"Phones" 96% Indians check their phones regularly: Survey

MUMBAI: A report by internet gear giant Cisco has revealed what we always suspected. An ever-networked Gen Y is practically making phones an intrinsic part of its daily routine. They wake up to check their updates -- often before brushing their teeth -- and fall asleep only after logging in to keep their status messages current. As phones become cheaper and mobile broadband proliferates, smartphone usage looks set to blur all previous boundaries.

Ninety percent of respondents to the Cisco Connected World 2012 report released earlier today check their phones as a matter of routine -- in India its even higher at 96%, according to this study. What's more, through the day, they continued to be glued to their handsets, with 60% of respondents admitting that they checked their phones through their work day, with a higher percentage of women (85%) being online practically all the time. Besides being an instrument of communication, smartphone owners have almost become permanently welded to their phones -- 45% said they would suffer withdrawal symptoms if they couldn't log on periodically. This facet seems aggravated in India -- some 70% said they compulsively check their phones for updates and 42% of them admitted to feeling anxious when disconnected.

This constant need to stay connected could be a problem. According to this survey, 29% of respondents check their phones so often they lose count, 40% of IT professionals check them once in ten minutes and 75% of them check their phones in bed. In India, personal and professional boundaries are clearing blurring -- a full 84% of respondents said they checked their phones in the bedroom and a higher percentage (56% compared to 46% globally) checked while out for a meal.

What's more, Gen Y in India and everywhere is going out of its way to access phones and the content on it. According to Cisco's survey, two-fifth of global respondents (41% in India) say their employers forbid them from using their handsets for personal browsing, but many of them take this edict lightly -- globally 71% break the rule, compared to over half in India. With this urge to have access at all times, users are spending an alarming amount of time online -- 40% said they spend more time online with friends than socialising in person (56% in India). What's more, 81% of them believe they need to have separate offline and online personas.