Despite Security Concerns, Americans Depend on Smartphone for Email, News, and… Hooking Up

Research Shows U.S. Men 2x More Likely Than Women to Take Naked Selfies and “Belfies”

Clean Master today announced the findings of a new mobile connectivity survey, which was conducted by TNS as a national poll of 1,000 U.S. adults. The research discovered that, even though 66% of Americans fear their smartphone security needs are not being adequately addressed, most (85%) Americans still depend on their smartphone for key lifestyle activities. Among the top five most popular categories are: Email (65%), Social Media (46%), Calendar (44%), News (35%), and Shopping (20%). Interestingly, the survey also revealed a small segment of the nation’s smartphone users who admit they depend on their smartphone for more personal activities—like Hooking Up (6%) and Dating (4%).

The most pervasive security concern listed among American smartphone users is Identity Protection (40%). Rounding out the top 5 security issues are: Securing Financial Information (38%), Viruses (34%), Email Hacking (28%), and Spam (24%). Other security concerns include Someone Accessing Other Devices (21%), Social Media Hacking (20%), Leaked Selfies (5.2%), and Leaked Porn (3.7%).

That being said, however, Clean Master’s research discovered that Americans still rely on their smartphones, despite security risks. They also found that the activities people depend on a smartphone for varies by gender and geographic location. For example, female respondents were more likely than male respondents to depend on their smartphone for the following activities:

  • Email (69% women vs. 60% men)
  • Social Media (56% women vs. 35% men)
  • Calendar (48% women vs. 39% men)
  • Shopping (24% women vs. 15% men)

Conversely, men are more likely than women to depend on their smartphone for activities like News (35% men vs. 34% women), Hooking Up (9% men vs. 2% women), and Dating (6% men vs. 2% women).

Breaking out respondents in the US by region demonstrated that American smartphone users who live in the North Central are more likely than any other geographic location to depend on their device for Email (70%), Social Media (50%), Shopping (25%) and Dating (4%). Other regions that led in specific categories include:

  • Southern smartphone users are more likely than other regions to depend on their device for Calendar (47%)
  • Northeastern smartphone users are more likely than other regions to depend on their device for News (44%)
  • Western smartphone users are more likely than other regions to depend on their device for Hooking up (8%)

When asked about their behavior related to the popular “selfie” trend, American smartphone users indicated the most popular kind of selfies they take are:

  • Selfies with friends – 17%
  • Mirror selfies – 10%
  • Selfies of themself at work – 7%
  • Naked selfies – 5%
  • Workout selfies – 4%

Men are twice as likely than women to take Naked selfies (6% men vs. 3% women) and “Belfies” (butt selfies) (2% men vs. 1% women). Women are more likely than men to take Selfies with friends (22% women vs. 11% men), Mirror selfies (14% women vs. 7% men), and Selfies of themselves at work (9% women vs. 5% men). Women are more likely to be concerned that their selfies will be leaked (5.8% women vs. 4.6% men), but men are more concerned that someone will see the porn on their devices (4.7% of men vs. 2.7% of women).

“Our research shows just how essential smartphones are to everyday American lifestyles. That’s why we want to help keep devices performing in top condition. Regardless of what personal activities you use your device for—whether sending emails, socializing, or taking selfies—our priority is to ensure smartphone connectivity is never interrupted,” said Adam Morley, Product Manager at KS Mobile.