germany, and Japan. It further splits video calling/conferencing by smartphone, home PC, or work PC. Furthermore, because change has not affected everyone the same, it details the trend among life stage segments – employment status, age group, and presence of children.

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Profile of Americans who regularly participate in video meetings

After the emergence of COVID and the rise of increasingly hybrid and remote work environments–are video meetings the new normal? 38% of all online American adults, or 83.8 million, regularly participate in video meetings. This MetaFAQs profiles those who regularly participate in video meetings by several critical demographic and behavioral factors distinctive from the average American online adult: age and gender; employment status; life stage (age, employment status, presence of children); the number of PCs used and technology ecosystem entrenchment. Report [TUP_doc_2022_0722_mode] in TUP Lenses: Activities, Communication.

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Profile of Americans who regularly participate in video calls

As video plays an increasing role in our daily lives across social media and other communication platforms, it’s no surprise that video calls are also becoming more and more mainstream. 55% of all online American adults report regularly participating in video calls. This MetaFAQs profiles regular video call participants by several critical demographic and behavioral factors distinctive from the average American online adult: age and gender; employment status; life stage (age, employment status, presence of children); and technology ecosystem entrenchment. Report [TUP_doc_2022_0715_mode] in TUP Lenses: Activities, Communication.

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