FOR RELEASE APRIL 1, 2015 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT: Aaron Smith ...

60 Pages·2015·1.51 MB·English

by  Aaron Smith

NUMBERS, FACTS AND TRENDS SHAPING THE WORLD

FOR RELEASE APRIL 1, 2015

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
ON THIS REPORT:
Aaron Smith, Senior Researcher
Dana Page, Communications Manager
202.419.4372
www.pewresearch.org

RECOMMENDED CITATION: Pew Research Center, April, 2015, “The Smartphone Difference”
Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/
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PEW RESEARCH CENTER
About This Report
This report examines the increasingly important role that smartphones play in helping Americans
access, share, and create information and communicate with others. It places a particular focus on
the sometimes-fragile financial and technical circumstances of those who rely heavily on their
smartphones for internet access. The report documents the continued growth in the number of
Americans with smartphones through data captured in two omnibus polls in November 2014.
These findings are supplemented by a survey of the role of smartphones in users’ lives that was
conducted among 2,188 smartphone owners in Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel in
October 2014.
To complement this core data, the report utilizes a form of survey known as “experience sampling”
to gather data about how Americans use their smartphones on a day-to-day basis. Respondents
were asked to complete two surveys per day for one week (using either a mobile app they had
installed on their phone or by completing a web survey) and describe how they had used their
phone in the hour prior to taking the survey. This produces a unique and intimate portrait of
smartphone usage—the apps and features that are used most frequently, the locations where
smartphone use is most prevalent, and the benefits and emotions that smartphones inspire.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes
and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. It conducts public
opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science
research. The center studies U.S. politics and policy views; media and journalism; internet and
technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and U.S. social and demo-
graphic trends. All of the center’s reports are available at www.pewresearch.org.
Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This report
was made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which received support for the project from the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.
Aaron Smith, Senior Researcher Lee Rainie, Director, Internet, Science & Technology
Kyley McGeeney, Research Methodologist Scott Keeter, Director, Survey Research
Maeve Duggan, Research Analyst

© Pew Research Center 2015
www.pewresearch.org
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Summary of Findings
The traditional notion of “going online” often evokes
Key Themes of This Report
images of a desktop or laptop computer with a full
10% of Americans own a smartphone but
complement of features, such as a large screen,
do not have broadband at home, and 15%
mouse, keyboard, wires, and a dedicated high-speed
own a smartphone but say that they have
connection. But for many Americans, the reality of
a limited number of options for going
the online experience is substantially different. online other than their cell phone. Those
Today nearly two-thirds of Americans own a with relatively low income and educational
smartphone, and 19% of Americans rely to some attainment levels, younger adults, and
degree on a smartphone for accessing online services non-whites are especially likely to be
and information and for staying connected to the “smartphone-dependent.”
world around them — either because they lack
Smartphones are widely used for
broadband at home, or because they have few
navigating numerous important life
options for online access other than their cell phone.
activities, from researching a health
condition to accessing educational
Indeed, 7% of Americans own a smartphone but resources. Lower-income and
have neither traditional broadband service at home, “smartphone-dependent” users are
nor easily available alternatives for going online especially likely to turn to their phones for
other than their cell phone. This report documents navigating job and employment resources.
the unique circumstances of this “smartphone-
A majority of smartphone owners use their
dependent” population, and also explores the ways
phone to follow along with breaking news,
in which smartphone owners use their phones to
and to share and be informed about
engage in a wide range of activities.
happenings in their local community.
Below are some more details about these major Smartphones help users navigate the
findings on the state of smartphone ownership in world around them, from turn-by-turn
driving directions to assistance with public
America today, based on a series of surveys
transit. This is especially true for younger
conducted by Pew Research Center in association
users.
with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation:
An “experience sampling” of smartphone
Nearly two-thirds of Americans are now owners over the course of a week
smartphone owners, and for many these devices illustrates how young adults have deeply
are a key entry point to the online world embedded mobile devices into the daily
contours of their lives.
64% of American adults now own a smartphone of
some kind, up from 35% in the spring of 2011. The experience sampling survey illustrates
Smartphone ownership is especially high among that smartphone usage often produces
younger Americans, as well as those with relatively feelings of productivity and happiness, but
high income and education levels. that many users also feel distracted or
frustrated after mobile screen encounters.
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And for a number of Americans, smartphones
The “Smartphone-Dependent”
serve as an essential connection to the broader
Population: 7% of Americans Rely
world of online information. The survey
Heavily on a Smartphone for Online
measured reliance on smartphones for online
Access
access in two different ways — first, by asking
% of U.S. adults who have a smartphone, but lack other
smartphone owners whether or not they have
broadband internet service at home, and/or have limited
traditional broadband service at home, and options for going online other than their cell phone
second, whether they have a reasonable number

of options for accessing the internet in general
from any location. It found that:
 10% of Americans own a smartphone but do
not have any other form of high-speed
internet access at home beyond their phone’s
data plan.
 Using a broader measure of the access
options available to them, 15% of Americans
own a smartphone but say that they have a
limited number of ways to get online other
than their cell phone.
In all, one-in-five American adults (19%)
indicate that at least one of those conditions
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel survey, October 3-27
apply to them, and 7% of the public says that
2014.
both of these conditions apply — that is, they do
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not have broadband access at home, and also
have relatively few options for getting online
other than their cell phone. Throughout this report, we refer to this latter group as “smartphone-
dependent” users.
Certain groups of Americans rely on smartphones for online access at elevated levels, in particular:
 Younger adults — 15% of Americans ages 18-29 are heavily dependent on a smartphone for
online access.
 Those with low household incomes and levels of educational attainment — Some
13% of Americans with an annual household income of less than $30,000 per year are
smartphone-dependent. Just 1% of Americans from households earning more than $75,000
per year rely on their smartphones to a similar degree for online access.
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 Non-whites — 12% of African Americans and 13% of Latinos are smartphone-dependent,
compared with 4% of whites.
Compared with smartphone owners who are less reliant on their mobile devices, these
smartphone-dependent users are less likely to own some other type of computing device, less
likely to have a bank account, less likely to be covered by health insurance, and more likely to rent
or to live with a friend or family member rather than own their own home.
The connections to online resources that smartphones facilitate are often most tenuous for
those users who rely on those connections the most
Even as a substantial minority
of Americans indicate that Smartphone Ownership is Often Most Tenuous for
their phone plays a central role Those Who Rely on Their Devices the Most
in their ability to access digital % of smartphone owners in each group who have experienced the following
services and online content,

"Smartphone-dependent" Other smartphone owners
for many users this access is
often intermittent due to a
Have had to cancel or 48
combination of financial suspend service due to
financial constraints 21
stresses and technical
constraints.
Frequently/occasionally reach 51
maximum data allowed on
smartphone plan 35
Nearly half (48%) of
smartphone-dependent
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel survey, October 3-27 2014. “Smartphone
Americans have had to cancel dependent” users lack broadband service at home, and/or have limited options for internet
access other than their cell phone.
or shut off their cell phone
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service for a period of time
because the cost of maintaining that service was a financial hardship. In addition, 30% of
smartphone-dependent Americans say that they “frequently” reach the maximum amount of data
that they are allowed to consume as part of their cell phone plan, and 51% say that this happens to
them at least occasionally. Each of these figures is substantially higher than those reported by
smartphone owners with more access options at their disposal.

www.pewresearch.org
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Smartphone owners of all kinds use their phone to help navigate numerous important life
events; lower income and “smartphone-dependent” users are especially likely to use their
phone for job and employment resources
Smartphones are used for much more than
More than Half of Smartphone Owners
calling, texting, or basic internet browsing.
Have Used Their Phone to get Health
Users are turning to these mobile devices as
Information, do Online Banking
they navigate a wide range of life events:
% of smartphone owners who have used their phone to
do the following in the last year
 62% of smartphone owners have used their

phone in the past year to look up
Get info about a
62
information about a health condition. health condition

 57% have used their phone to do online
Do online banking
57
banking.
Look up real estate
 44% have used their phone to look up real listings or info about a 44
estate listings or other information about a place to live
place to live. Look up info about a job 43
 43% to look up information about a job. Look up government
services or info 40
 40% to look up government services or
Take a class or get
information.
educational content 30
 30% to take a class or get educational
Submit a job
content. application 18
 18% to submit a job application.
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel survey, October 3-27
2014.
Lower-income smartphone owners are
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especially likely to use their phone during a job
search. Compared with smartphone owners
from households earning $75,000 or more per year, those from households earning less than
$30,000 annually are nearly twice as likely to use a smartphone to look for information about a
job — and more than four times as likely to use their phone to actually submit a job application.
Similarly, “smartphone-dependent” users are much more likely to use their smartphones to access
career opportunities. 63% of these smartphone-dependent users have gotten job information on
their phone in the last year, and 39% have used their phone to submit a job application.
Young adults (85% of whom are smartphone owners) are also incorporating their mobile devices
into a host of information seeking and transactional behaviors. About three-quarters of 18-29 year
old smartphone owners have used their phone in the last year to get information about a health
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condition; about seven-in-ten have used their phone to do online banking or to look up
information about job; 44% have consumed educational content on their phone; and 34% have
used their phone to apply for a job.
A majority of smartphone owners use their phone to follow along with breaking news, and
to share and be informed about happenings in their local community; smartphones also
help users navigate the world around them, from turn by turn driving directions to
assistance with public transit
A substantial majority of smartphone owners use their phone to follow along with news events
near and far, and to share details of local happenings with others:
 68% of smartphone owners use their phone at least occasionally to follow along with breaking
news events, with 33% saying that they do this “frequently.”
 67% use their phone to share pictures, videos, or commentary about events happening in
their community, with 35% doing so frequently.
 56% use their phone at least occasionally to learn about community events or activities, with
18% doing this “frequently.”
Each of these behaviors is common across a diverse group of smartphone owners. Mobile news
consumption is common even among older smartphone owners, who tend to use these devices for
more basic activities. Four-in-ten smartphone owners ages 65 and older use their phone at least
occasionally to keep up with breaking news, half use it to share information about local
happenings, and one-third use it to stay abreast of events and activities in their community.
Smartphones also play an important role in helping their owners navigate their environment and
get where they need to go, especially as a mobile GPS for real-time driving directions:
 67% of smartphone owners use their phone at least occasionally for turn-by-turn navigation
while driving, with 31% saying that they do this “frequently.”
 25% use their phone at least occasionally to get public transit information, with 10% doing this
“frequently.”
 11% use their phone at least occasionally to reserve a taxi or car service. Just 4% do so
frequently, and 72% of smartphone owners never use their phone for this purpose.
Each of these behaviors is especially prevalent among younger smartphone owners: for instance,
17% of smartphone owners ages 18-29 use their phone to reserve a taxi or car service at least
occasionally. Additionally, African American and Latino smartphone owners look up public transit
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information on their phones at higher rates than whites (37% of black smartphone owners, 30% of
Latinos, and 21% of whites do this at least on occasion).
Users view smartphones as freeing, connecting, helpful, and usually worth the cost — but
not always essential
When asked to choose from a
Despite Clear Benefits, 54% of Smartphone Owners
series of statements
Say Their Phone is “Not Always Needed”—but 46% Say
representing how they feel
it is Something They “Couldn’t Live Without”
about their phone, a substantial
% of smartphone owners who say that the following items from each pair
majority of smartphone owners
best describe how they feel about their phone
feel that these devices are

“helpful” rather than
“annoying,” “connecting” rather
than “distracting,” and that
they represent “freedom” rather
than a “leash.”
At the same time, smartphone
owners are relatively divided on
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel survey, October 3-27 2014.
the essential necessity of mobile
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connectivity: 54% say that their
phone is “not always needed,”
while 46% say that it is something they “couldn’t live without.” And while a substantial 80%
majority of smartphone owners describe their phone as “worth the cost,” 19% — and 29% of those
who pay more than $200 per month for service — describe it as a “financial burden.”
A special “experience sampling” survey of smartphone owners offers new insights into how
Americans use their mobile devices
In addition to the surveys of smartphone owners that form the main findings of this report, the
Pew Research Center also conducted an “experience sampling” survey of smartphone owners as
part of this project. In the experience sampling survey, smartphone owners were contacted twice a
day over a period of one week and asked how they had used their phone in the hour prior to taking
the survey. This analysis offers new insights into how smartphone owners interact with their
mobile devices on a day-to-day basis: the features and apps they use; the locations where that use
happens; the issues or problems they use their phones to solve; and the emotions they feel as a
result.
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PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Text messaging is the most widely-used smartphone feature but voice/video calling remains
popular, even among young smartphone owners; email continues to retain a place of
prominence in the smartphone era
Some Features are Popular With a
Fully 97% of smartphone owners used text
Broad Spectrum of Smartphone Owners;
messaging at least once over the course of the Social Networking, Watching Video, and
study period, making it the most widely-used Music/Podcasts are Especially Popular
basic feature or app; it is also the feature that is Among Young Users
used most frequently, as the smartphone
% of smartphone owners in each age group who used the
owners in this study reported having used text following features on their phone at least once over the
course of 14 surveys spanning a one-week period
messaging in the past hour in an average of
seven surveys (out of a maximum total of 14
across the one-week study period). Younger 18-29 30-49 50+
smartphone owners are especially avid users of
100
text messaging, but this group has by no means Text messaging 98
92
abandoned voice calls—93% of smartphone
owners ages 18-29 used voice or video calling 97
Internet use 90
on at least one occasion during the study
80
period, and reported doing so in an average of
93
3.9 surveys. Voice/video calls 91
94
91
Email has long ranked as one of the most
Email 87
common activities that users take part in online 87
since the desktop/laptop era, and it continues 91
SNS 77
to play a prominent role in the mobile era as
55
well. Some 88% of smartphone owners used
75
email on their phone at least once over the Video 46
course of the study period, making email a 31
more widely-used smartphone feature than 64
Music 39
social networking, watching video, or using
21
maps and navigation, among others.
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel experience sampling
Social networking, video consumption, and survey, November 10-16 2014.
music/podcasts are especially popular with Respondents were contacted twice a day over the course of one
week (14 total surveys) and asked how they had used their phone in
younger smartphone owners the preceding hour (besides completing the survey). Only those
respondents who completed 10 or more surveys over the course of
the study period are included in this analysis.
Three smartphone features in particular —
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social networking, watching video, and listening
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to music or podcasts — are especially popular with younger users. Fully 91% of smartphone
owners ages 18-29 used social networking on their phone at least once over the course of the study
period, compared with 55% of those 50 and older (a 36-point difference). These young
smartphone owners reported using social networking in an average of 5.6 surveys, tied with
internet use as the second-most frequent smartphone behavior among young adults after text
messaging.
Features such as watching video and listening
Younger Users More Likely to Use Their
to music or podcasts are even more the domain
Phone for Preventing Boredom, Avoiding
of young smartphone owners. Three-quarters of
Others, Getting Somewhere
younger smartphone owners (75%) indicated
using their phone to watch videos at least once % of smartphone owners in each age group who used
their phone for the following reasons at least once over
over the study period, compared with 31% of
the course of 14 surveys spanning a one-week period
those 50 and older (a difference of 44

18-29 30-49 50+
percentage points). And 64% of younger adults
used their phones at one time or another to 93
Avoid being bored 82
listen to music or podcasts — a 43-point
55
difference compared with the 21% of older users
47
who did so.
Avoid others
32
around you
15
Young users are particularly likely to use a
57
smartphone to avoid boredom — and ignore Find a good way
37
to get somewhere
other people 33
Pew Research Center American Trends Panel experience sampling
Younger users stand out especially prominently
survey, November 10-16 2014.
when it comes to using their phone for two
Respondents were contacted twice a day over the course of one
purposes in particular: avoiding boredom, and week (14 total surveys) and asked how they had used their phone in
the preceding hour (besides completing the survey). Only those
avoiding people around them. Fully 93% of 18-
respondents who completed 10 or more surveys over the course of
29 year old smartphone owners in the the study period are included in this analysis.
experience sampling study used their phone at PEW RESEARCH CENTER
least once to avoid being bored, with
respondents in this age group reporting that they did so in average of 5.4 surveys over the one-
week study period. Similarly, 47% of young smartphone owners used their phone to avoid
interacting with the people around them at least once during the study period, roughly three times
the proportion of older smartphone owners who did so.

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