Of course, plenty of adults spend plenty of time using their smartphones. What is distinctive in teens' usage is the degree to which it dominates their overall digital activity. Research by Verto Analytics in H1 2018 showed mobile time accounting for 62% of the total time 13- to 17-year-olds spent using mobile devices and desktop/laptop computers. Among adults, mobile usage accounted for 41% of the total.
Even teens wonder whether their smartphone usage is excessive. In April 2018 polling of 13- to 18-year-olds in the US by Screen Education, respondents estimated on average that 60% of their friends are “addicted” to their phones. Assessing themselves, 65% said they “wish they had a better ability to self-limit the amount of time they spend on their phone.”
Though they find it hard to put their phones down, teens do not always find its presence benign. In the Screen Education polling, 41% said they feel “overwhelmed every day by the quantity of notifications they receive.” When they are with friends, phone usage can also yield stretches of time in which they all sit silently staring at their own phones.