00 90% of Hong Kong residents use smartphones on the toilet

Asian Baby Child Toilet Training — Image by Sorapop | Bigstockphoto

A recent survey by the cybersecurity company NordVPN revealed that as much as 90% of Hong Kong residents bring their smartphones with them into the toilet. That’s the biggest result of all other surveyed countries. While most Hong Kong people (61.1%) scroll through social media during that time, barely anyone thinks of growing threats online and hackers’ attempts to compromise people’s phones.

“Hong Kong people seem to need smartphones a lot. Our previous survey already showed that people of Hong Kong spend a lot of time online — more than 44 years per lifetime, which is a half of their lives,” says Ugne Mikalajunaite, a country manager for Hong Kong at NordVPN. “Even though the majority (80%) name smartphones as the device that tracks their online behavior the most, Hong Kong residents still haven’t developed good cyber habits to protect their online lives,” she says.

How much time we spend online

Hong Kong smartphones in toilet — *Courtesy: Nord VPN*

Social media and gaming — top activities for Hong Kong residents while on the toilet

The majority of Hong Kong people admit that their time on the toilet is mostly spent scrolling through social media (61.1%), gaming (40.3%), and watching videos, movies, or television programs (36.5%).

Among other activities, Hong Kong residents also listen to or read the news (34.3%), call and message people (31.3%), and shop online (21.4%).

Cybersecurity refresher for Hong Kong

Here are some key tips on protecting your phone on and off the john:

Keep apps and the phone’s operating system (OS) up to date. Don’t skip software updates.
Do your research. Never download unknown apps — read up on them first.
Avoid unofficial app stores. They’re more likely to contain malware-ridden apps.
Avoid using unknown Wi-Fi. And always use a VPN when you do.
Be vigilant. Don’t click on suspicious links, don’t give out your number to strangers, and be wary of unknown numbers.

Methodology: The survey was commissioned by NordVPN and conducted by the external company Cint on February 13-22, 2023. The survey’s target group was residents of France, USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore aged 18+ (nationally representative), except for Lithuania (18-74) and the sample was taken from national internet users.