Harris Interactive’s Touchscreen Life Study Proves Screen Life is Eclipsing Real Life for Many

LONDON--()--Around half of Britain’s smartphone and tablet owners are concerned that they are over-reliant on their technological companions (46% and 55%, respectively). In fact, as many as three-quarters of male tablet owners aged 16-34 worry that they are excessively glued to their screens.

These results are part of a recent Touchscreen Life study by Harris Interactive, which maps GB consumers’ use of technology devices including smartphones and tablets. In its series of Touchscreen Life studies, Harris Interactive analyses how technology is changing the way we consume, learn and interact with each other. In this latest instalment of Touchscreen Life, it was revealed that we, as a nation, are not only spending more and more time in front of a screen, but have become quite concerned about our addiction.

Steve Evans, Research Director at Harris Interactive, commented on the findings: “Devices that were designed to make our lives easier to control now appear to be controlling us. The proliferation of technology and our reliance on it is now becoming a familiar part of modern life. Many people welcome the intrusion as it brings with it unprecedented levels of social interactions, entertainment and other things that enrich us. But many owners of smartphones and tablets appear to be inextricably attached to their devices and this attachment permeates their entire home life; not even time spent with their nearest-and-dearest can break the eye-to-screen bond. This is a significant social change, this is the touchscreen life”.

To put some figures to it: almost three in five smartphone owners and two in five tablet owners find it difficult to switch off, admitting to "always checking” their devices (58% and 37%, respectively). Whilst smartphone and tablet owners often use their devices when relaxing at home (42% and 50%, respectively), family members are still denied their full quota of attention; almost a quarter of smartphone owners and over a third of tablet owners confess to using their devices at home during ‘time with family’ (23% and 35%, respectively). Watching TV too, it seems, has become a multi-tasking activity, with almost half (48%) simultaneously using a tablet and over a third their smartphone (36%). Even walking is not done offline; more than a quarter use a smartphone or tablet at the same time (28% and 32%, respectively)!

However, device dependency is not the preserve of adults. Parents are concerned about their children’s levels of screen life, with almost three in five (58%) saying they are concerned about the amount of time their kids spend in front of a screen – and, increasingly, this means mobiles and tablets as well as the traditional time-stealer, TV.

Clearly, as screen life eclipses real life for many, the emphasis on human interaction lessens – but is that the only drawback? Unfortunately not. For smartphones in particular, another prevailing concern is security – thanks to the increased use of smartphones as personal organisers that hold large amounts of sensitive private data. In fact, with so much information stored on our smartphones and tablets these days, we are literally carrying our lives around with us. It’s hardly surprising, then, that one in three of us would be “very alarmed” if we lost our smartphone because our personal data is not secure. Younger people (with more personal data) would be the most alarmed of all. And it’s not only the data stored on our own devices that gives rise to digital fears; smartphone owners’ biggest concern is the potential hacking of their personal data held by organisations (74%). Tablet owners’ biggest fear, meanwhile, is identity theft (81%). Other common fears in both camps include the loss or theft of the device itself, direct hacking of personal data held on the device and information loss via hacking or physical damage.

Added Evans, “A spate of stories about security breaches from some of the world’s biggest companies brings such concerns to the fore. With ever-increasing amounts of personal data going online and in the Cloud, privacy and trust are areas that will become evermore prominent.”

A copy of the Touchscreen Life Summary Report, Full Report and Infographic, are free to download from:

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/uk/Insights/Reports/touchscreenlife.aspx

Methodology for Touchscreen Life

Harris Interactive interviewed 1,786 GB respondents aged 16-64 (screened from a larger sample of 5,271 respondents for ownership profiling), via online fieldwork in May and June 2012. Quotas were set to ensure minimum samples of smartphone and tablet owners. Data was weighted by age, sex and region to ensure national representation of the GB population. Additional weighting brings incidence of smartphone and tablet ownership in line with current Ofcom estimates.

For more information, visit www.harrisinteractive.co.uk

Contacts

GingerMay Marketing for Harris Interactive
Victoria Usher
Tel: +44 (0)1892 785070
Email: victoria@gingermaymarketing.com

Release Summary

Around half of Britain’s smartphone and tablet owners are concerned that they are over-reliant on their technological companions, with screen life eclipsing real life for many.

Contacts

GingerMay Marketing for Harris Interactive
Victoria Usher
Tel: +44 (0)1892 785070
Email: victoria@gingermaymarketing.com