Mobile Devices, A Growing Addiction [Infograph]

PC Housing, a short term housing provider based in San Diego, has released an infographic showing how travelers are becoming increasingly dependent on their smartphones and other mobile devices to the point of addiction. Part of a growing trend among business travelers, the average mobile worker is carrying 3 to 4 devices while they work from the road and is spending over 16 hours per day within range of Wi-Fi.

The graphic also brings to light how travelers are exercising less and feeling distraught without their phone which can cause health issues but they still believe they are better off with their devices. This disparity in perception and reality can most likely be attributed to the fact that most workers are now able to handle more tasks and larger to-do lists with the help of mobile devices which only pushes them to rely on them more and more. In fact, 65% of the travelers surveyed believed they were able to be more productive as a result of multitasking with multiple devices. However, this caused lower levels of concentration on a single task and resulted in tasks taking longer to be finished. This and the growing to-do list equated to 240 more hours spent on work per year than the average American worker.

Does this mean then that a growing mobile dependence is bad for traveler’s daily lives? Most will argue that they wouldn’t be able to keep up without their phone or tablet and would spend more time working without them. It is certainly a point up for debate depending on which way you look at it but one thing is for sure: we rely more on our mobile devices now than ever before.

Business Traveler’s Mobile Dependence Infographic created by PC Housing