Fido research finds 73 percent of millennials reliant on phones to maintain social lives

While perhaps not surprising to some, new research from Fido finds that the majority of millennials are quite dependent on their smartphones in their everyday lives.

According to Fido, when compared to the older generation, 73 percent of millennials are reliant on their phones to maintain their social lives. Furthermore, the carrier found that this demographic is five times more reliant on their phones to maintain their sex lives, as opposed to 32 percent of the older generation.

Fido says that millennials were also twice as likely to say that most or all of their social interactions in an average day were done through a phone.

This was particularly true when it came to relationships — 80 percent of millennials responded that it’s acceptable to ask someone on a date through an instant message (compared to 62 percent non-millennials). What’s more, more than twice as many millennials as non-millennials said they felt it’s okay to break up with someone using instant messaging.

Outside of dating, millennials were also found to favour watching at least some entertainment content on their phones. Around 40 percent of millennials reported streaming video on their phone at least a few times a day, while 35 percent said the same about streaming music, compared to merely seven percent of non-millennials. Altogether, millennials send nearly four times as many instant messages compared to non-millennials in an average day.

Some other figures from Fido’s research include:

• 28 percent of millennials look at their phone while doing other things, such as lying in bed, talking to a significant other or brushing their teach (compared to 11 percent of non-millennials)
• Compared to the other generation, millennials are twice as likely to use their phones while on the toilet (69 percent), at dinner (42 percent) or in a meeting (23 percent) compared to the older generation
• 27 percent of millennials said it’s ok to be on their phones while in bed with their significant others, compared to 11% non-millennials

The online survey was conducted among adult Canadians between the ages of 18 and 65. Rogers Consumer Insights administered the survey, which was hosted by Maru/Matchbox and ran in both English and French between July 20th and 24th, 2017.

Source: Canada Newswire