Titan survey reveals Mumbai, Hyderabad have most weekday screen addicts, Delhi tops on weekends

Nearly 50 per cent of residents from Mumbai and Hyderabad spend more than eight hours a day in front of one screen or another during the week, according to the latest instalment of the 'Screen Junkie' report conducted by Titan's Eyewear Division. 

Inhabitants from Mumbai and Hyderabad top the list of weekday 'screen junkies', compared to a national average (all cities) of 41 per cent who spend more than 8 hours per weekday in front of a screen, and cities such Delhi where only 11 per cent of respondents admit to spending this much time glued to a screen during the week. 

But Delhiites', who have a high high screen abstinence during the week, more than offset it by their weekend habits where a staggering 41 per cent succumb to the screen's siren for over 8 hours per day. 

These are some of the findings from the report which also reveals various cities' preferences for different screens and devices; Lucknow's residents top the chart with their preference for the traditional TV screen, while Delhiites are the most avid tablet users. 

Interestingly, the screen viewing trends tend to shift significantly over the weekends with only 11 per cent of respondents nationally spending more than eight hours in front of a digital screen, compared to a national figure of 41 per cent during the week.

Delhi respondents appear to be the biggest 'Weekend Screen Bingers' of screen time with 41 per cent respondents spending more than eight hours in front of digital screens while respondents from Ahmedabad (68 per cent) and Lucknow (64 per cent) opt for the weekend screen detox spending less than five hours in front of them.

The Screen Junkie Poll also indicates the preferred choice of screen mates (devices) amongst Indians. Laptops and PCs emerge as the favorite screen mates for the national respondents (41 per cent) while Tablets are viewed as the least favored (4 per cent); other insights include:

• Mobiles / smartphones:  Bhubaneswar (47 per cent) is clearly the mobile and smartphones capital while respondents from Lucknow (25 per cent) prefer spending the least amount time on them
• Laptops and PCs: Lucknow (50 per cent) who are on a screen detox during weekends favor Laptops and PCs the most while they are least preferred by residents from Mumbai and Bhubaneswar (36 per cent each)
• TV: Lucknow (25 per cent) scores the highest while respondents from Bhubaneswar (10 per cent) seem to spend minimal amount of time in front of TV
• Tablets: Still at nascent stage in the country, tablets are most preferred by respondents from Delhi (7 per cent) – the screen bingers on weekends and are non-existent in Bhubaneswar and Lucknow (0 per cent each)

The release of the report coincided with the opening of Titan Eyeplus' 276th store in Bangalore. Speaking at the store launch, S Ravi Kant, CEO, Eyewear Division, Titan Company Ltd explains: ''The pattern of screen viewing has evolved over the years from being limited to television only to accessing multiple screens – laptops, mobiles, tablets etc. Although light-hearted in nature, the 'Screen Junkie Poll' highlights some important implications about the screen viewing habits of urban Indian consumers; and also the potential eye health implications of the same,''

''Prolonged exposure to digital screens directly affects eye health, hence making it imperative to get a regular eye-checkup and use protective eyewear which can shield the eyes from harmful radiations from digital screens. By launching new collections and expanding our presence in the country, we aim at focusing on eye-care and facilitating eye check-ups for all our consumers.''

The 'Screen Junkie Poll' was conducted online amongst members of the Encircle database – Titan's customer loyalty program, to understand the screen viewing habits of individuals and their family members across the country. Nearly 1,000 consumers from metros and mini-metros responded to the same. The responses were subjective and qualitative assessments of the screen viewing habits of themselves and their family members.