Google study: over half of teenagers use voice search daily

By John Callaham
published

Searching on a smartphone just by using your voice is a feature that is still in its infancy, and it's not exactly a shock to learn that teens are using and embracing it more than their elders. This is one of the many findings about voice search in a new survey commissioned by Google.

The study, based on results obtained by 1,400 US residents, showed that 55 percent of teens use some kind of hands-free search on their smartphones every day, such as Google's own solution, along with Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana. While voice search use is growing among older smartphone owners, 45 percent of adults in the survey claimed to fee "like a geek" when they talked to their smartphone.

59 percent on US teens and 36 percent of adults use voice search while watching TV and 22 percent of teens admit to using it while in the bathroom. Here's a few more interesting stats:

  • 40% use voice search to ask for directions.
  • 39% use the feature to dictate a text message.
  • 32% do so to make a phone call.
  • 23% of adult Americans use voice search "when I'm cooking."
  • 51% of teens (and 32% of adults) use voice search "just for fun."
  • 27% use voice search to check the weather.

Are you more comfortable using voice search on your smartphone or do you also feel "like a geek" when using it?

Source: Google via PR Newswire

John Callaham
John Callaham
98 Comments
  • I don't use Cortana much at all cept check the news once in awhile because you need to have Location on and that is a big battery killer if left on, its annoying.
  • Me too cause' of the same reason
  • I eagerly await the day we get a location accuracy setting akin to Android, where we can set either high accuracy or low accuracy location detection.
  • You can... Posted via the Windows Phone Central App for Android
  • My locations always on never tuned off since i baught the phone as it could also help for finding your phone when lost
  • Except if you rarely use maps it doesn't seem to update that location information
  • On my 8X I leave Cortana on all the time. Great battery life. I usually run Battery Saver on "Always" and then manually adjust what applications are allowed to run in the background. My battery lasts for at least a day without fail and I have full functionality of Cortana. Maybe adjust some settings if you'd like to check out Cortana, but it's been really awesome for me, tracking flights, searching Bing, setting alarms or discovering music.
  • totally a geek feeling
  • I think it depends on how people think around you, it's something normal in some place on earth, I guess
  • I ALWAYS READ YOUR NAME LIKE THIS FAHMI BASSEM WHY USE CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!
  • How to read in CAPITAL LETTERS?
  • SCREAMING!! LIKE THIS!!! ANGRY!!!
  • I think it's like SHOUTING THE NAME OUT!
  • Never noticed, thanks I'll change that today.
    :-)
  • YOU DO THAT PLEASE!
  • I ask her to make calls, send text messages, play music, launching apps + searches
  • Me too man, works awesome! Setting up alarms is nice too.
  • I would use it way more often if I could use Cortana while walking without having to take the phone out of the pocket, because it unlocks inside my pocket, bypassing the proximity sensor. For me it's a deal breaker, why can't cortana work like the Tell Me worked?
  • I am a geek, so I feel natural all the time.
  • I use Cortana by voice all the time
  • Seems faster, using Cortana for certain tasks 120% faster
  • can you name some tasks specificly please? kind regards
  • Making a (new) Alarm
    Directions to .... (favorite location)
    Flipping a coin Of course these all depend on the internet connection speeds of the users handset.
  • Actually its because that you can look like a mad or a bit geeky especially in a public area where their's a lot of people always eyeing on you. Lol
  • That doesn't matter in big cities like NY where we're ALL crazy anyway... @_@
  • Not in public people look at you thinkin twat lol
  • LOL. Couldn't agree more.
  • Me and Cortana 'talk' daily about the weather in the Philippines and in Saudi Arabia , and asking her to remind me of various things. Yeah, Neville Longbottom is a muggle afterall. Lol
  • i use Cortana daily
  • voice assistants are a fun thing. not to take it more seriously
  • I'm a Cortana geek.
  • that include my sis, brother & my friends 
  • I use Cortana almost every day to set reminders. Usually via Bluetooth headset while driving.
  • What you wish voice search could do? ....Cortana, open Nokia treasure tag! Look...voice search just helped find my keys!!! :-)
  • "Adults" just want to act like they're a big deal..."feeling like a geek" is SUCH an antiquated idea, these geezers should just put the devices down and go back to 1984 and do what big brother says... I honestly had nowhere to go with this one =[
  • Wow...geezers? Really?
  • "I honestly had nowhere to go with this one =[" sweet jebus I nearly poo'd myself from laughing >
  • Voice search can send a pizza with dominoes new app!
  • Yep! And find your keys with Nokia Treasure Tag...or find the remote with Nokia treasure tag as well!
  • Paragraph 2, last line - fee "like a geek"...?
  • Guess he puts money in a jar everytime he uses the phrase
  • Only when I'm alone.....
  • I use it all of the time, especially for setting reminders and playing music in my car. Also use it to ask how traffic is on the way to work/home.
  • Because kids are too stupid and lazy to type?
  • No thanks to fucken Verizon!!! +928
  • pitchforks and torches and we march west street!!!
  • Why don't you go for dpreview?
  • Because I'm not a developer
  • You don't have to be! You just have to sign up I think it was Microsoft's way of circumventing carriers and making sure everyone has the same software'
  • I maybe upset about the l929's lack of cyan but not as pissed as i am about xb1 not working(running preview) with any game for about 2 & a half weeks & still no fix
  • I have Speech set for "Always On".  I use voice interaction all day, every day.  It's just faster in almost every case.  I'm definitely not a teen.
  • We are the next gen
  • Yeah "study"
  • I use it a lot for reminders... It does get it wrong every now and then but normally gets it close enough to serve its purpose. The funniest one when when I had a reminder to "take out the chicken stock" and it came out as "take out the chicken *ock"
  • Did you skip a 'l' where you felt like a geek?
  • I use Cortana so often. This might as well be called a Cortana phone.
  • I haven't been a teen in decades, but I'm using voice search for various things more and more.
  • Nope don't speak to my phone, just feels awkward lol.
  • It's bad enough that you guys put news about Windows 8, when it is irrelevant to Windows Phone. This is Windows Phone Central, not Windows Central, it's specific. Now, we get updates on trash like Chrome which is a competitor to IE, that's an insult. Worse, we have a study and you guys had the nerve to put Google. Keep that trash in Android Central. It should be "A study performed shows that over half of teenagers use voice search daily." Simply just mention Google in the reference at the bottom of the article, not as part of the headline. On-topic: Voice search is a pain to use, let alone when I want it to play a Spanish song when I have the English version of Cortana, same for the keyboard. I hate to have to switch just to use the other language on the keyboard, and adding word-by-word that I use in Spanish to the English keyboard is irritating, I have to keep doing it every once in a while since I don't use the same Spanish words all the time. Sometimes, it doesn't even have the "+" sign to allow me to add words.
  • I think you are not updated.
  • Not updated on what?
  • Its about all Microsoft now . The reason for winphone is its mobile :D
  • XboxCentral = Xbox only items. Windows Central = Everything Windows. Windows Phone Central = Windows Phone only items. Why do I have to know about an Xbox game when I came to see news about Windows Phone, only? It doesn't make sense.
     
  • If you guys are going to whine about a study because it says 'Google' that's fucking sad. They're not going to stop because you want the to, this is mobile nations, including Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows phone. Also Megaman, Windows phone and Windows are combining to one of you haven't seen the Windows 10 video. Thanks for your idioticness.
  • Until that comes around, it is still 2 different things. We also get updates on Xbox when that is also irrelevant (Even though it is Windows Phone tied, it is still not relevant when the updates regard games for Xbox and not Windows Phone. They should do a Windows Central and Xbox Central for the others). If it was due to Mobile Nations, it would be a Mobile Nations report, they do those once in a while, where it talks about all the channels. Except, this is specific to Windows thus Microsoft only. I am anti-Google or I wouldn't mind, but it is also insulting to do this, does Android Central put stuff about IE?
  • This is a BS study and totaly not true. All anyone has to do is open their eyes, and there is your study. kids are glued into their phone texting away, Searching whatever. They are not voice searching. Just open your eyes and look at the world around you. 
  • I use voice search/commands on a daily, and I'm 28. I find them wildly convenient, especially for reminders and calendar additions. Searches in public make me look like a doof, but I get the results I want every time without having to actually type anything. Seriously freaking useful for me.
  • With the latest update to Cortana (WP 8.1.1) it is fantastic. I didn't use voice search much before, but cortana currently is awesome to the point that I use it exclusively where I can (in other words where it doesn't bug anyone else that I speak to my phone :)) I hope Microsoft's ad campaigns pay off.
  • I'm talking more and more with my phone, like read SMSs outloud and for make calls.
  • Same here. Before Cortana, speech to text was ok, but now it's fantastic.
  • I'm 15 and use voice search on my Lumia 1520 daily... Although the most common commands are "Open xxx" and "Windows Phone Central read me the headlines" :D Eagerly anticipating Cortana's arrival.
  • It's not reliable if it comes from Google
  • Teenager here. I am made fun of if I use any voice commands at school. I don't trust Google either. I call BS.
  • I work at a convenience store and people are always stopping in asking for directions. It's so nice to pull out my phone and go "How do I get to X?"
  • Yeah, I feel a bit geek, but that's ok, because I am...
  • 11% of adults are using it to find the time? The mind boggles.
  • I always use it while driving to make a phone call
  • Cortana reminders are great, especially since they can be based on your location/arrival somewhere. "Cortana, remind me to _____ when I get home"
  • Except you can never hear them.
  • Only for reminders and appointments
  • I'm filipino i fake my accent just to use cortana hehe
  • Are they lazy enough to type? :lol;
  • Nope, just illiterate :D
  • I would feel weird talking to my phone in public. I think other people would find it annoying, so I don't do it.
  • I believe the study results. Only teenagers would be unembarassed to say something as stupid as "OK Google" out loud to their phones.
  • MS was right to focus on Cortana.
  • "just for fun"... Meaning they don't 'really' use it; only as a gimmick once in a while.
  • We need 100% "to send and read text messages WHILE DRIVING" that would be amazing, lets save lives. all 3 voice engines need to improve accuracy vastly.
  • I search with voice only when I'm alone (because I'm shy like that). Not when I'm in my car though because my phone never seems to understand me (or hear me)
  • I use the Cortana assistant when I'm too lazy as for
    Move to menu and Etc,I wish were in Spanish and could also know if ask by a supermarket near of my home could give me an right answer but as depends of Bing, and Bing is mostly oriented to united states and Canada then I don't have as much hopes that Cortana works alike the united states set up due that Bing don't have data of nearer supermarkets or nearer gas stations in Chile
  • Screw Google studies!!
  • I literally only user voice commands for Cortana jokes. I doubt I'll ever be able to yell at my phone in public without feeling like a complete ass.
  • "fee like a geek"
  • I have not used voice search once. The main reason: it is not supported in my native language. That still remains the achilles heel of the the voice search system. In my country it's just not convenient enough to do voice search in English. Names, places and certain words are not recognized which makes the English voicesearch fail on many attempts in the daily life of things. Untill this issue is solved by increasing the international language packs for voice recogntion, voice search will remain a niche service collecting dust.
  • That's my name!
  • i used to use voice commands more than i do since getting 8.1. since then, with the wordflow keyboard, it's faster for me to wordflow text than try to say things in a way that the voice command will get right.
  • I use Cortana almost exclusively for text discussions and setting reminders. My 13 YO daughter uses Cortana for homework research. Funny, I noticed that she is doing that just today.
  • Reminders, this feature saved my ass so many times from my wife because i am so fracking forgetful.