How Far We Scroll on Our iPhones — And What It’s Costing Us
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Various studies and reports indicate Americans check their phones between 60 and 200 times daily, spending somewhere between 4.5 and 6 hours a day staring at their screens. That adds up to between 1,600 and 2,000 hours — roughly 60 to 90 full days — each year.
If you do the math, that’s nearly a quarter of the year spent on our phones. That’s staggering, and one company decided to put it in context by visualizing that time another way: measuring how far our thumbs actually travel. Perhaps examining the data through that lens will encourage us all to rethink our smartphone habits.
Many of us spend more time on our iPhones and iPads than we really want to. It’s easy to lose track of how often we check for new alerts or notifications — sometimes only seconds apart. These small interruptions add up, taking a toll on our productivity, focus, and, according to research, even our mental health.
Some studies link heavy smartphone use to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and reduced social interaction, which has prompted some companies to develop dumb phones aimed at children and teens. We’re all familiar with Apple’s Screen Time feature — but let’s face it, most of us don’t use it for its intended purpose.
We often measure our screen time in minutes, but what we’re really losing might be harder to quantify — until someone decided to try.
TollFreeForwarding.com, an international toll-free call-forwarding company, came up with the idea to convert scrolling into miles. It estimated how far we scroll by converting average daily screen time into seconds, assuming a single scroll about every ten seconds across a 6.3-inch screen — the diagonal size of an iPhone 16 Pro display. Turn those inches into miles, multiply that by 365 days, and you’ve got a surprising total: miles of motion each year.
Do we actually scroll 6.3 inches every ten seconds on our iPhones? It wouldn’t be surprising. Either way, the results are fascinating.
According to a 2024 survey, residents of Arizona have the highest daily smartphone use, averaging 8 hours and 50 minutes per day. Arizona is followed by Washington, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Georgia (6 hours and 58 minutes/day). Based on the calculation, Arizonans are scrolling 115.37 miles annually on their smartphones — roughly the distance from Phoenix to Tucson. Georgia, in tenth place, is only nine miles behind at 91.07 miles scrolled. That’s a ton of thumb-swipes — and it makes you wonder where all that scrolling is taking us.
Maybe this unique perspective on smartphone screen time will scare us straight. After unboxing my first new iPhone in five years, I’m eager to get it up and running. When I do, I’ll be sure to track my Screen Time, set up Focus modes, and revisit my Notifications settings. If you feel like you’re spending too much time on your iPhone, now’s the time to make a change. It’s never too late to build better digital habits.
