Survey shows Americans treat mobile devices as best friends, says Citrix

Press release, February 18; Alex Wolfgram, DIGITIMES [Monday 18 February 2013]

A new survey commissioned by Citrix found that Americans admitted to spending almost every waking minute with their devices, whether checking news and social media feeds first thing each morning, eating every meal with device in hand, or watching reality TV shows in secret.

The survey of more than 1,000 American smartphone and tablet owners ages 18 and older was conducted in January 2013 by Wakefield Research. It revealed that 69% of mobile device owners said they have been one day or less since they last ate a meal without checking their device while 66% of Millennials checked their devices when sitting down for a meal compared to 68% of the Generation X population and 71% of Boomers.

When asked the primary reason for using their mobile devices, 64% of survey respondents said "to keep myself from being bored." The next most popular reason, "to bring friends or family together," was cited by just 32% of respondents. Additionally, nearly 30% of the survey respondents said that they will wait only eight seconds for a mobile Web page to load before giving up. Along the same lines, 72% said they are likely to abandon downloading a large file because of slow download speeds.

"These survey findings confirm suspicions that most Americans are rendered completely helpless when separated from our mobile devices," said Mick Hollison, vice president of integrated marketing and strategy at Citrix. "As our attachments to smartphones and tablets continue to grow deeper and more intimate, companies must respond with new ways to empower people to use their favorite devices across their personal and professional lives. This will enable all of us to reach new levels of productivity and prosperity."