The largest
cohort of smartphone owners can be found on a college or university campus.
According
to a new report from the Pew Research Center, the 18-29 age group comprises the
single biggest block of smartphone-toting adults in the U.S., with 85% of them
owning at least one smartphone.
Even the
highest-income crowd (adults earning more than $75,000 per year) is only at 84%
smartphone ownership.
Overall, 7%
of U.S. adults with smartphones rely on those devices as the sole source for
Internet access. However, young adults are even more dependent on their
smartphones, with 15% saying this is the only means they have for getting
online at home. It’s not clear from the survey, though, whether this group
can’t afford broadband service or they simply don’t want to mess around with
larger devices at home.
As you
might expect, young adults use their smartphones for a wide variety of
purposes, apart from making calls. About 44% told Pew they have accessed
educational content via the phone and 70% engage in online banking through the
phone. More than a third have even submitted a job application by using their
phone. All of them send and receive text messages.
However, entertainment
is often the allure for many young adults. Some 91% said they used their
smartphones for social networking, music, and videos. And when older adults
complain about the younger folks always being on their phones and ignoring
everyone around them—they should know that 47% of young adults said they do it
deliberately to avoid contact.
