UK adults cosy up to mobile and ditch desktop

The year 2015 marks the end of UK adults’ love affair with desktop and laptop, as their mobile fling now consumes the majority of their time online, according to eMarketer.

On average, UK adults will spend an average of 2 hours, 26 minutes each day with their mobile device this year – up 27 minutes from 2014. While time spent on desktop is expected to see year-over-year growth of just 3 minutes for 2015, the rise in mobile consumption is much more “vigorous”.

Total time spent on non-voice mobile activities will surpass time spent on desktop/laptop computers by 13 minutes – marking the first time mobile will have overtaken PC use by this metric in the UK.

“One trend underlies much of eMarketer’s time spent estimates: UK adults aren’t moving their media consumption habits to digital platforms at the expense of traditional ones; rather, they are adding it to their overall media day.

“This also holds true for platforms like social media, with time spent via mobile adding to time spent via laptops and desktops,” explained Bill Fisher, analyst at eMarketer.

eMarketer’s research found that time spent with digital devices in the UK has grown rapidly over the past four years, rising from less than 2.5 hours in 2011 to an estimated 4 hours, 39 minutes per day in 2015.

As a proportion of UK adults’ total daily media time in 2015, smartphones will account for 15.8%, or 1 hour, 31 minutes.