A staggering 85% of millennials own smartphones, making them the largest generational group in the USA to own a smart device, as revealed in the report by Nielsen in 2014. Furthermore, 67% of millennials report that they use their smartphones to access the internet, spending an average of 14.5 hours a day engaging on social media, catching up on the news, browsing the internet for information about stores they are interested in patronizing, shopping online and increasingly, trying to find romance by visiting dating sites.
These and many other statistics have inspired us to dig deeper into millennials' smartphone habits and attitudes towards their smartphone usage in different life situations. We have conducted a study on smartphone user behavior and involved more than 2000 U.S. millennials, equally split into two groups of women and men with the same gender ratio.
Our 2016 Smartphone User Behavior Report reveals surprising facts about the U.S. millennials and their mobile shopping preferences, the role of smartphones in their private lives, their attitudes towards side effects of increased digital consumption, and their everyday smartphone habits.
Key findings of the study highlighting the millennial smartphone trends
1. Millennials' Mobile Shopping Habits
28% of millennials use their smartphones to shop online. The most common purchases include: flowers (40%), taxi and driving services (27%), airplane tickets and hotel bookings (22%), digital products including apps (7%) and clothing (4%). The study also revealed that millennial women are twice as likely as men to purchase clothing via their smartphones. High school students and new parents are most likely to shop for items online, entrepreneurs to purchase taxi services like Uber and new parents and full-time employees are the largest group of online banking services users. Less than 50% of users feel safe making payments over their smartphones, with 1 out of every 3 high school students polled indicating that they consider payments via smartphones to be extremely unsafe.
2. Social Media Engagement and News Consumption on Smartphones
Social media engagement is extremely important to millennials, with 30% of the ones polled indicating that they sleep next to their smartphones to be able to check their social media first thing in the morning. Men are more likely than women to check their news feed in the morning (75% vs. 41%), while entrepreneurs prefer to listen to podcasts to garner important information about business. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were found to be the most popular sources of information and social media engagement among millennials.
3. Role of Smartphones in Romantic & Sex Lives
The advent of apps like Tinder, bumble and hitch are making it easier for millennials to connect with potential mates and find love via their smartphones. Sexting and sending naked selfies are becoming increasingly popular, with entrepreneurs, full-time employees and unemployed millennials making up the bulk of those who sext or take naked pictures the most. A third of millennials have checked their texts immediately after sex, while a small number (14%) has admitted to checking messages on their phone during sex. Contrary to popular belief, the large majority of millennials (64%) neither sexts or naked selfies.
4. Effects of Smartphones on Millennials' Mental Health
Millennials have reported feeling increasingly depressed and anxious due to smartphone use. The fear of missing out and the need to check their phones compulsively are also commonly reported side effects of the same. Millennials are also annoyed by the amount of time they spend on smartphones, by the pressure to consistently document their lives, as well as security concerns with regard to stolen data and other security variables.
5. Millennials' Smartphone Habits & Attitudes
The study revealed that 78% of millennials sleep with their smartphone by their side and a further 82% of this number check their messages or browse the internet within an hour of waking up. Every fifth millennial estimates he checks his phone at least 10 times an hour. 38% of millennials have admitted to taking a call while driving. The top reasons why millennials like owning smartphones vary among different groups of millennials. While college students and full-time employees like it the most for finding out directions, high school students and unemployed prefer playing games, entrepreneurs use it the most for staying on top of the news, and new parents like the most that they can pay bills with their smartphone.
These are the key findings from The 2016 Smartphone User Behavior Report: Millennials and Their Smartphone Habits. Check out this infographic for more insights and visit this site for more detailed information and a full study report.
Share This Image on Your Site
Please include attribution to Coupofy.com with this graphic.