A study conducted by the Ankara-based Analitik Study Center showed that Turkish mobile phone users talked 442 minutes on the phone per month, approximately double the 231 minutes Europeans talk on average.

The statistics were based on the last quarter of 2017 and were compiled from figures released by several telecommunication agencies, especially the Information Technologies and Communication Agency (BTK). According to the study, there are 77.8 million mobile phone subscribers.

Even if the phone is not used during the day, 78 percent of mobile phone subscribers feel the need to check it anyway. The same statistic is 64 percent in Norway, 52 percent in Spain, 47 percent in the Netherlands, 42 percent in Italy and 38 percent in Germany.

Those who check the phone for missed calls or messages at night when they are supposed to be sleeping are 85 percent in Turkey whereas the same figure is around 48 percent across Europe.

In Turkey, 28 percent say checking the phone is the first thing they do when they wake up in the morning while another 33 percent admit to checking the phone within the first five minutes after waking up. For 23 percent, looking at the phone is the last thing they do at night, while another 29 percent check it within the last five minutes before they fall asleep.

In Turkey, the most oft-used hotlines are 182 for hospital appointments, 112 for emergency services, 186 for electricity problems, 155 for police and 153 for municipal police.

The coordinator of the center, Dr. Bülent Öztürk from the Kayseri Cappadocia University, said phone usage changes are related to income level, saying that those who used the phone the most were from among the lowest earners.

He said when analyzed by per capita income, people from some of the richest countries in Europe like the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Denmark also spoke the least on the phone.

He said there were practical advantages to using telephones, but the level of usage in Turkey points to a lack of social activities and hobbies among ordinary people. "There are 77.8 million subscribers. If we take out the 20 million below the age of 20 and that the population is around 80 million, the number of subscribers is quite high. The study shows that societies and families that are not as advanced socioeconomically usually keep busy by using phones."

The use of phones for reading newspapers, checking emails and doing business has its advantages, admitted Öztürk, but the excessive levels of phone usage suggest Turks are mismanaging time spent on phones.