Smartphones a Higher Priority than TVs as Everyday Necessities

Research indicates that smartphones are thought of as a necessity from teens to those in their 40s. (Image : Yonhap)

SEOUL, Jan.12 (Korea Bizwire) – Research indicates that smartphones are thought of as a necessity from teens to those in their 40s.

Those over 50 picked the TV to be the most necessary media in life.

The Korea Communications Commission announced the results of its ‘2015 Media Use Behavior Research’ on January 11.

To understand user awareness about broadcasting platforms and changes in user behavior, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) conducted a survey with the participation of 7,553 people over the age of 13.

The results of the survey show that the importance of smartphones in everyday life rose to 46.4 percent in 2015 from 43.9 percent in 2014. On the other hand, the importance of televisions dropped from 44.3 percent in 2014 to 44.1 percent in 2015.

Teenagers (67.9 percent), and those in their 20s (69.5 percent), 30s (63.0 percent), and 40s (54.1 percent) selected the smartphone to be the most necessary media source in everyday life. However, individuals in their 50s (57.0 percent) and 60s (86.6 percent) answered that the traditional TV was the most important media in their lives.

The KCC says that smart phones are becoming more and more important to people of older age, as the number of people over 40 who selected smartphones as the most necessary media in everyday life increased greatly during the past 3 years.

Even so, 94.8 percent of the respondents owned a TV, which turned out to be the most common media at home. Those who owned smartphones increased from 76.9 percent in 2014 to 78.8 percent in 2015, showing that the ‘mobilization’ and ‘individualization’ of media usage expanded.

In addition, TV was still the most used media, as respondents watched an average of 2 hours and 46 minutes of TV every day. Smartphones were used for an hour and 19 minutes, and radios were used for an average of 17 minutes.

However, when asked what type of media they used while watching TV, 43.2 percent of the respondents answered that they used their smartphones the most. PCs & Laptops (7.3 percent) and newspapers (2.3 percent) followed.

The rate of use of a certain media more than five times a week dropped among devices such as the TV (78.4 percent to 76.2 percent), PCs & Laptops (30.6 percent to 29.5 percent), radio (9.5 percent to 8.9 percent), and newspapers (8.2 percent to 7.1 percent).

On the other hand, the percentage of people who used smartphones more than five times a week increased from 70.8 percent to 73.7 percent.

By M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)