Nearly 9 in 10 Americans Use Their Phone While Watching TV

According to the Reviews.org report 2026 Cell Phone Usage and Statistics, 87% of Americans say they use their phone while watching TV, demonstrating how "second-screen" behavior has become the norm rather than the exception.

You can think of "second-screening" as the habit of automatically using a phone or another device to do things like text, browse social media, or read, while you're watching TV or using another primary screen.

So while TV used to be the main activity for relaxation, it’s become a background activity while we busy ourselves with other things.

Cell phone use permeates nearly every facet of our lives. In the same report, as many as 56.4% of people say they use the phone at dinner, and 72.2% at work. It’s an automatic response for many people: 84.6% start using their phone within the first 10 minutes of waking.

This pattern continues throughout the day, and it happens so often that we probably don’t even notice it.

Americans check their phones 186 times per day, or about 12 times per hour. Whether it's micro-checks to see if notifications are important, boredom during ad breaks, or a quick scroll through social media to catch up with news and friends, our phones are always there to provide some form of entertainment or distraction.

And it seems we never truly take a break unless we’re asleep.

About half (50%) of people say they sleep with their phone at night. Phones are their own safety blanket, too: 41% report panic or anxiety when their phone battery dips below 20%.

With our constant companions at our side, it's easy to see how we've come to depend on our digital devices, and why it's so hard to feel like we ever truly "unplug" from the world (hence the desire for many to turn to "digital detox" practices).

Since 87% of people are prone to second-screening, it's less about what's streaming on TV and more about what's in our hands.

This normalized use of our phones during shows and movies isn't necessarily a critique of the quality of content or our attention spans. Some people may look up the actors in a show and browse their filmography, while others simply want to chat with friends during otherwise isolated times. However, this multitasking can lead to missing key plot moments in a movie or failing to truly relax.

Regardless, second-screening is a definitive shift from the distraction-free viewing we’ve known in the past to a more dynamic, screen-to-screen streaming habit.