Revealed: The insane smartphone addiction in the U.S.

If you live in the United States, you won't be surprised to learn that people are really attached to their smartphones.

But now we can put some numbers to the trend to show just how addicted some people are to their smartphones. The numbers come from a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of mobile security firm Lookout and Sprint.

According to the survey looking at consumers' mobile behavior, 63 percent of the 1,000 Americans surveyed said they check their smartphone at least once every hour. Nine percent said they check every five minutes.

Crazy!

Those are numbers I'm sure Apple, the new leader in the U.S. smartphone market , is happy to hear, but probably not numbers the family and friends who are trying to talk to you while you read this on your phone are thrilled about (97 percent of mobile phone owners said they check their phones occasionally while in the presence of family and friends).

The survey, which shows that consumers have a deep attachment to their phones, also shows that they, nonetheless, exhibit risky behavior on their phones. Here are some of the survey's most fascinating insights:

• 33 percent of people said they would fear the contents of their mobile phone being projected on a big screen
• 63 percent of people would be upset if they left home without their smartphone
• Only 44 percent of people have a PIN or password on their phone
• 26 percent of people are not aware of the risks of clicking on unfamiliar links while browsing on mobile
• 18 percent store password information on their phones

More here.

Photo: Flickr/Seth Sawyers

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com