FOUR OUT OF five 18-34 year olds would rather get rid of their TV, laptop and tablet first before their smartphone, new research has found.

Research from O2 Media – which looked at Irish people’s relationships with their devices on a day-to-day basis – found that 70 per cent of respondents say their smartphone is their “first or most important screen.”

This figure rose to 78% when looking at the 18-34 year old demographic.

This is reflected in the amount of time people spend on their phones as 68 per cent of 18 -34 year olds said they use it the most when interacting online while 73 per cent use their smartphones more than PC, TV, or tablets.

Another major development is the amount of time people will spend looking at their smartphone while watching TV. 57 per cent of 18-34 year olds would spend the same amount of time or more on their smartphone while watching TV, and this figure falls to 49 per cent when considering all respondents.

The managing director of O2 Media, Fintan Lonergan, said that the survey shows “just how far smartphone usage has penetrated the market, becoming the ‘first screen’ for the majority over a relatively short space of time.”

However, one area that smartphones are still catching up on is online opping. Only 16 per cent of 18-34 year olds use their smartphone to purchase goods with the majority doing their shopping through their PC.

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