74% of Americans believe smartphone addiction is a problem that should be solved by consumers - not tech companies or the government
In the last two months, both Apple and Google have announced features intended to address the growing concern around smartphone addiction.
During Apple's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference, the company introduced iOS 12, complete with a new feature called Screen Time: a set of tools that will include things like activity reports and notification controls so users can "better understand and control" their iPhone use. Google's Digital Wellbeing initiative, which it announced at its annual I/O developer conference, will bring a similar dashboard to Android devices and include "tools that help [users] avoid daily distractions and look at your devices less."
With these steps, smartphone manufacturers - and some social media platforms - are taking steps to bring awareness to the issue, but as this chart from Statista shows, most Americans believe the blame lies on consumers. Only a tenth of the 2,200 adults surveyed by Morning Consult believe tech companies are to blame for smartphone addiction.
