It should come as no surprise that Americans are obsessed with their smartphones. We don’t need a study to tell us; just look around. Network World brought this interesting information to us in their article, “We touch our phones 2,617 times a day, says study.“
However, a study has revealed that the heaviest smartphone users click, tap or swipe on their phone 5,427 times a day. That reflects the top 10 percent of phone users, but the rest of us still touch them 2,617 times a day on average. Both numbers make this germaphobe shudder.
I am not one of those people preaching for youngsters to “put their phones down” or “get off my lawn”, but I do believe there has to be some definition of appropriate use. It has certainly become the social crutch for those awkward moments on the bus or waiting in a doctor’s office. It has replaced perusing the magazines (hello? germaphobe here), but has it also replaced small talk? Not always, but social interaction has to be an intentional behavior as it is very easy to look down and zone out.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
