Skip to content
MetaFacts

MetaFacts

beyond the facts…we help our clients create the future

  • Home
  • TUP/Technology User Profile
    • TUP Service
    • TUP Datasets
  • TUP Lenses
    • TUP Lenses on Technology
      • TUP Devices Lens
      • TUP PCs Lens
      • TUP Mobile Phones Lens
      • TUP Tablets Lens
      • TUP Consumer Electronics Lens
      • TUP Printers Lens
    • TUP Lenses on Users
      • TUP User Profile Lens
      • TUP Households Lens
    • TUP Lenses on Activities
      • TUP Activities Lens
      • TUP Communication Lens
    • TUP Lenses on Technology + Users + Behaviors
      • TUP Game Consoles, Gaming PCs, and Game-Playing Lens
      • TUP Home Entertainment Lens
      • TUP Technology Ecosystems
      • TUP Work/Life Balance Lens
      • TUP Wearables, Hearables, Listening, and Speaking Lens
  • TUP Findings
  • Contact
  • About

Tag: Devices

Posted on September 23, 2020December 13, 2020

TUP/Technology User Profile Lenses

TUP/Technology User Profile 2020 spans a broad range of technology products and services, about the full range of users, including their activities, and all unified by a central, integrated dataset. The comprehensive research results can be viewed through a number of topical lenses, and from there, can be further customized or drilled down into.

For more details about the many important topics covered in TUP/Technology User Profile, review more details on the TUP Lenses or contact MetaFacts.

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.
Posted on January 18, 2019January 11, 2021

American screen time remains thirteen trillion hours [TUPdate]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, January 18, 2019

American adults are using their connected devices as much as ever, in 2018 totaling 13 trillion hours per week with their Smartphones, PCs, Tablets, and Game Consoles. This is slightly lower than the 13.3 trillion-hour level in 2017.

This is based on the 36th wave of Technology User Profile – TUP 2018. This analysis is based on 7,886 U.S. survey respondents, 7,521 respondents in TUP 2017, and 7,336 in TUP 2016.

Total screen time stabilizes

There has been growing media awareness and reporting about adverse social and health effects from the over-use of technology devices. These concerns have sparked the develop of apps and settings to help monitor and manage screen time. Meanwhile, Americans, and indeed also adults around the world, continue to find useful and entertaining ways to integrate actively connected devices into their lives.

Average screen time per device stabilizes

The growth in total hours has been partially due to the steadily growing population of online adults between 2016 and 2018. However, during this same time period, the average number of connected devices being actively used has gone down slightly, dropping from 4.3 in 2016 to 4.2 in 2017, and then 3.9 in 2018. The net effect is that the average number of hours per device has actually increased between 2016 and 2018, rising from 13.4 hours per week per device to 15.4.

Total screen time shrinks among multi-device users

Many of the total screen hours are due to the busyness of the busiest users. In 2016, over a third (34%) of total device hours were due to the activity levels of users using 7 or more connected devices. In 2017, this many-device group dropped to be accounting for 31% of total hours, and by 2018 account for 26% of total hours.

Meanwhile, users with 2 to 4 devices grew from representing 39% of total hours in 2016 to 41% in 2017, and 47% in 2018. This type of bimodal distribution emphasizes the importance of separating fewer-device from multi-device users for a deeper and more relevant understanding.

Screen time growth spans mono and multi-device users

Drilling down in the TUP data a little further, we can see that the average number of device hours has changed across users with many devices and also among those with few. For users with any given number of devices, the average number of hours increased. While it may seem that this would result in a higher number of total device hours, as mentioned earlier the average number of actively-used connected devices shrank, bringing the total average down.

Looking ahead

Do these trends point to more or fewer devices, or to more or fewer hours using them? I expect a continued wobble in the number of devices being used.

“BOB” is one of the strongest forces bringing about a rising average number of devices. The key benefit from a Best-Of-Breed is having a narrow-function device which does something well. High-end cameras are very popular with expert photographers who value their specialized capabilities. The first cell phones were simple enough for phone calls and did very little else.

Forces in the direction of users using fewer devices include the absorption that comes from functional substitution. Smartphones were able to incorporate photography – absorbing the functionality of most standalone cameras, especially for ordinary photographers. Similarly, smartphones offered music-playing – thereby replacing most iPods and MP3 players. To the extent smartphone screens can become large enough to rival larger-screened tablets and PCs, they can begin to act as substitutes for image-intensive activities such as shopping. Similarly, to the extent voice assistants truly take hold beyond the niche or novelty stage, devices which support these may begin to reduce user’s demand for as many connected devices.

As to screen time measurement and monitoring taking hold among the mass market, I expect that to go about as well as most New Year’s Resolutions, full of honest intention but ultimately most of us will be distracted back into our habits.

About TUPdates

TUPdates feature analysis of current or essential technology topics. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual. TUPdates may also include results from previous waves of TUP.

Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.

On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.
Posted on January 1, 2018January 11, 2021

More MetaFacts findings

We know you’re curious – like we are! That’s what compels us to be researchers, driven by the quest for clearer truth and actionable insights.

To read more findings from MetaFacts, current subscribers can choose subjects of interest from among TUP Topics in our client portal.

There you will find a full range of deliverables: MetaFAQs, TUPdates, TUP Highlights, TUP Tables, and more, spanning the wide range of technology products, services, users, and the activities those users enjoy.

About TUP Deliverables

MetaFAQs

MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. They are drawn from the MetaFacts TUP/Technology User Profile datasets, the latest research developed through surveys. TUP/Technology User Profile 2020 is in its 38th continuous year.

TUPdates

TUPdates are focused analysis on a current topics of interest in the technology industry. Like MetaFAQs, they draw on research results from the MetaFacts TUP/Technology User Profile datasets. They probe more deeply into the topic, and are typically one to three pages long.

TUP Highlights & Tables

Subscribing clients who value ready access to key results value the TUP Highlights & Tables deliverables. MetaFacts analyzes the TUP results to prepare top-level findings with written analysis and charts, organized into topical areas. These are accompanied by supporting data in easy-to-access cross-tabulations.

TUP Datasets, Inquiry, Interactive

For hands-on analysts interested in deeper exploration, customization, and integration with other data sources value the TUP Datasets, Inquiry Service, or Interactive Tools. These deliverables provide ways for subscribing clients to quickly plumb the depths of TUP themselves.

How to receive complimentary MetaFAQs and TUPdates

MetaFAQs and TUPdates are a small portion of the deliverables in the TUP/Technology User Profile service. On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions – or TUPdates – analysis of current topics in the technology industry.

For more information, contact MetaFacts.

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

Top TUP Topics

  • Activities
  • Age group
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Basic cell phones
  • Boomers
  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • COVID
  • Ecosystems
  • Employees
  • Entertainment
  • Game-playing
  • Game consoles
  • Generations
  • GenX
  • GenZ
  • Home PC activities
  • Home PCs
  • Household size
  • Installed base
  • iPad
  • iPhone
  • Laptops
  • Market penetration
  • Microsoft
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Millennials
  • Notebooks
  • PC activities
  • PCs
  • Printers
  • Remote workers
  • Smartphone activities
  • Smartphones
  • Tablet activities
  • Tablets
  • Video calling
  • Video calls
  • Videoconferencing
  • Windows
  • Work-related activities
  • Work/life balance
  • Work from home
  • Work PCs

Categories

Top TUP Posts

  • The digital device divide [TUPdate]
  • Smartphone activities by watch OS [TUPdate]
  • Tablets dissolving into a split market [TUPdate]
  • PC gaming by household size [MetaFAQs]

Top TUP Topics

  • Activities
  • Age group
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Basic cell phones
  • Boomers
  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • COVID
  • Ecosystems
  • Employees
  • Entertainment
  • Game-playing
  • Game consoles
  • Generations
  • GenX
  • GenZ
  • Home PC activities
  • Home PCs
  • Household size
  • Installed base
  • iPad
  • iPhone
  • Laptops
  • Market penetration
  • Microsoft
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Millennials
  • Notebooks
  • PC activities
  • PCs
  • Printers
  • Remote workers
  • Smartphone activities
  • Smartphones
  • Tablet activities
  • Tablets
  • Video calling
  • Video calls
  • Videoconferencing
  • Windows
  • Work-related activities
  • Work/life balance
  • Work from home
  • Work PCs

TUP Lenses, Deliverables, Formats, and Waves

© MetaFacts, Inc. 1996-2021

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Privacy Proudly powered by WordPress