Life Under Quarantine: The Need for Connection

As the U.S. began to shut down in March in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, it became clear that people would be relying on their smartphones more than ever to stay connected to friends, family, co-workers, and essential services.

Even we were surprised by just how much this was true: we found that TextNow subscribers sent almost a BILLION text messages in March and spent more than 450 million minutes talking on the phone, an increase of more than 35% from February.

We decided to look a little more closely at how shutdowns were affecting smartphone use. Our data science team sifted through the data from states to see how shutdown measures impacted the amount of phone calls and text messages sent by TextNow customers.

They found that for many of our subscribers, more time at home meant a lot more time calling and texting to maintain contact with the important people in their lives. Take a look at the infographic below to see the states with some of the most active TextNow users.

We know that staying at home and self-isolating has been difficult for many people. We also understand that it’s important to stay connected. We’re thrilled that our users are able to stay in touch with the important people in their lives, without worrying about the bill. And if there’s someone in your life you’ve been meaning to reach out to — now’s the time to pick up the phone and call.