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We are living in a smartphone society!

At first we were unsure whether it was just the team from Zebra Internet Services that noticed the increased usage of mobile phones in everyday life, from walking down the high street to constant use within our home. Thankfully, recent research from Ofcom has confirmed our thoughts that smartphones are now the leading device for browsing the internet, and accessing social media, banking and shopping applications. The OfCom 2015 Communications Market Report which was published in August 2015 discovered a number of interesting statistics - the following facts we find truly noteworthy.

There has been a significant rise in the use of mobile devices over laptops, and in 2014 only 22% of internet users reached for their phone first before their laptop. However, in 2015 this increased to 33% in such a small space of time. It’s not only 16 to 24 year olds that are fixed to their phones either, over two thirds of UK adults now own a smartphone which has risen from 39% in 2012 and now 50% of 55 to 64 year olds in the UK have joined the smartphone revolution.

The introduction of 4G from EE in 2012 found more users using their smartphones to do their shopping and banking online (55% of 4G users), watching more TV and videos from their devices (57%) and sending more photos via SMS (49%) and interacting via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook messenger (63%). O2 and Vodafone jumped on the 4G bandwagon in 2013 and by 2014 subscriptions for 4G internet shot from 2.7million to 23.6 million by the end of the year.

The mannerisms of how and when we use our smartphones is changing too, so what exactly is acceptable? 55% of people in the UK still think it’s unacceptable to check your phone during dinner, and here at Zebra Internet Services we totally back this up, food always comes first at the dinner table! Unfortunately, 4 in 10 people have this dinner table habit. As well as table manners, 34% of adults check their smartphone within 5 minutes of waking up, whether this be for work emails or social media browsing. Although we can be fixated with our mobiles, 38% of people choose to write a birthday card to their loved ones in comparison to 15% using social media and only 7% sending a text.

As well as over taking laptops for the chosen device for browsing online, smartphones have also replaced digital cameras and are the most popular device to take photos from. 89% of 16 to 24 year olds and 60% of adults are snapping photo shots at any chance. In the past year alone in the UK, over 1.2 billion ‘selfies’ were taking with 31% of adults openly admitting to participating in this global craze!

So, there’s our round up of our favourite statistics from the report. Here at Zebra Internet Services we offer online reputation management, domain names and cloud virtual services. For more information please visit www.zebra.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Stephanie Hutcheon .