Survey Highlights Importance of Balancing Virtual and Real World

The Deloitte Center for Technology, Media & Communications recently released their 2023 Connected consumer survey which “explores device usage as a gateway to meaningful connections, better health, safer homes, and valued virtual experiences.”

This study is interesting to Gozio because we are so heavily focused on mobile patient engagement and the mobile app experience. We spend a lot of time talking about why a thoughtful mobile strategy is important in healthcare and what patients expect when it comes to that experience.

According to Deloitte, “this year, consumer concerns around digital fatigue, well-being, and data privacy and security persist, while the ‘just right’ balance between virtual and physical worlds remains elusive. Tech companies that help consumers find that balance will likely benefit.”

This balancing act and how people feel about it is what is most interesting to us in this research. We’d like to think we have mastered that balance over the last ten years, but we are also always ready to learn more about how to be better. Here’s what we learned from this data.

• Connected devices are very much woven into our everyday lives with most households owning devices like smartphones, computers, tablets, and smart TVs.
• Some age groups, interact more with other people through these devices than they do in the real world
• The average household has 21 connected devices, which is actually down from a couple years ago
• There is some fatigue happening around managing the digital part of life.

This last point is worth diving into. According to Deloitte, “People continue to feel frustrated by the complexity of managing their digital lives. Forty-one percent of consumers revealed that they dislike managing their devices (for example, updating software, handling security, or fixing problems). Twenty-eight percent said they’re overwhelmed by the devices and subscriptions they need to manage—an uptick from 24% in 2022 but not quite reaching the 32% we saw in 2021, when households had even more devices. Adults aged 18–40 are feeling more overwhelmed (37%) than older generations (23%) (figure 2.3). Some of this sentiment may stem from 18- to 40-year-olds managing a larger collection of household devices (26 on average) than older generations (18 on average).”

For us this highlights the need from healthcare to create the most seamless experience possible for the consumers they serve. First, that means tying together what happens on the web, through email and SMS communications, and on mobile into a cohesive experience. Second, it requires ensuring that all the consumer-facing tools people need are accessible in a single place. Previous surveys have shown that patients would prefer to manage their healthcare on a single platform. A flexible mobile platform can help achieve that.