Why We Can't Stop Using Our Phones While We Watch TV

Our smartphones are essentially an extra appendage at this point—extensions of our brains that never stray far from our fingertips. They've also increasingly become an ever-present second screen while we're watching TV.

According to Nielsen's latest Total Audience Report, 73 percent of US adults use a digital device at least occasionally while watching TV, and 45 percent of those respondents do so "very often" or "always."

While this trend is certainly caused in part by the way we constantly and absentmindely scroll through Instagram, Twitter, or other social feeds, Nielsen found that many TV watchers are using their devices as an extension of the entertainment experience. Of those respondents who use digital devices while watching, 71 percent said they're often looking up information related to whatever they're watching. (Personally, I'm always opening the IMDb app to figure out who that actor is and where I know them from.)

Aside from looking up info, 41 percent said they use devices to send messages to friends about what they're watching, and 28 percent said they open social-media apps to read and write posts during a show. There's nothing quite like live-tweeting a crazy twist in your favorite show, along with millions of other people.

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In what I suppose means that TV advertising actually works, 35 percent of respondents said they use devices to look up or shop for a product they saw in an ad. And finally, 15 percent said they switched to something else on TV after seeing something online. The internet and social media have become our new TV guides.