Young people are losing interest in smartphones but pensioners are using them more than ever

Smartphone users aged 16-24 are shying away from their devices for the first time, while pensioner interest has jumped by more than 50%.

New market research by Kantar TNS shows that young people are spending 3.8 hours a day on their mobiles, compared to 3.9 hours in the previous year.

This is the first time since data has been recorded that there has been a drop in usage for young people. Every other age category grew in the past year, including pensioners, who now spend 54 minutes a day on their phones compared to 36 minutes last year.

People spend an average of 2.4 hours per day on their phones. The research also shows young users are opening an app every 15 minutes on their phones.

London resident Hayley Smith, 29, told The Times she was trying to spend less time on her phone.

"I feel that my phone isn't doing any favours for my mental health," Smith said. "I feel that I am constantly switched on and not relaxing."

Across the globe, 34% of people in the young category believe they spend too much time on their phones. When combined with computer use, people are spending an average of five hours every day looking at a screen.

Report author Alyona Levitin said young people were unlikely to be rid of their smartphones for good.

"It's too late to put the genie back in the bottle," Levitin said. "Phones are too entwined in our everyday lives. However, there's clearly a conflict between our perceptions on phone usage and acting on it."

While screen time has risen overall, the report found that smartphone users were still hesitant to embrace certain features, such as mobile payments. More than half of UK smartphone users (52%) do not use mobile payments, similar to the United States (54%).