Is screen addiction a threat to Americans? It’s time to face the truth

Technology — some of the best phones included — is amazing, because it allows us to live better lives. It makes things easier. How we learn has nothing to do with how we’ve learned in the past and as technology evolves, it will likely have little to do with how future generations learn.

Because good technology changes our lives for the better to the fundamentals such as the way we perceive the world.

That, however, isn’t always the case. Sometimes, it’s very easy to allow our brains to trick us into thinking that easy is fun. And sometimes fun can become scary, because it can turn into an addiction. But despite all of the bombastic headlines, can we actually say that Americans are becoming addicted to their smartphones?

Well, we didn’t get involved with this “How America Buys and Uses Smartphones: PhoneArena Survey” for any other reason than to find out. Because this is an important part of smartphone culture.

And, speaking of important, a new notes:

• This is commissioned research, so we’re impartial as can be.
• 2,000 people, vox populi of the US were surveyed.
• 100% accuracy is impossible, but all stats are relevant and up to date.
• Some people have both a second-hand phone and a new one as a daily driver

What you see above is how our respondents rated themselves when asked two simple, yet impactful questions:

• Are you worried about how much time you are spending on your phone?
• Are you addicted to your phone?

Now, take a moment and ask yourself the same questions. I won’t judge you, but I’ll share my responses so we can even out the playing field.

I’m certainly worried about how much time I feel like I “must” spend on my phone, but still I wouldn’t call myself an addict, precisely because I realize it’s a “must” and not a “like to”. And keeping it that way takes hard work for sure.

Because I’ve seen what starting to like spending time on your phone a bit too much looks like. And let me tell you: it’s not any less dangerous just because it can’t get anyone directly hurt.

The University of Nevada has a really solid TL;DR on the subject that is just elaborate enough, without becoming too science-y. Here are some key side effects of smartphone addiction that I find to be very dangerous:

• The development of FOMO: a constant fear that you are missing out on something, instead of focusing on your life right now
• Messing up your sleep patterns, which opens up the door to a whole nest of other issues
• Doomscrolling — or the pointless act of scrolling through feeds, without any real need to do so — actually makes you incredibly prone to anxiety

Now, I’d like to invite you to go back to the graph, consider that just under half of the surveyed people rated themselves as an eight out of ten, then consider how you compared to them.

Food for thought.



The good news is that not everyone is absolutely addicted. From our research, most Americans spend around three hours per day on their phone, which sounds about okay: a bit of gaming, a bit of media and a bit of waiting around between tasks makes up about three hours, right?

Sure, there is always the idealistic view of doing something else like reading or admiring nature, or exercising during that period, but realistically, context plays a huge role here and that we don’t have, so we prefer to trust that you know what is best for you.

And now for something that won’t shock anyone: younger Americans spend more time on their phones. But can you really blame them? At this point, kids basically come pre-packed with a free smartphone and we have ourselves to blame for that. But I digress.

Interestingly enough, Apple users specifically have a tendency to spend more time on their phones. Could this be a byproduct of the dreaded, but also in fact quite useful Apple ecosystem? You tell us.

How screen time impacts our well-being has been a growing concern for a while now. As time went on, more distractions got introduced. The time we spend on our phones hasn’t decreased as much as we’d hope and research is showing a growing list of negative impacts that this may have on us and future generations.

While we, at PhoneArena, can’t really do anything about solving this issue — as much as we’d want to — we can afford to give you the advice to take some screen time today so that you may be able to bask in the joy of future technology for longer and in more fulfilling ways.

And if you ask the author, grabbing a cup of decaf and heading to the park, phoneless and book-equipped, is what 2023 is all about.

And speaking of what 2023 is all about, don’t forget that the full edition of the “How America Buys and Uses Smartphones” research will be published really soon right here, on PhoneArena so make sure you come back to check it out when the time comes! 

Oh, and also