More Americans may be required to be back in the office rather than working from home, but they are taking podcasts and streaming media with them. A new survey finds that mobile phone usage during the workday has become even more ingrained in daily habits, with the typical worker spending 186 minutes — or more than three hours per day — on their phone while at work. That includes 30 minutes of day listening to podcasts on average, according to the survey from RSS. Other non-work activities include an average 46 minutes on social media, 33 minutes texting or messaging, 27 minutes streaming video content, 15 minutes playing mobile games, and 13 minutes shopping online. RSS says YouTube is the third most-used app at work, with Spotify ranked sixth.
The survey points to generational differences in how people use their cell phones during work. Unsurprisingly, the younger someone is, the more likely they are to spend time on the device during the workday. RSS says Gen Z leads with an average of 234 minutes per day on their phones during work. That is 20 minutes more than Millennials. In comparison, baby boomers spend the least amount of time on their phones at 77 minutes per day on average, followed by Gen X, which typically spends 146 minutes.
RSS says in a blog post that even though Gen Z spends far more time on their phones during the work day, they seem to have some self-awareness of how it impacts their productivity. Eighteen percent say banning personal phone use during work hours would help them get more done while on the job. To that end, the survey finds that employees at companies with the most lenient policies about phone use spend an average of 202 minutes a day on their phones, compared to 183 minutes for employees at companies that have strict policies. Yet the survey data also shows workplaces with strict policies actually see more employee personal phone use than those with a more moderate approach to policing screen time.
The survey results are based on data collected from more than 3,400 people in December 2024. The large sample size allows RSS to also offer some state-by-state results.
It reports that employees in Texas spend the most time on their phones each day, clocking in 4 hours and 40 minutes, on average. That includes an average of 59 minutes listening to podcasts. On the other end of the spectrum, Wisconsin employees were the most diligent, although the survey finds they still average 2 hours and 6 minutes per day on their phones while at work. RSS says the results could be influenced by regional values or prominent industries that are less conducive to phone use. Other states with high levels of at-work podcast listening include Montana (55 minutes), Virginia (47 minutes), Kansas (43 minutes), Nebraska (41 minutes) and Colorado (40 minutes).
Here is a state-by-state breakout of at-work podcast listening according to the RSS survey:
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