Americans Check Their Phones an Alarming Number of Times Per Day

It shouldn’t be a surprise that many of us are spending too much time looking at screens, but the actual numbers are alarming.

More than half of Americans (57%) say they are addicted to their phones, among those surveyed(Opens in a new window) by Reviews.org. On average, in 2023, people are checking their phones 144 times a day, though surprisingly, that number has gone down substantially (-58%) since the organization last conducted a phone usage survey in January 2022.

Phone usage in 2023.
(Credit: Reviews.org)

That could be because people simply aren’t putting their phones down, so there’s no need to repeatedly check them: Screen time overall is up 30% this year. On average, Americans spend 4 hours and 25 minutes a day on their phones, compared to 2 hours and 54 minutes in 2022.

Many respondents say they have their phones with them at all times. They sleep with their phones (60%), check them within the first 10 minutes of waking up (89%), and use them on the toilet (75%). When a notification comes in, three-fourths (75%) of survey respondents across generations look at it within five minutes.

(Credit: Reviews.org)

That doesn’t leave much time without our phones. Most people say they are uneasy leaving their phone at home (75%), and the majority have never gone longer than 24 hours without it (55%). If the battery level dips below 20%, a sense of panic or anxiety sets in for 47%.

There are some positive trends in phone usage this year compared with last year. The table below (data courtesy of Reviews.org) shows decreases in looking at phones while driving (-14%) and when on a date (-5.5%).

People also indicate they’re less obsessed with obtaining the latest and greatest shiny objects. Survey respondents report that having the newest model is less important this year (-8%), and people are much less willing to go into debt to purchase a new phone (-11.4%).

Anxiety about not having a phone or losing one seems to have gone down, too. Fewer people say they panic when the battery gets low (-4.6%) and when leaving the house phoneless (-3%). In last year’s survey, 29% of respondents said they had endangered themselves to save their phone from being lost or damaged. This year, that number went down to 17.5%. But in the event of a house fire or other disaster, 82% reported they would take their phones with them.

As you might expect, Gen Z is most phone-obsessed (29%), followed by millennials (23%), Gen X (11%), and boomers (4%).

(Credit: Reviews.org)

Methodology: Reviews.org surveyed 1,000 Americans (18 years and older) and says it achieved “a +/- 4% margin of error and a confidence level of 95%.” It also weighted the results to reflect the wider US population using public census data. Respondents referenced their phone’s screen time report when determining the average number of times they check their phones daily, plus how much time they spend on their devices in total.