Teens Wish They Could Use Virtual Smartphone Assistants To Order Pizza From The Toilet

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
More than half of all 13- to 17-year-old US teenagers conduct voice searchers on their smartphone at least twice per day, while just 41 percent of American adults were fans of the feature, a new Google study has revealed.
The company’s new Mobile Voice Study found that 56 percent of all adults said that using virtual assistants such as Google, Apple’s Siri or Google’s Cortana made them “feel tech savvy,” and 45 percent of the over-18 crowd said that conducting voice searches made them “feel like a geek.”
In addition, the Mountain View, California-based firm also found that 75 percent of all teens who use their smartphones at least 11 hours per day regularly used hands-free search features, and 89 percent of teenagers and 85 percent of adults said they believed voice searches would be “very common” in the near future.
What activities are smartphone owners using voice searches for? According to CNET’s Eric Mack, teenagers were most likely to use these hands-free assistants to place a phone call, while adults typically use them primarily for getting directions.

Interestingly enough, dictating texts was the second most popular use of the feature for adults, but did not make the top six for teens. However, getting assistance with homework did, as did asking for the current time. The study also reported that 23 percent of US adults used voice search while cooking, that 51 percent of teens said that they used the feature “just for fun,” and 27 percent of responders said they used it to check the weather.
“Younger users aren’t worried about social stigmas, either – they’re far more likely to use voice commands when friends are around (57 percent versus 24 percent),” said Engadget writer Jon Fingas. He added that the findings “aren’t completely surprising – as a general rule, the younger crowd tends to embrace new technology more quickly – but they do suggest that voice is only going to play a bigger role in smartphones going forward.”
Over three-fourths of all Americans also said they believe voice search is great for multitasking – sometimes in ways that some readers might find mildly disturbing. Fifty-nine percent of teens and 36 percent of adults said they used the feature while watching television, while 22 percent of teens claim to have used the function while in the bathroom.
When asked to select one thing they wished they could ask their phone to do for them, 45 percent of US teens and 36 percent of adults selected “send me a pizza.” The top answer among adults was “tell me where my keys are,” while 33 percent of adults and 34 percent of teens wanted their virtual assistant’s help in finding their TV’s remote control.
“Voice search is a key feature of the Google app that’s becoming ever more important as people spend more time on their mobile phones,” Scott Huffman, Google’s Vice President for Conversational Search, said in a statement. “We wanted to learn more about how people of all ages use Google hands-free on their phones.”
“We found that for teens, voice search comes as naturally as checking social media and they’re getting very creative about how (and where) they use it,” he added. “The study gives us great ideas about new ways we could help people – maybe even help them find their keys and other elusive objects.”
The study was commissioned by Google and conducted by strategic marketing insights and consulting firm Northstar Research. Responses from more than 1,400 US residents, including 400 teenagers ranging in age from 13 to 17 and 1,000 adults over the age of 18, were collected and tallied during the preparation of the Mobile Voice Study report.
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