This is how much American drivers use their phone in the car

We just can’t stay away from our phones, even in the car. 

The drive safety app Drivemode looked at driving data from 2.7 million U.S. drivers using Android phones between Jan. 2018 and April 30, 2019 and found that over 167 million miles and 13.3 million hours, Americans use their phone for a better part of an hour in the car on average.

Keep in mind, only drivers who had the Drivemode app on their phones were tracked, so these are already fairly connected users who are probably more likely to use a smartphone for various activities in the car. But still, in an hour the average driver surveyed spends some quality time using tech on the phone. During this time they drive about 20 miles at 45 mph, on average. Let’s break it down.

Almost 45 minutes listening to music through the phone

Those 44 minutes are the bulk of phone use in the car (74 percent) with music volume changes twice in that time and playing back the previous song or clicking onto the next nine times. Spotify is the music player of choice 30 percent of the time, followed by Google Play Music 27 percent of the time (these are Android users after all).

Almost 8 minutes talking

Our smartphones are phones first and foremost, but we often forget about that function. Only 12 percent of driving time is spent chatting on the phone. 

31.9 seconds sending and listening to voicemail 

So Millennials might’ve killed voicemail, but we dedicate a solid 0.8 percent of an hour checking our messages. It’s a hands-free activity listening to messages or leaving someone a voicemail, so easier than texting…

1 text sent, 5 received

We can’t stay away from text messages, but since it’s harder to send a hands-free using voice, we are likely to receive more messages during an hour of driving than we send. Although we have a plethora of texting apps to choose from, standard SMS messages through the phone pulls through the most, accounting for nearly half of all messages. Then it’s almost 24 percent through Whatsapp, followed by 20 percent through Facebook Messenger. 

So there you have it: an hour in the car and we’re on the phone or using it most of the time. At least it’s a break from screen time. Eyes on the road.