The average American looks at their phone 52 times per day vs. 47 times last year

The average American picks up their smartphone 52 times per day, an increase over the 47 times they looked at their phones per day on average last year.

According to Deloitte’s Global Mobile Consumer Survey, 63 percent of those surveyed want to cut back their smartphone usage, but only around half of them are successful in doing so.

CNET has the story:

It’s a habit many people are trying to cut, according to the survey. Around 40 percent of people say they use their phones too much. Additionally, 60 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds admit they’re hooked on their devices. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they’re trying to limit their usage, but only around half actually succeed.

The number of smartphones also continues to grow, with 85 percent of Americans owning one—up 3 percent from 2017. The strongest growth is among US consumers aged 45 and up, with saturation in that group rising 7 percent.

This all serves as yet another proof that the smartphone remains the go-to device for people. A smartphone is something most people have on them, and many do almost all the time. And thanks to new ways to communicate, work, socialize, consume entertainment and more on the go, small wonder we are increasingly starring at our phones.

Other tidbits from the study:

Americans aren’t the only ones who are attached to their phones. According to an August report by telecommunications regulator Ofcom, 78 percent of adults in the UK own a smartphone, and Brits check their phones every 12 minutes.

While smartphone ownership has increased, tablets haven’t been so lucky, Deloitte says. They had the biggest year-over-year decline in market saturation of any device category, dropping from 62 percent last year to 57 percent this year, according to the firm. This has likely been driven by the fact that many phones now have larger screens, Deloitte notes.

Smartwatches, on the other hand, experienced positive growth, according to the survey. They’re now used by 14 percent of Americans, up one percent from last year. Daily usage for wearables has gone up for both owners of fitness bands (from 53 percent last year to 60 percent this year) and smartwatches (from 62 percent last year to 67 percent this year).

Last year, some investors slammed Apple and other tech giants, arguing they should be doing more to help users cure smartphone addiction that these tech giants have helped create.

Following criticism, so-called digital wellbeing initiatives started popping up in your favorite apps and operating systems from the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft.

Apple’s new Screen Time feature in iOS 12, for instance, makes it easy to explore pretty charts and see how many times you picked up your device per day, which apps you used the most, which apps were chewing up background CPU cycles and more.

And if you use the Family Sharing feature and are the family organizer, you can even limit your kids’ screen time with ease, set app-based time limits, manage content restrictions and more.