US spending more time on phones, less reading

Americans are spending as much time on their phones as they do on all forms of reading, eMarketer discovered in a study tonight. Mobile use each day has jumped from 39 minutes every day just a year ago to 50 minutes a day as of December. Much of that time was taken away from reading, with newspapers now read for just 30 minutes on average and magazines for 20 minutes.

Internet use was also up to 155 minutes, although radio (96 minutes) and TV (264 minutes) use was only down slightly by about two and three minutes each and still beat out phones and Internet use respectively. eMarketer noted that it was difficult to tell how committed users were to the old forms of media, however, since any instances of using another technology, such as checking a phone during a TV show or browsing the web with the radio in the background, counted equally for both sides.

The tally didn't necessarily point to a decline in reading as a whole. It's not known how much of the loss in reading was made up for through e-readers and tablets, as all of the periodical figures only represented print and not digital. Regardless, it pointed to traditional publications being some of the most sharply hit while suggesting that legacy AV formats weren't yet facing the full impact of cord-cutting, or a complete switch to Internet alternatives.

It may also have pointed to many simply reading through alternative sources, such as regular Internet news sites and e-books but also social media. The rise of smartphones may have played a part since many traditional tasks can be handled from the one device where basic phones didn't have that option. [via TechCrunch]

By Electronista Staff