Good Lord, College Women Spend 10 Hours a Day on Their Phones

Photo: 2/Corbis

If a new study from Baylor University is to be believed, college women spend an incredible ten hours a day futzing around on their cell phones — and the guys aren’t far behind, losing eight hours each day the same way. And perhaps not surprising, in that same study, about 60 percent of the college students said they felt “addicted” to their phones.

The researchers, led by Baylor marketing professor James Roberts, surveyed 164 students about the things they did on their phones and how much time they spent doing them. Among their findings: The students who spent more time on Facebook and Pinterest were more likely to report feeling addicted to the phones than those who played more games. More, via the press release:

Of the top activities, respondents overall reported spending the most time texting (an average of 94.6 minutes a day), followed by sending emails (48.5 minutes), checking Facebook (38.6 minutes), surfing the Internet (34.4 minutes) and listening to their iPods. (26.9 minutes).

It’s a small sample, and it’s possible the students could’ve been overestimating how much time they spent on each smartphone activity, resulting in an inflated overall figure. Or, they could just as easily be underestimating! But, to me at least, the most unsettling thing about the ten-hours-a-day figure is that it actually seems pretty plausible.  

Women Spend 10 Hours a Day on Their Phones