Today, 92 percent of American adults own a cellphone, which has risen substantially since 2004, when 65 percent of Americans owned a mobile phone, according to survey data from the Pew Research Center.
Over 68 percent of American adults now have smartphones, which has increased from one-third of Americans in 2011.
Also of note is that 45 percent of Americans adults now own a tablet — a great increase since the Pew Research Center began measuring tablet ownership in 2010. Back then, only 4 percent of American adults were tablet owners. With regard to other digital devices: 19 percent of American adults report owning an e-reader; 73 percent own a desktop or laptop computer; and 40 percent have a game console such as an Xbox or PlayStation.
Smartphones have become all-purpose devices that, for some people, can take the place of specialized digital devices, such as e-book readers, music players, and gaming consoles.
This article was originally published in the Spring 2017 issue of Brain World Magazine.
