Americans Rank 20th in Phone Addiction; Philippines, Brazil on Top

Americans only rank 20th when it comes to phone addiction, according to the latest report by Electronics Hub.

Staring at your phone screen is somewhat tempting with the likes of social media apps slowly consuming your time. Somehow, it has become a cause of public concern among researchers who continue to explore why it's happening.

What Countries Are Leading in Phone Addiction?

With the United States at the 20th spot, we might have not yet seen the whole picture of the ranking. An overpopulated country does not automatically mean that it has the highest percentage of screen time. It's still on a case-to-case basis for each person.

As the digital age evolves, more people are turning to their devices to seek leisure online. For hours, some users spend time doom-scrolling on social media to watch clips and read posts.

Electronics Hub states in its report that excessive screen time usage can cause physical and mental health problems among adolescents, per the University College London.

However, some groups contradict this research by stating that the use of the internet paves the way for the improvement of a child's overall well-being and intelligence.

To give you a clear picture of the phone addiction ranking all over the world, check this out.

• Philippines
• Brazil
• South Africa
• Thailand
• Argentina
• Indonesia
• Chile
• Colombia
• Mexico
• Turkey
• Malaysia
• UAE
• Romania
• Saudi Arabia
• Taiwan
• India
• Portugal
• Russia
• Israel
• USA

The US only records 21.14% of waking hours compared to the top country on the list which is the Philippines with 32.53%. It is then followed by Brazil (32.4%) and South Africa (31.5%).

Surprisingly, China is not included in the top 20 rankings. Despite having almost one billion smartphone users, Chinese people only spend 19.54% of their day staring at the screen.

Leading Countries in Computer and Tablet Screen Time

9to5Mac notes that the list for computer and tablet addiction is different from the previous ranking about phone addiction.

It seems that the top 3 with the highest average phone screen time have been shuffled. Refer to the ranking below.

1. South Africa 58.21%
2. Brazil 56.61%
3. Philippines 54.44%
4. Argentina 53.80%
5. Colombia 53.20%
6. Chile 51.59%
7. Mexico 48.60%
8. Thailand 48.56%
9. Russia 48.01%
10. Malaysia 47.34%

The country with the lowest screen time is Japan. Japanese tend to spend just 21.7% of their day staring at their devices.

Meanwhile, South Americans spend over half of their day on-screen. Brazilians spend almost 57% of their day staring on-screen. They are followed by Argentinians (53.8%), Colombians (53.2%), and Chileans (51.6%).

Speaking of phone addiction, Tech Times previously reported that a past study from San Diego State University revealed that excessive use of phones leads to teenage unhappiness.

It should be noted that while social media use drives youngsters to be unhappy, unhappiness does not lead to more social media use.