3 On Your Side: Smartphones As Important As Deodorant To Most People
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The number of Americans who use cell phones is at an all-time high, and not surprisingly, the number of people who say they can't live without them is up.
Everywhere you turn people are texting, talking or surfing the internet on their phone. Smartphone user Adriana Barker says, "I wish I could put it away."
A new consumer mobility study from Bank of America finds that the majority of Americans are compulsive phone checkers:
35% of us constantly check our phones
26% of us check our phones a few times a day
16% of us check our phones once an hour
8% of us check our phones only in the morning and evening
13% of us hardly ever look at our smartphones
Carla Crosby is among that 13%. She says, "I am not addicted to my telephone. Honey, I still use a flip phone."
Her husband, Fred, recently made the switch.
"Before I got a smartphone I didn't think I needed one of them. Ever since I got it, now when I can't find it, I go into panic mode," Fred says.
Ninety-one-percent of people surveyed say their mobile device is just as important as their car or using deodorant, and most say it's more important than coffee or television.
Barker says, "It's so shocking and sad. It's just a phone. Might as well talk to your loved ones and get more quality time."
In fact, the only things which were rated as more indispensable to Americans than their cell phones were toothbrushes and the internet.
To see the study, click here.
