Embracing the new: Why people are ditching their smartphones?

Where most of us are glued to our smartphones, many during the pandemic have embraced a new way of life.

About nine out of 10 people in the UK now own a smartphone, a figure broadly replicated across the developed world. And we are glued to them — one recent study found that the average person spends 4.8 hours a day on their handset.

A lot of time spent indoors can change the way we think about life and our surroundings for a lot of Gen Z the pandemic had given new perspectives. the consensus had been a sudden realisation that social media prevent people from experiencing “real life”.

Internet use, and excessive internet use, has grown with the COVID-19 pandemic. One Chinese study found 33.37% of users to have problematic internet use habits. 44.3% of Koreans surveyed said their smartphone use increased as a result of COVID-19, and trend that is expected to increase into 2022.

The same study found the primary purpose of using a smartphone during COVID-19 was to communicate (49% of respondents), 47.2% use their smartphone for reading news, 34.6% for mobile shopping and 29% for photos and videos. There was a 39% increase in daily hourly smartphone use in 2020.

37% of users say they are texting more during COVID-19 than ever before. Video calling use is up 32% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopping app use is up 23% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smartphone usage from 2020–21 during COVID-19 pandemic (Source: Jack Sandhu)