According to my iPhone, I spent approximately three hours and 24 minutes on my mobile every day this week. I picked up my device an average of 72 times, with the majority of those pickups used to check incoming social media notifications. When I see these hard numbers looking back at me, I admit it makes me cringe. But then I watch as my brain attempts to justify all of this digital stimulation, after all, there are people ‘worse’ than me, right?
Well, some recent research suggests that I’m squarely in the average smartphone use category, which turns out to be around three hours and 15 minutes. Apparently, the top 20 per cent of smartphone users are on their devices for over four and a half hours, which does make me feel a bit better, I suppose. But why are we so attached to our phones anyway? What is it about the digital realm that is so appealing, that we can’t imagine leaving the house (or even going to the bathroom, in some cases) without our trusty device tucked in our pocket or purse?