Even while watching television or reading books, 1 in 4 Koreans cannot seem to put down their smartphones, a recent survey by the Korea Information Society Development Institute showed Wednesday.

The study examined 9,788 smartphone users’ activities in depth by analyzing their “media diaries,” a daily record of an individual’s media usage every 15 minutes.

It was revealed that 27.7 percent of smartphone users were using other forms of media with a smartphone in hand.

Of those tallied, most were surfing the web, with 11.6 percent using their laptops and 8.5 percent on desktop computers.

Another 7.1 percent spent time watching television while 2.3 percent were reading books, newspapers or magazines.

“It has been revealed that the use of smartphones changed according to the media individuals multitasked with,” added KISDI.

The most common forms of using smartphones while media multitasking were making a phone call and chatting through a messenger.

PC users often used smartphones to send text messages, and those watching TV used it to access information contents or for gaming.

The individuals that spent time reading mostly listened to music through their smartphones.

While 90 percent replied that they regarded the smartphone as subsidiary media when multitasking, the percentage of those regarding it as a main media form increased in 2016 compared to three years prior, suggesting the widening influence of smartphone usage. 

By Yim Ji-min (jiminy@heraldcorp.com)