Show me your phone, and I’ll tell you who you are!
Smartphone use leaves a mark on our personality, but it also reflects it: the traces left by our online activities reveal our “digital DNA”. The latest research by the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) reveals the links between mobile phone use and social status.
These days we never go anywhere without our phones, we’ve moved into our mobiles, which have become part of our extended selves. Over the last decade and a half, the smartphone has become the primary organiser of everyday life: no longer just a communication tool, it is now a personal assistant, wallet, map, flashlight and news source all in one. Its constant presence has transformed the rhythm of our lives, blurring the boundaries between work and private life, as well as private and public sphere. How and what we use our phones for is not just a technological inference, as the data we collect on phone use can also be used to measure social inequalities.
The NMHH 2025 survey aims to explore how social status is reflected in patterns of phone use among adults aged 20–60. The research was based on a software-based data collection involving 508 adults between March and May 2024, complemented by a representative online questionnaire survey. The importance of the research lies in the combined assessment of real, not self-reported digital behavioural data and traditional social data.
Four decades separate the youngest and oldest members of the focus age group, which are “worlds apart” in technological terms as well. Three different generations (X, Y and Z) took part in the survey, so the respondents included both digital immigrants and digital natives in their early twenties, who are likely to have only heard of the entirely offline world before the internet and smartphones.
| Research participants | Social media | Communication/phone | Streaming/video | Game | Functional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior managers, intellectuals | 24% | 19% | 6% | 10% | 16% |
| Junior managers, intellectuals | 25% | 19% | 4% | 11% | 14% |
| Intermediate occupations | 27% | 18% | 4% | 14% | 11% |
| Skilled workers | 31% | 12% | 4% | 14% | 11% |
| Unskilled workers | 29% | 15% | 5% | 18% | 11% |
The data showed an inverse correlation between occupational hierarchy and daily screen time intensity: while the daily average for senior managers and intellectuals was 2 hours 3 minutes, the daily average for unskilled workers was 2 hours 58 minutes. This difference is in part due to the fact that for lower status groups, the phone is often the only digital device for work, communication and entertainment, while higher-status groups use multiple devices at the same time.
The most marked divide between social groups was in the purpose of use. As social status declines, the focus of smartphone use shifts from functional, productivity-enhancing purposes such as financial awareness, healthy lifestyle, entertainment and social media. The use of practical apps that support lifestyle is higher in higher-status social groups (14–16%) and gradually decreases down the hierarchy (11%).
The use of social media platforms is lower among higher-status groups (24–25%) and highest among those in manual work (skilled workers: 31%, unskilled workers: 29%).
There is a marked status hierarchy with regard to game use as well: 10–11% among high-status groups and 15–18% among skilled and unskilled workers.
Overall, the research provided more indirect evidence to support the theory of digital inequalities: those who already have more resources (e.g. higher education, better income) are also better able to exploit the advantages of the online space. In this way, the digital advantages can exacerbate social inequalities.