Brits will spend 88 hours this summer just scrolling on their phone
Key Points
- Parents of children under 18 spend two hours and six minutes a day on unintentional phone use, adding up to 88 hours across the summer holidays.
- That is around 40 minutes a day more than the average UK adult, and 50% of parents say they have little to no control over their phone use.
- 56% of children aged 8 to 16 say a parent's phone use makes them miss important family moments, and 63% think parents do not realise how long they spend scrolling.
- Virgin Media O2's Digital Intentionality Score benchmarks users against a national average of 63 out of 100.
- The findings come from an 18 month study with more than 16,000 UK responses.
Parents across the UK will spend 88 hours of the summer holidays using their phones without meaning to.
New research from Virgin Media O2 puts unintentional smartphone use among parents of children under 18 at two hours and six minutes every day, roughly 40 minutes more than the average UK adult, leaving them on course to lose almost four full days of the break to aimless scrolling.
Some 43% of those parents struggle to use their phone only when they intend to, and half say they have little to no control over how they use their phone and the internet.
The data shows that parents fall into automatic phone habits more often than adults without children.
More than three quarters, 76%, say they often pick up their phone without thinking, against 57% of adults who are not parents, and 48% check or pick up their phone 30 or more times a day for no particular reason.
Almost three in four, 74%, say using their phone helps them relax after a long day, and 80% say being online helps them stay in touch when life gets busy.
Just over half (51%) feel worse after spending longer on their phone than they meant to, and 49% worry that continuing their current phone use would damage their relationships with family.
63% accept that they were not fully present in life because they were using their phone, and they identified being more present in everyday moments as the main gain from cutting aimless phone time.
Children notice the pattern
Children aged 8 to 16 report the same pattern from the other side. More than half, 56%, say their parents’ unintentional phone use causes them to miss important family moments, and 63% believe their parents do not realise how much time they spend on their phones.
Nearly half, 48%, have had to repeat themselves because a parent was using their phone, 34% say a parent has missed something they wanted to show them, and 58% wish their parents were more present when they are together.
Both groups want the same thing from the holidays. Almost all children, 92%, say spending quality time with family matters over the break, 88% value doing outdoor activities together, and 85% say family time is more enjoyable when everyone gives each other their full attention.
Children pointed to talking together at 47%, family days out at 40% and playing together at 35% as the moments when they most want a parent’s full attention, and suggested talking more at 51% and setting aside time where everyone puts their phones away at 49%.
Virgin Media O2 has built the findings into a tool it calls the Digital Intentionality Score, which asks 10 questions and draws on both real usage data and self reported habits to benchmark a person against the national average of 63 out of 100, with higher scores representing more intentional use.
Author and digital wellbeing expert Seyi Akiwowo developed the tool with the company, which returns personalised guidance alongside the score. Some 69% of parents say they are concerned about using digital devices in front of their children, and 63% would welcome tools or support to help manage their phone use.
The research forms the latest phase of a Virgin Media O2 study into UK digital wellbeing that has run for 18 months and gathered more than 16,000 responses.
The company is also funding the Digital Wellbeing Observatory at the University of Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence for the next five years.
