YNOT – More than half of all mobile phone owners use their phones for distraction or engagement while watching other media, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Young adults 18-24 are the most active “connected viewers,” with 81 percent of them engaging multiple screens at the same time.

Altogether, 52 percent of all cell owners are connected viewers, and the phenomenon occurs across the spectrum of age groups.

During February and March 2012:

• 38 percent of cell owners used their phone to keep themselves occupied during commercials or breaks in something they were watching.
• 23 percent used their phone to exchange text messages with someone else who was watching the same program in a different location.
• 22 percent used their phone to check whether something they heard on television was true or not.
• 20 percent used their phone to visit a website that was mentioned on television.
• 11 percent used their phone to see what other people were saying online about a program they were watching, and 11 percent used their phone to post their own comments online about a program they were watching.
• 6 percent used their phone to vote for a reality show contestant.

“These findings unify two trends occurring across modern media platforms: the rise of audience engagement and the rise of portable connectivity,” said Jan Lauren Boyles, a research intern at Pew Internet and a co-author of the report. “Television audiences are actively primed to participate, and these connected viewers are using mobile devices to debate, learn and engage with programming and each other.”

Although young adults are the most connected, the phenomenon is widespread throughout a range of demographic cohorts: well over half of cell owners between the ages of 25 and 44 are connected viewers, and nearly half of those in their mid-40s to mid-50s use their phone to engage with — or distract themselves while watching — other content.

Other key data that emerged during the study include:

• Smartphone owners are far more likely to use their phones to engage with televised content than owners of more basic phones. Some 74 percent of smartphone owners are connected viewers, compared with just 27 percent of those with more basic phones.
• African-American cell owners are more likely than whites or Latinos to use their phone to see what others are saying online and to post their own comments online about a program they are watching, as well as share text messages with someone else watching a program in a different location.
• Cell owners living in households earning $50,000 per year or more are more likely to participate in interactive television experiences than those in households with lower annual incomes, and those with at least some college experience are more likely to do so than those who have not graduated high school. Additionally, urban residents are more likely to be connected viewers than those living in rural areas.

“Thanks to the widespread adoption of mobile technologies, what was once a passive, one-way information flow is often now a social contact sport,” said Aaron Smith, a Pew Internet researcher and co-author of the report. “Viewers are using these devices to find others who share their passions, to sound off on programming that captures their attention, and to go ‘beyond the broadcast’ to inform themselves more fully about the things they have heard and experienced.”

The complete report is available here.