IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE A PING!
DAILY AVERAGE: 3hr 34 min WEEKLY PICK-UPS: 569 FIVE MOST USED APPS: Instagram, MapMyRun, Snapchat, BBC Sport, Facebook Messenger MOST VISITED: Instagram (9hr 12m)
DAWN BROWN, 17, is studying for a-levels and works part-time as a tutor for Explore Learning. She lives in London with her father, an accountant, and her mother, who retired from physiotherapy through ill health. DAWN SAYS: My parents gave me my first phone when I was ten, a handmedown from my cousin, along with the big lecture about it being for safety and not to be used at the dinner table. That was seven years ago — now I’m barely off it!
I access social media, listen to the radio, check live Arsenal football scores and exercise using the Nike or MapMyRun apps. I also use the Ocado app to do the weekly food shopping because of Mum’s ill-health.
In term time I use my phone on the coach to school, a bit at lunchtime, then after school. I can’t remember what life was like without one. My hands feel twitchy and empty.
That said, my screen time is unpredictable. Some days I can easily clock up three hours, faffing around on Instagram and Snapchat. But on Saturdays when I work all day, with an hour’s break for a driving lesson, I barely use it at all.
Although I don’t think I’m addicted, it alarms me how pressing the urge is to respond as soon as I hear the ping of a notification.