There has been a sea change in which connected devices people use as well as how they use them. This TUP Highlights report details the trends in device ownership, the shifts between technology ecosystems, and market penetration levels. It spells out the major activities for each type of device, and how usage has changed. Furthermore, it details how many employees use personal devices for remote work.
Shift in device hours by socioeconomic groups
How different are advantaged from disadvantaged Americans in how intensively they use their technology devices? How much has this changed since before the pandemic? How do historically socioeconomically advantaged groups such as high-income or college graduates compare to disadvantaged groups such as single parents, low-income, less-educated, elderly, or people of color? This TUP analysis reports on the average number of hours connected devices – mobile phones, computers, and tablets – being used by each socioeconomic group.
Declining hours of connected device use
After peaking at the start of the COVID pandemic, the hours online adults use their connected devices have broadly declined. Across the US, Germany, and the UK, total device hours have even dropped below their pre-pandemic levels. This MetaFAQs report, based on the results of TUP research from 2016 through 2021, details the hours spent using home PCs, work PCs, smartphones, and tablets and how those hours have shifted.
Mobile Phones TUP Lens
Smartphones have rapidly, although not completely, replaced feature phones. Smartphone users have expanded their range of activities with new uses while also increasingly migrating activities from computers and tablets. This TUP Highlights Report profiles smartphones – their market penetration, user demographic profile, regular activities, usage profile, key competitors, and purchase plans.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: penetration of smartphones versus feature phones, smartphone brand share, top activities for smartphones, smartphone carrier share, smartphone usage profile, trends in technology ecosystems, major activities for a market segment, and the profile of smartphone users.
Smartphone usage profile [TUPdate]
Smartphones are used differently among younger than older employees as well as adults that are not employed outside the household. This TUPdate reports on each group – their weekly hours used, their unique set of activities, and their differing use of voice assistants.
Tablets dissolving into a split market [TUPdate]
Tablet use has been on the decline. American online adult tablet use has dropped from 60% in 2016 to 36% in 2020. But to what extent is this the case depending on country and types of device users? This TUPdate reports on online adults who actively use a tablet by country (US, Germany, and UK), year (2016-2020), age, hourly usage, household size, and top tablet activities. It also considers iPad use in comparison to overall tablet use and non-Apple tablet use, as well as the association between iPhone/Android smartphones and iPad/non-Apple tablet use.
Average hours using a tablet [MetaFAQs]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, October 24, 2020 How actively used are tablets? What is the mean number of hours they are used during a week? This MetaFAQs reports on the average (mean) number of hours using a tablet among online adults in the US, the UK, and Germany for 2018 through 2020. About MetaFAQs…
How central and vital are home PCs? [TUPdate]
Home PCs users are very active, yet they don’t only stay at home on their computers. They use a wide variety of other connected devices. The majority of home PC users (82% to 95%) also use a mobile phone. Of these, smartphones dominate. It may some surprise those steeped in technology that basic cell phones/feature…
American screen time remains thirteen trillion hours [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, January 18, 2019
American adults are using their connected devices as much as ever, in 2018 totaling 13 trillion hours per week with their Smartphones, PCs, Tablets, and Game Consoles. This is slightly lower than the 13.3 trillion-hour level in 2017.
This is based on the 36th wave of Technology User Profile – TUP 2018. This analysis is based on 7,886 U.S. survey respondents, 7,521 respondents in TUP 2017, and 7,336 in TUP 2016.
Total screen time stabilizes
There has been growing media awareness and reporting about adverse social and health effects from the over-use of technology devices. These concerns have sparked the development of apps and settings to help monitor and manage screen time. Meanwhile, Americans, and indeed also adults around the world, continue to find useful and entertaining ways to integrate actively connected devices into their lives.