A striking paradox defines the American relationship with technology in 2025: the vast majority of adults believe they are addicted to their devices, yet few are willing — or able — to put them down. A sweeping new survey from CNET lays bare the depth of this tension, revealing that tech dependency has become so normalized that even those who recognize its harms feel powerless to change their behavior.
The findings arrive at a moment when screen time is under intensifying scrutiny from lawmakers, public health officials, and parents alike. With smartphone usage climbing year over year and artificial intelligence tools adding new reasons to stay glued to screens, the data paints a portrait of a society caught between the undeniable utility of its devices and the creeping sense that something has gone deeply wrong.
The Numbers Behind the National Habit
According to CNET’s 2025 Tech Addiction Survey, approximately 62% of American adults say they consider themselves addicted to their phones. That figure rises sharply among younger demographics: roughly 73% of respondents aged 18 to 34 described their phone use as compulsive or addictive. The survey, which polled a nationally representative sample, found that the average respondent estimated spending more than four hours per day on their smartphone outside of work-related tasks — a number that aligns with data from app-tracking services and prior academic research.
Perhaps more telling than the raw screen-time figures is the emotional dimension. A significant share of respondents reported feelings of anxiety when separated from their phones, a phenomenon psychologists have labeled “nomophobia.” Nearly half of those surveyed said they check their phone within five minutes of waking up, and a similar proportion admitted to scrolling through social media or news apps as the last activity before falling asleep. The ritualistic nature of these habits suggests that for many Americans, the smartphone has become less a tool and more a psychological crutch.
Social Media Remains the Primary Culprit
While smartphones serve as the delivery mechanism, social media platforms remain the most frequently cited source of compulsive behavior. The CNET survey found that Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube collectively accounted for the largest share of non-work screen time. TikTok, in particular, drew pointed criticism from respondents, with many acknowledging that the platform’s short-form video algorithm made it especially difficult to stop scrolling once they started.
This tracks with research published earlier this year by the American Psychological Association, which found that algorithmic content feeds are engineered to exploit dopamine-driven reward loops in the brain. The design of these platforms — infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications — is not incidental. It is the product of billions of dollars in research and development aimed at maximizing user engagement. As one respondent in the CNET survey put it: “I open the app to check one thing and 45 minutes later I’m still there. I know it’s a problem, but I keep doing it.”
The Health Toll Is Becoming Harder to Ignore
The consequences of this dependency extend well beyond wasted time. The CNET findings echo a growing body of medical literature linking excessive screen use to sleep disruption, increased anxiety, depression, and diminished attention spans. More than 40% of respondents in the survey said their phone use had negatively affected their sleep quality, and roughly a third reported that it had strained at least one personal relationship.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has been among the most vocal public health officials sounding the alarm. In 2024, Murthy issued an advisory calling social media a significant contributor to the youth mental health crisis, and he has continued to press for warning labels on social media platforms similar to those found on tobacco products. His office has pointed to studies showing that adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms. While the CNET survey focused on adults, the patterns it identifies — compulsive checking, anxiety upon separation, sleep disruption — mirror those documented in adolescent populations.
The Workplace Dimension: Productivity and Burnout
Tech addiction does not stop at the office door. In fact, the boundaries between personal and professional screen time have become almost indistinguishable for many workers. The rise of remote and hybrid work arrangements since the pandemic has meant that the same device used for Slack messages and Zoom calls is also the portal to Instagram reels and Reddit threads. The CNET survey found that a notable percentage of respondents admitted to spending at least an hour of their workday on non-work-related phone activities.
This blurring of boundaries contributes to a broader burnout cycle. Workers who are perpetually connected — answering emails at 10 p.m., checking Teams notifications on weekends — report higher levels of exhaustion and lower job satisfaction, according to research from Gallup and Microsoft’s Work Trend Index. The irony is that the same technology marketed as a productivity enhancer often functions as a productivity drain, fragmenting attention and making sustained focus increasingly rare. Cal Newport, the Georgetown computer science professor and author of “Digital Minimalism,” has argued that the modern knowledge worker is engaged in a constant battle against distraction that the devices themselves are designed to win.
AI Tools Are Adding a New Layer of Dependency
The rapid proliferation of generative AI tools — ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and others — has introduced a new vector for tech dependency that the CNET survey only begins to capture. As these tools become embedded in daily workflows and personal decision-making, early indicators suggest they may deepen reliance on screens rather than reduce it. A growing number of users report turning to AI chatbots not just for work tasks but for emotional support, creative brainstorming, and even relationship advice.
This trend raises questions that existing addiction frameworks are not yet equipped to answer. Traditional models of tech addiction focus on dopamine-driven feedback loops — likes, shares, notifications. AI interactions operate differently, offering a sense of personalized engagement and intellectual companionship that may prove even more psychologically sticky. Researchers at Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute have begun studying whether prolonged interaction with conversational AI produces dependency patterns similar to those seen with social media, though definitive results are still years away.
What People Say They Want — and What They Actually Do
One of the most revealing tensions in the CNET data is the gap between intention and action. A majority of respondents said they had attempted to reduce their screen time in the past year. Common strategies included setting app timers, turning off notifications, and designating phone-free hours. Yet most of those who tried reported limited or no lasting success. The app timers get dismissed. The notifications get turned back on. The phone-free hours quietly shrink.
This pattern is consistent with what behavioral scientists call the “intention-action gap,” a well-documented phenomenon in which people fail to follow through on goals they genuinely hold. In the context of tech use, the gap is widened by the fact that smartphones are not optional for most adults. They are required for banking, navigation, communication, and increasingly for identity verification and healthcare access. Quitting a smartphone is not like quitting cigarettes; it is more like trying to eat less while being required to visit a buffet every hour.
Legislative and Corporate Responses Remain Fragmented
Government action on tech addiction has been sporadic and largely focused on children. Several states have passed or proposed legislation restricting minors’ access to social media, and Congress has debated various bills targeting algorithmic amplification and data collection practices aimed at young users. But legislative efforts addressing adult tech addiction remain virtually nonexistent, in part because the issue is politically complex — restricting how adults use their own devices raises immediate First Amendment and consumer freedom objections.
On the corporate side, Apple and Google both offer built-in screen time tracking and management tools, but critics argue these features are designed more for public relations than for genuine behavior change. The companies that profit from user engagement have little financial incentive to make their products less engaging. As long as advertising revenue is tied to time spent on platforms, the fundamental business model of the attention economy will remain intact regardless of how many digital wellness features are bolted onto operating systems.
A Reckoning That Keeps Getting Deferred
The picture that emerges from the CNET survey and the broader body of research is one of a society that has recognized a problem without mustering the collective will to address it. Americans know they are spending too much time on their phones. They know it is affecting their sleep, their relationships, and their mental health. They have tried, in individual and piecemeal ways, to change. And they have mostly failed — not because they lack willpower, but because the systems around them are designed to make failure the default outcome.
Whether the growing chorus of concern from public health officials, researchers, and ordinary citizens will eventually produce meaningful structural change remains an open question. For now, the data suggests that the nation’s tech addiction is deepening, not receding — and that the next generation of AI-powered tools may accelerate the trend further still. The smartphone, once celebrated as a marvel of human ingenuity, has become something more complicated: a device that billions of people depend on, millions wish they could escape, and almost no one can put down.
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