It's true: everyone is on their smartphone all the time

Over 60% of people in a Gallup poll said they check their phone at least once every hour

Let's face it, people and their crazy smartphone habits will always make good stories. We love to report on how people are using them too much, or in inappropriate places. And do you know why? For two reasons: either it validates us ("Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one!") or it makes us feel superior ("Oh, at least I'm not that bad!). It's pretty messed up, if you think about it.

Anyway, that's not going to stop me from giving you want you want, so here's another poll that tells us what we all want to hear: people are addicted to their phones. 

Around 60% of people surveyed said that they check their phones at least once every hour, according to a new poll out from Gallup on Thursday. 

That breaks down to 20% who check it once an hour, 41% who say they check it a few times per hour and 11% who say they check it every few minutes. Only 28% check them less frequently than that, with 24% say its only a few times a day. There's another name for those kinds people, actually many names for them, but the key one is likely "employed."

(Side note: I used to work in an office, and I'd have to sneak into the bathroom to play games on my phone for a few minutes so I didn't anger my boss. Now I work from home, so I can check my phone all I want. Somehow I'm just as productive this way. Funny how that works)

Given how frequently people use their phones, this next bit shouldn't be a shock: 81% of those surveyed said they have their phone with them during almost all their waking hours. And 63% reported keeping it near them at night even while sleeping, which is something I do.

Gallup identified three reasons why people might do this: "Simple convenience if the phone is checked last thing before going to sleep and first thing upon waking," and because most people use it as their alarm clock. Check yes on all three of those for me.

Ok, so far most of this is stuff you could have guessed, but this next part really drives this all home, and it even ties back into my first paragraph (the part about feeling superior).

Despite the fact that over 60% of people admitted to checking their phones at a minimum of once per hour, that same percentage of people is convinced that everyone else is looking at their phones more than they are.

A full 30% say they check their phones a lot less often, while the other 31% say its only a little less often. Most of the rest say their use is about average, with only 11% admitting that they use their phone more often than others. I wish so hard that I could know how many of those "everyone else is even worse than me!" people are the same ones checking it compulsively all day. There has to be at least some crossover there, and I'm guess that it is a lot of them. 

As for who is more addicted to their smartphones, its mostly young people. In the 18 to 29 year old group (hey, that's me, though not for very much longer) 22% check them every few minutes, and 51% check them every hour. For 30 to 49 year olds, that's 12% and 47%, respectively. 

The 50 to 64 year olds saw 6% checking every few minutes and 33% every hour. The 65 and over crowd barely even uses their phones: 3% every few minutes and 18% every hour. 

From my own personal experience, I don't find any of this to be the case. In fact, I see most young people able to balance out their smartphone habits pretty well, while older people seem fascinated by them, and confused by them as well. Whenever a smartphone rings in a movie theater, or I see a bright light from a screen, its almost always an old person; that might be because they don't know how to turn them off though.

Gallup Panel surveyed 15,747 U.S. adults for this study.

(Image source: businessnewsdaily.com)