LONDON: UK adults spend an average of 2 hours and 26 minutes a day on smartphones and tablets in 2015, according to a new report by eMarketer.
That’s compared to desktop and laptop usage, which will take up 2 hours and 13 minutes of our day.
That’s not because we’re ditching desktops and laptops, mind. In fact, daily usage of both devices has increased by three minutes.
It’s actually because we’re just spending more time in the digital world than ever before, especially with mobile.
Last year, daily desktop and laptop use clocked in at 2 hours 10 minutes. Mobile, meanwhile, snagged 1 hour 59 minutes of our respective days.
It’s interesting to see how things have changed over a wider time period, however. The report reveals that we’re now spending around double the length of time on digital platforms than we were back in 2011.
Four years ago, just 2 hours and 25 minutes were spent each day on computing hardware, compared to today’s 4 hours 39 minutes.
The brunt of that increase comes courtesy of mobile platforms, which accounted for a mere 31 minutes of our days in 2011.
TV, radio, and print media, by contrast, have all seen steady decline over the last four years. Newspapers and magazines, for instance, now take up just 19 minutes of our day.
It’s a slow decline however, which means we’re just generally consuming more, rather than ditching traditional media altogether.
“One trend underlies much of eMarketer’s time spent estimates: UK adults aren’t moving their media consumption habits to digital platforms at the expense of traditional ones; rather, they are adding it to their overall media day,” explained Bill Fisher, an analyst at eMarketer.
“This also holds true for platforms like social media, with time spent via mobile adding to time spent via laptops and desktops.”
