Survey: Half a baby boomer spends 3 hours a day on the phone screen
Generation of baby boomers and unpredictable gadget addiction
For a long time, people have tended to assume that the younger generation is the group that is most vulnerable to addiction to cell phone use. However, the results of the latest survey show that this assumption is not entirely true. Most generations of baby boomers now spend more than three hours a day on their phone screens, a phenomenon that has shocked many.
This survey was conducted by AddictionResource.net, which surveyed thousands of respondents aged between 59 and 77 years. The results showed that about 50 percent of them admitted to using cell phones for more than three hours per day, while about 20 percent even spent more than five hours each day. This far exceeds the recommendation of AddictionResource.net itself, which suggests that adults limit streaming time for entertainment under two hours per day.
In addition, another study conducted by Pew Research in 2024 found that almost half of American teenagers are always online. However, the fact that digital addiction knows no age limit is becoming increasingly clear. Even though baby boomers grew up in an era without internet or cellphones, now they have become active users of digital technology in old age.
Of the total 2,000 respondents in the survey, as many as 40 percent were worried if they could not access digital devices. In fact, half of them immediately checked their cellphones within the first hour after waking up. This phenomenon shows that digital habits have become part of their daily routine.
Bryan Driscoll, a HR consultant and a generation expert, explained that this phenomenon is not only about the use of gadgets. According to him, many baby boomers spend hours on their cell phones, but it’s not a real connection, but isolation. Many of them find it difficult to distinguish true and false information in cyberspace, making them more vulnerable to hoaxes and digital echo spaces.
Driscoll also added that this is not just about screen time, but about a generation that is facing loneliness and a digital identity crisis.
Meanwhile, Ruth Hernandez, a mental health counselor from AddictionResource.net, said that the use of cellphones for hours by Baby Boomer is no longer surprising. According to him, many of them are now using smartphones for everything, from sending messages to families, monitoring health applications, reading news, to watching videos.
Hernandez emphasized that for baby boomers, cell phones have become part of the daily routine, just like young people. He also emphasized that this survey is proof that digital addiction is not the exclusive property of the younger generation. The old assumption that parents are clueless and doesn’t care about the digital world is now starting to change.
In fact, many baby boomers have adapted quickly to digital technology. In fact, some of them are now as close as cell phone screens as all of us. He emphasized that digital habits are no longer dependent on age. In the end, technology is now integrated with the way we live, work, and socialize, both for those who are 25 or 75 years old. The appeal of the phone remains real and strong, regardless of the age of the user.
