Connected consumers are in bed with e-readers, sharing the TV screen with their tablet

Seven out of 10 smartphone and tablet owners in the US use their connected device while they are watching TV. E-reader owners on the other hand prefer to recline in bed while enjoying a good digital book.

Market researcher Nielsen studied the habits of almost 12,000 owners of connected devices to discover how and where they used their tablets, e-readers and smartphones.

The most popular situational usage for tablet users was watching TV (70 percent) followed by lying in bed (57 percent), with friends and family (44 percent), and waiting for something (42 percent). One quarter of tablet owners revealed that they use their device while in the bathroom.

Smartphone usage was, on average, much higher across the board with 68 percent of owners reporting they used their device while watching TV, 59 percent while shopping and waiting for something, 58 percent while with friends and family, and 51 percent while lying in bed.

E-reader usage was largely restricted to the bedroom.Sixty-one percent of e-reader owners said they read digital books while in bed while only 35 percent reported sharing their reading time with TV watching.

Tablet owners reported that one third of their time spent with their device was while they were in front of the TV. Smartphone owners divided their device time much more evenly between tasks.

Almost 40 percent of e-reader’s device usage time was in bed.