Google has released some new information on how we use voice search. (Photo by: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg)
Google's released some statistics about how people use voice searches in a study Tuesday -- including the fact that 22 percent of teens are using their phones for voice search while they're "in the bathroom."
Oh. So that's who that guy in the next stall was talking to.
Apart from confirming that, yeah, we take our phones everywhere, the study also found that 55 percent of teens and 41 percent of adults use voice search -- through Google search, Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana, for example -- at least once per day. Overall, everyone uses voice search most to ask for directions, dictate text messages and make phone calls. Many people also use Google Voice Search while they're cooking, in an effort to do a little smart multitasking without unduly dirtying their phones. Google commissioned the study from the consulting firm Northstar; 400 teens and 1000 adults took part in the survey late last month.
The study also found there's a clear generational divide when it comes to voice search use. Teens opt for voice searches for more social reasons -- help with homework, playing songs and finding out movie times, for example. Teens were also generally more comfortable with the technology overall. Scott Huffman, Google's Vice President of Conversational Search, said in the release that it's becoming as natural to teens as "checking social media." For adults, meanwhile, 45 percent admitted that they still "feel like a geek" when talking to their phones.
The company also got a little aspirational with the survey, asking users what they wish Google Voice Search could do for them. The top answer among teens was to have Google Voice "send me a pizza," while adults said that they wanted Google Voice Search to tell them where they've left their keys.
Both are actually well within the realm of possibility. Google is already experimenting with smartphone technology that can read a room for you, and potentially recognize objects. And, really, getting a pizza could be as easy as hooking voice search up to a pizza delivery app.
The question, of course, is where you'll be when your pizza arrives.
