Nearly eight out of 10 people in the UAE (79 percent) wish their family and friends would spend less time on their phone when they are together. And a staggering 40 percent of UAE residents think they have a problem with using their mobile phone too much and would like to cut back.
These results are some of the top findings from the 2023 Life and Technology Report from communications agency, duke+mir. More than 1,000 people across the Emirates were independently polled (through YouGov) for their views on a range of lifestyle and technology questions, to discover more about the attitudes and behaviour of people in the UAE.
One of the biggest findings was that 70 percent of UAE respondents think it has become harder to separate their work and personal life because of technology since 2020. Adopting different remote technologies to enable us to work, since the onset of Covid-19, appears to have distorted work-life balance.
Jonathan Ivan-Duke, Co-founder and Partner at duke+mir said, “People in the UAE are finding it very difficult to balance how they use technology, whether that is at work, at home or out and about with friends and family. We are prioritising using our phones ahead of people sitting right in front of us. This data shows we need to develop better ways to control our use of technology and perhaps learn to enjoy face-to-face interactions more.”
Other key findings from the report included:
· Nearly half of Emiratis (48 percent) say they spend too long on their phone and want to cut back on usage. A significant proportion of Arab expats (48 percent), Westerners (38 percent) and Asian expats (36 percent) also want to reduce their phone use
· 76 percent of people in the UAE get frustrated by apps or websites every month, with more than a third of people surveyed having daily problems with apps/websites
To read the full report, visit dukemir.com/research or for more information on the raw data contained within the report, email info@dukemir.com.
