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"The latest survey from the Pew Internet &amp; American Life Project underscores how reliant users are becoming on their mobile devices. According to the report, 42% of adults aged 18-29 \u2014 a growing number \u2014 said that they have had trouble completing a task because they didn't have their phone nearby. A majority of adults aged 18-49 use their phones as entertainment devices to stave off boredom. \nAnd most surprisingly of all, 30% of adults 18-29 have pretended to be on the phone in order to avoid human interaction, the report says.\nBut that doesn't mean we want to stay connected all the time. Nearly 1/3 of adults surveyed also reported that they sometimes turn their phones off for a period of time, just to get a break. This figure was equally true for smartphone and feature phone users. \nThe survey underscores the differences between smartphone users and regular feature phone users \u2014 differences in how they interact with their devices, as well as how different demographics use their phones.\nThe most common activities for both kinds of user include sending text messages and taking photos. For smartphone users, accessing the Internet is also one of the most frequent reasons to pick up their device. Other common tasks include sending and receiving email, playing games and downloading apps. Naturally, using a phone to look up urgent information is a consistently popular activity across age groups.\nVideo chat, which is slowly finding its way to more handsets, is one of the few areas with relatively low adoption across the board.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe data represents trends we've been seeing for quite some time. Users have an expectation of access to real-time information and have come to rely on their mobile devices to deliver that information. The high number of young people who use their phones as entertainment devices also underscores just how disruptive the smartphone has been in the portable gaming and portable entertainment space.\n\n\n\n\nStill, we found it interesting that a third of users sometimes just shut their phones off to escape the world. Personally, I almost never turn my cell phone off. Sure, I'll put it on silent and screen calls, but I'm far too afraid to actually shutting the device off except in rare circumstances.\nHow often to you shut your phone off to avoid the madness? Let us know.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, franckreporter"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/08/15/pew-cell-phone-usage-survey-2011/>