Mar 19 2013
Mobility

13 Impressive Statistics About Mobile Device Use

Mobile devices keep getting better, and users are more dependent than ever.

Do you have nomophobia?

If you own a cell phone, a smartphone or a tablet, you have probably experienced nomophobia to some degree. It is the fear of being without a mobile device. The root of the word comes from “no mobile,” and it’s a real disorder, affecting everyone from teens to senior citizens. As connection speeds become faster, hardware becomes sleeker and software becomes more useful, reliance on and fascination with mobile devices seem to increase.

You probably don’t need to read the research to convince yourself that many people are addicted to their mobile devices, but we’ve compiled some study results anyway, just to make sure any shred of doubt is erased. Here are some statistics that examine the growth of mobile device use:

87% American adults who own a cell phone (Source)
84% Cell phone owners who could not go a single day without their device (Source)
81% Growth of smartphone usage in 2012 (Source)
70% Growth of global mobile data traffic in 2012 (Source)
51% Traffic on mobile devices from video in 2012 (Source)
45% American adults who own a smartphone (Source)
44% Cell phone owners who have slept with their phone nearby because they didn’t want to miss a notification (Source)
31% American adults who own a tablet computer (Source)
24% Cell phone owners who say the worst thing about their device is that they are always connected (Source)
7-fold Difference in mobile data usage on laptops compared with mobile devices (Source)
12-fold Mobile traffic in 2012 versus entire Internet in 2000 (Source)
2013 The year when mobile-connected devices will exceed the world's population (Source)

Read more about the mobile revolution and how colleges are handling the influx of devices.

<p>iStockphoto/Thinkstock</p>
Close

Become an Insider

Unlock white papers, personalized recommendations and other premium content for an in-depth look at evolving IT