According to the results of the investigation, the average number of smartphone uses rose from 6.75 in 2013 when the survey participants were in their teenage years to 10.96 times on average in 2015, showing a 62.4 percent difference. (Image Courtesy of Pixabay)
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) – On May 19, the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) reported that according to a three-year “Korean Media Panel Survey” conducted between 2013 and 2015, the frequency of use of newspapers, magazines, and books dropped by more than 50 percent after admission into college among the 177 survey participants. On the other hand, these participants’ use of smartphones rose by 62 percent.
According to the results of the investigation, the average number of smartphone uses rose from 6.75 in 2013 when the survey participants were in their teenage years to 10.96 times on average in 2015, showing a 62.4 percent difference. This survey study consisted of the KISDI collecting data on the number of uses according to media type over three consecutive days per year.
During the same time period, usage of the family TV increased by 36 percent from 5.2 times to 7.07 times on average, while laptop PC usage increased almost threefold from 0.69 times to 1.92 times and desktop PC usage increased by 51 percent from 2.37 times to 3.58 times.
In terms of difference between genders, smartphone use frequency rose by 84.6 percent for males and 45 percent for females, while TV use frequency rose by 86.2 percent and 10.3 percent respectively, showing a significantly greater increase among males.
The frequency of use of newspapers, magazines, and books on the other hand decreased from 18.29 times in 2013 to 7.79 times in 2015, for a 57.5 percent decrease.
Average sleep time also increased from 7.6 hours in 2013 when all participants were still in their teenage years, up to 8.4 hours in 2015, for an increase of 48 minutes. However, the increase for males was 1 hour and 6 minutes, which was 30 minutes more than that of female participants.
“Our supposition is that as individuals transition from being high school students into college students, they also switch their phones from ordinary cellphones to smartphones, which accounts for the increase in smartphone use frequency,” said Jae Wook Ju, a research member of the KISDI’s ICT Statistics Laboratory.
“We believe that games account for a greater increase in use frequency among males than female participants. The increased amount of sleeping time once in their twenties, on the other hand, is most likely due to changes in the time of day each individual goes to school once they entered college,” added Ju.
Esther J. Kim (esther.jiyoung@koreabizwire.com)
