More people own a mobile than a toothbrush – 6 things you didn't know

From Graham Bell’s first phone call to today’s smartphones containing all the world’s information. It was in January, 2007, that Steve Jobs said “Today Apple will reinvent the phone” and in June the same year the first iPhone was released. Although this was not the first smartphone released, it helped change the mobiles forever.

Yes, the phone has really become something completely different from what it started as. A change that has had some exciting consequences. We have listed six things that you may not know on the phone.

1 More people own a mobile than a toothbrush

It was the Mobile Marketing Association of Asia who made the claim that more people own a mobile than a toothbrush. At the time of the statement, there were 6.8 billion people on earth. At that time, it was estimated that 5.1 billion owned a mobile phone but only 4.2 billion owned a toothbrush.

Attempts were made to debunk that myth, but as more research was done it was concluded that the statement was actually true. This clearly shows how our society has developed lately.

2 Mobile addiction is called nomophobia

Nomophobia means that you are afraid of not being reachable on your phone. The name comes from “no-mobile-phobia” and the phenomenon is becoming more common. But even if you do not suffer from nomophobia, there is a lot of stress around phones. According to a study, 58% of mobile users are worried about losing their phone, running out of battery or not having a subscription or internet on the phone.

In addition, there is also the concept of “ringxiety” which means that you think the phone is ringing even though it is not. The mobiles, despite the infinite knowledge we can access through them, make us a little crazy sometimes.

3 In Finland, throwing phones is a sport

Fortunately, a lot of sturdy phones have been released on the market, especially after an annual mobile-throwing competition has been organized since 2000. The competition is judged on length and technique and different types of phones can be thrown provided they weigh more than 220g. The record for mobile throwing is currently at 136.75 meters.

4 We check our mobile phones about 150 times a day

It has been calculated that we check our phones about 150 times a day. Maybe you read this text on a mobile phone? If not, didn’t you just get a little urge to check out so nothing new has happened right now?  

5 Alarm clocks are dying out

In the past, there was an alarm clock besides almost every bed. But today we have nearly forgotten they existence. Statistics show that 60% have stopped using alarm clocks and, of course, replaced them with the function in the phone. The ability to select sounds yourself and set multiple alarms after each other is simply too good to resist. Why have several different gadgets when you can have everything on your phone?

6 The Internet is used more on mobiles than on computers

Given the steadily increasing mobile usage, this may not be a shocking news. Mary Meeker released a study, 2018, on Internet trends. On average, 5.9 hours are spent on the internet. 3.3 of these (ie about 60%) are on a mobile phone. This figure is expected to increase, just like everything else when it comes to mobile phones.

The list of things that you may not know about phones can be made long. In line with the development and our increased mobile usage, more weird things will probably emerge. Whoever waits will see.