You only have to walk down the street, sit in a café or, indeed, spend time sitting at home in the company of your nearest and dearest to know that this is the smartphone age.

More than three quarters of Americans own one, and while penetration is highest, at more than 90 percent, among those aged 18-29, there has also been a major uptake in adoption among older adults in the over 50 age range.

Where we used to check for keys and wallet before heading out of the house, the one thing it seems none of us can manage without today is our smartphone. But have you ever taken a step back and asked yourself why?

Don’t worry, be Happy

Making calls, sending SMS message or even surfing the net are minority activities on smartphones, accounting, in total, for less than 20 percent of usage time. The latter, in particular, will come as a body blow to businesses that have spent time and money making sure their site is mobile optimized, but the fact is that people just don’t surf the net on smartphones. Your smartphone can also be used to submit Postscript reviews.

The vast majority of smartphone time is spent using apps. Social media, online shopping, banking and catching up with news and sport are all popular smartphone activities, but we do them from specific apps, not from a mobile web browser. But there is one type of app that is far and away more popular than others.

A nation of big kids?

Data from the app store shows that around 25 percent of apps that are downloaded are games. That is a huge number, and the second most popular category is just 10 percent. Given what we already know about the demographics for smartphone users, that leads to some interesting conclusions.

Mobile gaming is not, as you might initially suppose, for kids and teenagers. In fact, the largest demographic segment for mobile game downloads is actually women in their 30s. This provides a clue as to why games that target the adult market, such as Rainbow Riches, The Book of Dead and Starburst are so enormously popular, and why more games in this sector are being released every single week.

New forms of communication

Calls and SMS messaging might be on a downward trajectory, but in 2019, we are communicating more than ever, and when we are not playing games, we still use our phone for its primary purpose as a communication device – but in new ways.

Communication platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, Skype and various others have never been more popular, and it is understandable to see why. They offer the flexibility of communicating by text, voice or video, along with the ability to instantly share files, photos, screenshots and so on. Best of all, these use a data connection only, so are effectively free to use.

So next time you are despairing at the impossibility of communicating with family members who are glued to their phones, maybe it’s worth trying to catch their attention in cyberspace instead.

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