Canadians spend less time on mobile devices

While the frequency of Canadians using their Smartphones, Tablets and eReaders remains stable, the average time of using them has declined, a study released on Monday showed. The study led by Ipsos Reid about the mobile market in Canada which involved 2000 adults, may suggest a potential shift in usage patterns on digital devices. It shows that the mobile device usage have stabilized over time. On average, Canadians reported using their Smartphones 222 times per month, Tablets 115 times per month, and eReaders 38 times per month. However, Canadians reported spending 2.8 hours per day on their Smartphone on a typical weekday, which decreased significantly from 3.3 hours reported over the same period last year. Significant drops were also reported for hours spent on Tablets from 3.2 hours down to 2.4 hours and eReaders from 2.1 hours down to 1.8 hours over the same period, according to the study. Declines were also noted in the frequency of Smartphone and Tablet users download new Apps and delete old Apps previously loaded on their devices, it said. "Such changes further support the notion that Canadians are maturing as mobile users," said Mary Beth Barbour, senior vice president of Ipsos Reid. "Decreases may be due in part to users settling in with their devices and usage levels normalizing as the novelty wears off and users are in less of an exploratory phase." Barbour added that shifts may also be related to the expansion of the user base beyond the "techies" and early adopters to a broader population who may be less active users.