Member Article

Survey reveals UK workers are experiencing 'smartphone fatigue'

According to a survey commissioned by Thumbtel, 6 out of 10 (60%) 25-34 year old full time workers said they feel they are experiencing ‘smartphone fatigue’ created by the demands of inbound calls, text messages, alerts, notifications and emails, on their mobile devices.

This compares to 49% of 35-44 year olds, 25% of 45-54 year olds, and just 18% of those aged 55 and over.

A further 63% of 25-34 year olds agreed that smartphones are responsible for creating a work/life imbalance, with just over half (53%) of 25-34 year olds agreeing that they never fully ‘switch off’ from work, due to their smartphones and 56% saying they regularly receive work related calls that interrupt valuable personal time, such as holidays, weekends or evenings.

Senior managers/professionals are at the top of the list when it comes to those who claim to be regularly interrupted by work calls in their personal time, with 71.3% saying they face disruptions on a regular basis.

With 73% of respondents confirming that they own just one mobile handset, it creates difficulties in splitting business and personal calls. More than half (55%) say they have answered a work call, believing it to be a personal call. While a quarter (25%) of respondents are juggling two or more phones, possibly in an attempt to manage work and home calls on separate devices.

“It’s clear that there’s an issue relating to the pressures of managing work and home calls from smartphones with 4 out of 10 people (42%) agreeing that they never fully switch off from work due to their smartphones ,” says Andy Munarriz, CEO of Thumbtel.

65% senior managers agreed that they are experiencing ‘smartphone fatigue’, due to the demands of calls, texts, emails and notifications. In fact, almost 7 out of 10 (65%) senior managers believe that smartphones are responsible for work/life imbalance.

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