The Attachment Problem:
Cell Phone Use In America

Annual Survey 2019

INTRODUCTION

SureCall, the manufacturer of the most powerful and reliable cellular signal boosters on the market, wanted to better understand how our relationships with our cellular devices has evolved in recent years. In this annual survey, SureCall asked about a range of topics including cell phone usage, 5G awareness and basic lifestyle. It collected responses via an online survey from over 1,000 individuals who are located in the U.S. and over the age of 18.

• INSEPARABILITY
• SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL
• FUTURE OF CELLULAR
• PROFILING CELLULAR USERS
• OUR CELL PHONE AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
• CELL PHONE USAGE
• INCOME VS CELL PHONE USAGE VS HAPPINESS
• CELL PHONE USAGE AND YOU
• UNRELIABLE SIGNALS
• CONCLUSION
• ABOUT THE RESEARCH
• ABOUT SURECALL

INSEPARABILITY

Cell phones are becoming an increasingly central part of our lives. Compared to the study last year, we’ve seen an increase in those who consider cell service as a determining factor when buying or renting a home to 58%. We also see similar patterns across other aspects of cell phone usage, some of which are detailed below.

• Over two-thirds of respondents admit to using their phones on the toilet.
• 22% say they use their phone on the toilet/urinal very often.
• 22% admit to using their phones in the bath or shower.
• 11% of respondents sometimes to very often use the phone in the bath/shower.
• 82% admit to using their phones in bed.
• 37% of respondents say they use their phones very often in bed.
• 10% admit that they have answered the phone or replied to a text during sex
• Among those reaching for their phones in an intimate setting, almost 40% admit to doing so more than once in the past year. One-third admitted they have done so 2-5 times.
• 22% of respondents say their phone usage has increased in the last year, compared to 14% who say they are on their phones less than they were a year ago.
• 68% of respondents say they sleep with their phone on or next to their bed.
• Almost half of respondents say that they only turn off their phones a few times per year or less.
• Only 8% of respondents say that they have used a service to reduce screen time on their phones.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL

Our study suggests a strong correlation between phone habits and general emotional/social well-being; people who are attached to their phones in certain ways are much more likely to feel generally unhappy with their lives while also exhibiting more anti-social tendencies.

• 63% admit to using their phones to avoid a social situation:
• 36% of respondents say they sometimes or very often use the phone to avoid social situations
• 9% say they use their phone to avoid a social situation very often.
• 33% say they experience feelings of anxiety without their phones versus 27% from last year.
• Those who sleep with their phones on or next to their beds are 3 times more likely to report feeling very unhappy or extremely dissatisfied with their lives, compared to those who don’t
• People who have used their phones during sex are four times more likely to use their phones to avoid social situations very often. (28% vs 6.9%)
• Those who reported being on their phones less than they were a year ago were three times more likely to say that they didn’t feel anxiety when left without their phones.
• 70% of those who say they used a service to reduce screen time on their phones reported getting 6-8 hours of sleep.
• Those who never turn off their phones are twice as likely to say they feel more anxious when they are without their phones compared to those who turn it off every day.

FUTURE OF CELLULAR

While awareness of 5G is exploding, people are wanting to learn more about the nascent technology before being willing to pay for 5G upgrades.

• 82% of respondents have heard of 5G, a sizeable increase in comparison to only 56% that had heard of it a year ago.
• Top perceptions of 5G:
• Faster Speeds - 66%
• Expensive - 24%
• Fewer Dropped Calls - 18%
• 35% of respondents strongly disagree that they’d be willing to pay more on their cellular phone bills to have 5G data speeds.
• Only 14% of respondents plan to upgrade their phone to have access to 5G.

PROFILING CELLULAR USERS

Apple vs. Android

The two operating systems that hold the majority of the market have created quite a brand following, sometimes referred to as a cult following. As the battle rages on to prove which is the best, we thought it would be interesting to see how users of Android and Apple compared.

• Apple users are more likely to use the phone on the toilet/urinal sometimes to very often than Android. (51% Apple vs. 43% Android)
• Android users are more likely to say that they have never used their phones to avoid a social situation compared to Apple users. (35% Android vs. 28% Apple)
• Android users are more likely to not sleep with their phones on or next to their beds compared to Apple users. (32% Android vs. 26% Apple)
• Apple users are more likely to say that they are on their phones more than a year ago compared to Android users. (26% Apple vs. 21% Android)
• Both Android and Apple users are just as likely to answer a phone or reply to a text during sex.
• Of those, however, Android users are twice as likely to say they’ve used their phones during an intimate moment 2-5 times in the past year compared to Apple users.
• Apple users were twice as likely to say that they used a service to reduce screen time in the past year compared to Android users.
• Of those who used a screening service, 37% of Android users found their service to be very effective, compared to 15% of Apple users.
• More Apple users claim to be somewhat to extremely satisfied with their work/life balance compared to Android users. (63% Apple vs. 54% Android)
• Android users are four times more likely to admit to being very unhappy compared to Apple users.
• Android users are twice as likely to say that they are extremely dissatisfied with their lives compared to Apple users.
• More Android users say that they are planning to vote for Trump in 2020 compared to Apple users. (31% Android vs. 25% Apple)
• Android users are twice as likely to say that they get less than 4 hours of sleep a night compared to Apple users.

Generations

Unsurprisingly, younger people are more engaged with their phones than older generations.

• 88% of those between the ages of 18-34 sleep with their phone on or next to their beds, compared to 50% of those age 52 or older.
• Those aged 22-34 are almost twice as likely to experience anxiety when separated from their phones compared to those over the age of 52.
• Those between the ages of 18-34 are over twice as likely to say that they use their phones to avoid social situations compared to those aged 35-51. That difference grows to ten times when compared to those aged 52-70.
• People under 52 years old are three times more likely to text their friends, while people aged over 52 would rather call, given the choice.
• Younger ages (18-34) are over twice as likely to say that they are using their phones less than they were a year ago compared to those who are older (52-70).
• Ages 52-70 are nine times more likely to say they never use their phones in bed compared to those with ages 22-34.

OUR CELL PHONE AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE

Despite the shift from text to call towards richer communication mediums in the 21st Century, cell phones have remained the cornerstone of our fascination with all things real and digital, blending the boundaries between work and play while granting each user the collective power and wisdom of a hundred if not a thousand lives.

Being at the cutting edge of the cellular signal booster industry, we at SureCall perform annual data collection and research to help us better understand the nature of this game-changing technology and how it affects other core elements of your well-being.

Our findings highlight a rather pronounced correlation between low income, unhealthy cell phone usage, and unreliable cell signals that suggests there is a middle ground where people can learn to develop healthier cell phone habits without giving up their reliance on mobile technology, all the while potentially finding more happiness as an added bonus

CELL PHONE USAGE

Phones are playing a bigger part in people’s lives, but they also lead to increased side-effects if healthy phone habits aren’t observed.

The first things we looked at after popping the hood were YoY trends, which give us a decent understanding of the landscape’s inertia. When we compared our numbers against our 2018 results under the same queries, we notice a shift towards heavier reliance on our cell phones, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing by itself, but like Pandora’s box, this reliance comes with increased anxiety and less meaningful social relationships.

• 10% of people use their phones during sex, an increase of 23% from last year’s 8%
• More than 2/3rds of people say that they use their phones while on the toilet
• Number of people who often (6 or more times per week) experience unreliable cellular signal jumped by 50% from 6.5% to almost 10%
• 82% of people have now heard of 5G, a 45% increase from last year
• People are 17% more likely this year to factor poor cell signals into their decision to buy/rent a home/apartment, at a rate of 58%
• 33% of people this year experience feelings of anxiety when they are without their cell phone, an increase of 20% from last year

INCOME VS CELL PHONE USAGE VS HAPPINESS

Higher earners experience the same frustrations with their phones just as often as lower income earners--however, they seem to be immune to many of the most serious side-effects of poor phone usage.

One of the hottest issues in American discourse right now is the economy. Whether you like it or hate it, everyone wants an economy that offers ample opportunity to live a meaningful life while providing for loved ones. But do the top earners ($100k+) have a unique relationship with their devices? Are they doing anything differently from the rest of us grunts?

The answer to that may surprise you. On one hand, higher earners experience much of the same anxiety w/o their phones and are inconvenienced by weak cell signals at the same rate as lower income earners. However, they seem to have a more disciplined phone/life balance than lower earners and since phone habits are correlated with improved social relationships and better sleeping habits, top earners are able to enjoy their devices just as much as the rest of us without having to make significant concessions in other areas of their lives.

• 34% of top earners experience anxiety without their phones, identical to the 34% of low earners who also report the same reaction
• 68% of both bottom earners (0-25k) and top earners (100k+) earners experienced 1 or more unreliable cell signals in the past week
• Cell Signals are just as important to top earners when buying/renting a home vs bottom earners (58%)

BUT

• Top earners are 50% less likely than no-low earners to get less than 4 hrs sleep per night, and 40% less likely to get more than 8 hrs sleep per night, but are 36% more likely to get between 6-8 hrs of sleep per night
• Higher earners are less likely to ignore a phone call from parents, friends, and SO
• Top earners report feeling generally “happy” or “very happy” at rates of up to 50% higher than no-low income workers
• Compared to lower earners, higher earners are 25% less likely to sleep with their phone on/next to their beds, 37% less likely to use their phone often in bed, and 50% less likely to use their phone during sex

CELL PHONE USAGE AND YOU

Poor phone habits are not only tied to low income, but also strongly correlate with each other as well as with malnourished social interactions, sleep, work/life balance and happiness.

Now we know that higher income workers don’t necessarily use their phones less or more, but rather seem to adopt fortified boundaries between their devices and their private lives that make them immune to many of the unhealthy phone habit side-effects which plague lower-income earners.

Let’s take a closer look at how some of these phone habits can erode one’s quality of life. From friends and family to income, general happiness, and even one’s love life, there seems to be no corner of one’s inner circle that isn’t related to unhealthy phone habits.

Q: Do you sleep with your phone next to or on your bed?
People who answer yes are:

• 12% less likely than those who don’t to make over 75k per year (37% vs 42%)
• 50% less likely to call their coworker/friend and 70% more likely to text them given the choice
• Highly correlated with using the phone on the toilet (5x more likely), 2.5x more likely to use their phones during sex or to avoid social situations, 2.5x more likely to experience anxiety w/o their phone, and 40% more likely to be single compared to those who don’t sleep with their phones near their beds
• 2-3x more likely to be dissatisfied with their life or work/life balance and self-identify as feeling generally very unhappy at more than 3x the rate of those who don’t sleep with their phones near their beds

Q: Have you ever answered the phone or replied to a text during sex?
People who answer yes are:

• Almost 50% more likely than those who haven’t to be single
• 60% more likely to feel anxiety when w/o their phone
• 2.5x more likely to ignore calls from their parents
• Almost 3x more likely to also use their phones often on the toilet
• 4x more likely to use their phones to avoid social situations very often (28% vs 6.9%)
• 3.5x more likely to get less than 4hrs of sleep a night compared to those who haven’t used their phones during sex (10% vs 2.7%)

UNRELIABLE SIGNALS

It only takes 1-2 unreliable cell connection experiences per week for people to begin exhibiting many of the same undesirable lifestyle happiness indicators that we see in poor phone habit offenders and low-income earners.

Not only do we now know that poor phone habits are strongly correlated with lower income, social isolation, and general unhappiness, but we also see similar patterns for people who experience unreliable cellular signals, such as calls dropping, texts not going through, or slow/intermittent browsing.

While part of their increased stress is likely perpetuated by the fact that some of their jobs depend on them having a strong cell signal (Uber/Lyft for example), the correlation nevertheless stands firm and is one of our chief motivations at SureCall where we provide cell signal booster solutions to families, adventurers, schools, businesses, police departments, and everything in between in an effort to help prevent stressful situations and encourage a healthier lifestyle normally reserved for happier, higher-income people.

• People who experience frequent (10+ per week) unreliable signals say they are likely to ignore calls from parents, friends, and coworkers at 2x the rate compared to those who don’t experience unreliable signals (7.4% vs 3.9%)
• People who experience many (6-9) unreliable signals are 50% more likely to feel anxious without their phones than those who don’t experience cell signal issues
• People who experience some (3-9 per week) unreliable signals are 50% more likely to use phone during sex compared to those who rarely or never experience cellular signal issues (15% vs 9%)
• People who experience as few as 1 or more instance of an unreliable signal per week are already 22% more likely to sleep with their phones next to their bed compared to those who don’t experience any unreliable signals
• People who don’t experience unreliable cell signals are 23% more likely to report a “satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” work/life balance compared to those who experience many unreliable signals
• That same group of people who don’t experience unreliable cell signals are also 21% more likely to feel extremely satisfied with their work/life balance compared to those who experience 1 or more unreliable signals per week (27% vs 22%)

CONCLUSION

As technology enables us to further enrich our communication mediums, we will likely one day look upon our cell phones as an outdated relic from the past. However, until we do, it is up to us to champion healthy phone habits as a means to ensure the well-being of ourselves, our families, and our children.

While this report certainly highlights worrisome correlations between phone habits, unreliable cellular signals, income, happiness, sleep, and social/sexual relationships, it is by no means a guaranteed roadmap to improving your daily happiness. Regardless, we hope that it serves as an enlightening portal for self-exploration, helping everyday folks better understand the connections between that which ails us and their day-to-day impact on our lives.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

The June 2019 study collected responses via an online survey from over 1,000 individuals who are located in the U.S. and over the age of 18. This research was generated by SureCall in partnership with SurveyMonkey.

ABOUT SURECALL

SureCall is the multi-patent, award-winning performance leader for cell phone signal boosters. Since its inception in 2001, SureCall has quickly grown to dominate the cutting edge of the industry, winning back-to-back Inc. 5000 awards every year since 2016 as well as the 2017 CES Innovation Award, among many other accolades. SureCall combines its patented engineering with top-quality materials and comprehensive lifetime support to provide best-in-class solutions for mobile device users to access dependable cell service in their homes, offices, and vehicles. As a result, industry leaders such as Chrysler, Marriott, NASA, and HP all trust SureCall’s FCC-approved signal boosters for their quality, reliability, and innovation.