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Friday 14 October 2016 10:19 am

The smartphone obsession is escalating: Britons are checking their phones 85 times a day – and nowhere is sacred anymore

By: William Turvill

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Britons' obsession with smartphones is reaching new heights. Or, perhaps, plumbing new depths.

The average UK adult checks their phone 85 times a day, according to new research.

And no where appears to be out of bounds, either, the study of 2,000 commissioned by mobile game studio Project M found.

Read more: With consumers glued to their smartphones, mobile ad budgets are soaring

Project M estimates that the average Briton will spend three months of their adult life looking at their smartphone while, ahem, seeing a man about a dog.

This works out at 26 hours a year on average of bathroom phone use, or 54 hours among 18-34-year-olds.

Millennials are spending the same amount of time taking selfies or checking their appearance with a smartphone.

Read more: The media consumption tipping point has arrived: TV ditched for smartphones

Earlier this week, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK/PwC Digital Adspend report found that companies are cashing in with our smartphone obsession with advertising, with mobile advertising budgets increasing by 56 per cent year-on-year to £1.7bn in the first half of 2016.

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