The Pew Research Center published a report on 1 September 2026 finding that about half of Americans say they spend too much time on their smartphone, and that some are trying to cut back. It was written by William Bishop, Olivia Sidoti and Monica Anderson.
How it was done
Fieldwork ran from 26 May to 1 June 2026, on a sample of 9,750 US adults drawn from the centre’s American Trends Panel, an online probability-based panel, weighted to represent the adult population.
The headline number
53% say their phone time is too much. 36% say it is about right. 3% say it is too little.
By age: 70% among 18 to 29-year-olds, 64% among 30 to 49, 49% among 50 to 64, and 25% among those 65 and over.
Who tried to cut back
45% tried to cut back in the past twelve months, 46% did not, and 7% do not have a smartphone. Among those who feel they spend too much time, 62% have tried.
On success: 25% of those who tried called it extremely or very successful, 52% somewhat successful, and 23% not successful.
Trying varies by age too: 58% among 18 to 49, 39% among 50 to 64, and 23% among the over-65s.
How often they pick it up
26% use their phone almost constantly and 60% several times a day. Almost constantly, by age: 42% among 18 to 29, 33% among 30 to 49, 21% among 50 to 64, and 9% among the over-65s.
Where it helps and where it hurts
Pew asked about the phone’s effect on five things. The first figure is those who said it helps, the second those who said it hurts: staying informed 73 and 3; feeling connected to others 51 and 12; productivity 30 and 34; mood 18 and 22; sleep 5 and 41.
Sleep is the one place where people agree on harm by that kind of margin. By age, saying the phone hurts their sleep: 62% among 18 to 29-year-olds, 52% among 30 to 49, 36% among 50 to 64, and 14% among the over-65s.
What the report does not say
This is a purely American survey. There is nothing in it about Kuwait or the Gulf, and no comparison between countries. It has no breakdown by gender, education or income, only by age. And it does not cover apps, dumbphones or screen-time tools; only whether someone tried to cut back and how well they judge they did.
Photo: a phone on a table. By Maliha Mannan, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Pew Research Center, “About half of Americans say they spend too much time on their smartphone. Some are trying to cut back”, 1 September 2026, and its accompanying methodology page.
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