Americans More Addicted to Email, Thanks to Portable Devices

More Americans than ever before are using portable devices to keep tabs on their email throughout the day and night, and from virtually anywhere - bed, cars, bathrooms, even church - according to AOL’s third annual “Email Addiction” survey, which found that email use on portable devices has nearly doubled since 2004, reports MarketingCharts.

Some user-related findings from the AOL survey:

• The average email user checks mail about five times a day, and 59 percent of those with portable devices are using them to check email every time a new message arrives.
• 43 percent of email users with portable devices say they keep the device nearby when they are sleeping to listen for incoming mail.
• With or without portable devices, 15 percent of Americans describe themselves as “addicted to email.”
• Many users even plan their vacations with email access in mind:
  • About four in ten email users say it is “very” or “somewhat” important to them to think about email accessibility when they are planning a vacation.
  • 83 percent of email users admit to checking their mail once a day while actually on vacation.

MarketingCharts provide other findings from the AOL survey, including the most-addicted US city and whether men or women tend to be more email-addicted.