Making calls is now the second third fourth fifth most popular thing to do with a smartphone.
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Every day, the average smartphone user spends 128 minutes actively using the device. That's just over two hours. The average user is spending those 128 minutes surfing the Internet (for nearly 25 minutes), engaging in social networking (for more than 17), listening to music (more than 15), and playing games (more than 14).
What the average user is doing relatively little of, however, is talking -- using the smartphone as, you know, a phone. The average user is spending around 12 minutes doing that -- making talking with friends a less popular activity than playing, say, "Words with Friends."
This is all per a report released by the UK mobile network O2 (more on the numbers here). And the findings translate: voice minutes per user have been falling here in the States since 2008, according to CTIA, the wireless industry association; customers, as such, have been cutting back on their voice plans. That's due in part, perhaps, to the fact that the iPhone, the ur-smartphone, relies on notoriously inconsistent networks for its voice services ... but it's due as well to the cultural shifts away from the phone conversation itself. A text message is more efficient than a voice call; an email -- which lets the recipient respond in his or her own time -- can be the most considerate way, these days, to reach out and touch someone.