Do you know what holiday we had last Wednesday? 📵 No Phone Day! 📵 Since it doesn't threaten even a mobile operator once a year, we challenged our Vikings – for one day, we hide our phones in a drawer, or at least use them as little as possible. What did the Vikings say? Did they take up the challenge, or did it completely pass them by? We checked!
Phones, phones… do you remember they used to be for calling? ☎️ It's that interesting extra feature hidden under a mysterious icon that looks like a green banana with growths on both ends. Well, maybe we're exaggerating a bit. But it's undeniable that it's thanks to the other capabilities that smartphones offer today that these devices have permanently become a part of our daily lives. A phone is no longer a gadget; it has become everyday life, and unfortunately, sometimes an obsession. 😵
That's precisely why we celebrate No Phone Day – to check once a year if our relationship with our smartphones hasn't become unhealthy, and if we can lock them away in a drawer for 24 hours without guilt or trembling hands. 🔒 What do other Vikings have to say about it?
🥁 [DRUMROLL] 🥁
Nothing.
It was a typical day on board Mobile Vikings. Usage figures did not deviate in any way from the norm set by neighboring days and fit neatly within the general trends.
Does this mean we need to send our entire drakkar to an addiction treatment center immediately? Or is it just that Vikings are wired differently, deciding for themselves when to lay down their and not be forced by some holiday? We bet on the latter. But it's worth having your own No Phone Day anytime – just for a test. Phone addiction, or nomophobia, is no joke. It's important to pay attention to whether we control our phones, or if they're controlling us. However, if you, Viking, took up the challenge and your phone spent July 15th alone – let us know! 🤙
And since we've already looked at the numbers, 📈 we'd love to tell you something about them!
How do Vikings enjoy themselves?
On July 15th, we used 14% more GB on average than exactly a year earlier and 9% more compared to the Wednesday preceding the holiday (July 8th). This is also the trend – year after year, we consume more and more internet; ☝️ films in ever-better quality are getting heavier, and offers are increasingly packed with gigabytes. See for yourself:
Do you see that drop in the red graph in the middle of the axis? That's when the coronavirus confined us to our homes, and we likely switched to WiFi. 🏠 Since then, we've had gigabyte highs and lows, but we quickly returned to continuing the trend set by 2019.
It was similar with roaming data – July 15th did not stand out against the prevailing trend, but what a trend it is! Data usage was 30% lower than on July 15th, 2019, but a whopping 69% higher than just two weeks ago.
This is, of course, also related to the coronavirus pandemic – a year ago, we could travel freely ⛱️ and no one would have imagined how much everything would change. On the other hand, it's only been a few weeks since we've started slowly poking our noses outside the country. This is clearly visible on the red graph, which shows the current year. And if you're wondering what that sharp black peak in 2019 is – it's the May long weekend, of course!
On No Phone Day, we didn't skimp on chats either. In fact, we made 14% more calls than last year; although a little less than a week and two weeks earlier – 9% and 2% respectively.
Well, the coronavirus also got in the way here – as you can see from the red line, cut off from physical contact in March, we craved at least voice communication. 🦜 We're still calling a bit more, but the overall trend is starting to resemble last year's. We're returning to normal!
So, did we send fewer SMS messages on that special day? Not really. There were as many as the week before and 5% fewer than two weeks prior. This also fits the general trend – compared to last year, we send 23% fewer SMS messages.
Do you see anything interesting here? The hint is again the coronavirus. It affected SMS sending in the opposite way to voice calls – significantly reducing their number. Did we remember during the pandemic that the voice carries more emotion than a dry message? 🥰 Or perhaps most of our SMS messages are actually commands crucial for maintaining domestic peace, such as "take out the laundry," "buy eggs," "what time will you be home," and "the courier will be here"? 🧾 You would have had to have a very large house and very relaxed family relations to maintain this communication style during quarantine. Now, the graph is starting to resemble last year's in shape, so we're returning to everyday life.
And so, life goes on slowly on this village deck. The important thing is progress! More and more Vikings are joining our crew, and each of them is not a number – but the name of a new travel companion. If you haven't had enough of statistics, we also have a certain curiosity on the topic of names. 🙃
Is there anything else you'd like to know about our network? Let us know. We'll gladly prepare more reports, as long as our benevolent GDPR allows! 🙏
