Israelis love their touch screens

Israel is known as a technological powerhouse, so it comes as no surprise that the results of a recent Google survey on worldwide smartphone habits showed that Israelis have jumped to the forefront among Western countries in smartphone ownership and use.

In the first half of 2013, a full 57 percent of Israelis own mobile devices, a huge jump from 2012, when only 35% possessed smartphones, according to the annual Google and Ipsos MediaCT survey, which was released Monday. The figure puts Israel behind the UK (62%) but ahead of France, Germany, Scandinavian countries and the US in terms of smartphone penetration.

The statistics showed that Israelis, whether at work, at home or on the road, use their phones often (no surprise there), and activities once associated with computers — like social media use, web searches, shopping and movie and television watching — have largely migrated to the mobile medium.

The survey also showed that in the last few years Israelis have felt increasingly comfortable using smartphones — again, no surprise. In 2011, only 16% felt OK whipping out their phone at a social gathering, but in 2013 50% would not hesitate to do so. Perhaps that begins to explain all those awful party photos littering our Facebook feeds.