The Belgian and his unwritten smartphone house rules

We wake up with it and we go to bed with it. Smartphones are everywhere. To deal with their ubiquity, we have started introducing unwritten household rules, a survey conducted by Orange Belgium among more than 1,000 Belgians reveals. Parents with children, in particular, are getting a little bit stricter come dinner time. In the bedroom we still swipe and scroll a little more often.

If we want to keep our Christmas dinners festive and fun, briefly banning smartphones to a dresser or side table is the way to go. Those are the findings of a survey by Orange Belgium. 8 out of 10 Belgians find it annoying when someone whips out their mobile phone during dinner. As a result, a ‘smartphone etiquette’ is sometimes put in place. A simple matter of keeping things cosy.

4 out of 5 Belgians say mobile phones should be banned during meals

72% of those surveyed introduce rules for the little ones. Parents decide if ànd for how long children are allowed to use their mobile phones at the table. As for couples, nearly half (48%) have an agreement in place on the use of smartphones during meals. Rules seem less of a necessity in this case. Merely 19 percent or nearly 1 in 5 admit to reaching for their smartphones during dinner or supper.

What’s considered not done in the dining room, is deemed slightly less inappropriate between the sheets. Quite a few people like to take one final peek at their social media before closing their eyes. Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) still likes to take a little stroll up and down their social media timeline. 17 percent of respondents dive into their mailbox at the end of the day. In the morning as much as 1 in 3 check their incoming mail in bed. At 22%, social media usage is slightly lower at the break of a new day.

Switching to night mode before bedtime?

In general, the use of smartphones before bedtime is not recommended. Still, this does not seem to bother the vast majority. 75 percent will go ahead and stare at their screens anyway. 1 in 4 refrains from using any screen before calling it a day and drawing the curtains. Looking is one thing, listening another. Indeed, smartphone sounds also tend to keep us from our sleep. 22 percent of respondents admits to having been woken early by the beep of a text or email in the past. Once awake, 1 in 3 cannot resist the urge to check immediately. It looks - and sounds - like the smartphone does have an impact on our eating and sleeping habits after all. 

As a concerned operator, Orange Belgium advocates the responsible use of digital technology and offers practical advice to its customers.

More information can be found here: https://corporate.orange.be/en/social-responsibility/healthy-screen-time