Most college students have heard that they’re either too addicted to their phones, obsessed with social media, and unable to live in “reality.” While many college students aren’t actually addicted to their phones, let’s face it — the amount of time they spend on their phones is at least concerning. But while it may be concerning to some, it’s really just a part of the rapidly changing society that we live in.
As popular apps for young people like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat continues to grow more popular, they begin to shape a part of daily routines. A considerable amount of time is often spent on these apps at all times of the day. From study breaks, laying in bed, eating food and more, it’s likely you’ll see any young person on their phone for at least a few minutes. “Just a few minutes” tends to add up, however, as multiple breaks are taken over the course of the full day, leading to hours of time spent on a phone. Luckily, those who want to manage the amount of time spent on their phones can just use Apple’s screen time feature. This feature allows a user to track and manage their screen time on their phone.
To get an idea of just how much time people spend on their phones, SimpleTexting conducted a survey of over 2,000 people on their iPhone screen time. They were able to collect data on the minutes, hours, and days users spend on their phones by asking users to go into their screen time data and input it into a survey.
Part of the data they collected was split into generations. The youngest generation included, Millennials, unsurprisingly spends the most time overall on their phones. Every day, Millennials spend an average of 205 minutes or 3.42 hours on their phones. Over the course of a week, the same group is projected to spend over 1,400 minutes or an entire day just on their phones. At these rates, the average Millennial will spend 74,825 minutes or 1,247 hours or 51 whole days on their phones annually. When put into those terms, the amount is shocking.
Even though Millennials spend the most time on their phones, this isn’t something that should surprise anyone. What is more surprising is that Gen X and Baby Boomers aren’t far behind in their screen time averages. On average, Baby Boomers still spend over 2 hours every single day on their phones. That’s quite a lot of time for a generation that claims that times were better without phones.
Spending less time on your phone can be difficult, especially for college students. Between iPhones, laptops, and watches, it’s pretty much expected that you’ll be connected to the rest of the world via technology at all times. If you feel like your phone is getting in the way of your studies or just general life, try to limit yourself from the amount of time you spend on certain apps. Laptops can be a problem as well, and if you have an Apple computer, it’s still just as easy to text or browse Instagram without using your phone. If this is a struggle for you, use a website blocker that allows you to manage the amount of down time you have and blocks you from visiting certain distracting websites.