Cell Phones: Your Newest Appendage?
September 29th, 2009 Posted in Mobile CommerceHave you ever had that moment of panic when you reach into your purse or pocket and gasp!…your cell isn’t there? Your heart begins to race, you start to sweat a little, you frantically check every pocket on your person. If you started smelling something weird and your arm began to tingle, you might as well be having a heart attack.
According to a Synovate report conducted in June, 42% of Americans say they can’t live without their cell phones. The survey sampled 8,000 people worldwide to find out how people use their phones and what features they do and don’t depend on, breaking down the results by country.
Even if people don’t admit to needing their phone to survive, some 82% of Americans never leave home without their phones (perhaps the remaining 18% are the ones digging frantically in their pockets).
But the most striking aspects of this survey are the respondents’ answers concerning their phones’ features. I know that my mom can barely text, let alone use the Internet on her phone. But apparently only a third of Americans admit to not being able to use all of the features on their phone. And many people do use these features regularly. 56% of Americans use their phone’s alarm clock feature regularly. Similarly, 68% of Americans use the camera on their phones and 31% play games on them.
And then there’s the question of “smart phones.” Mobile phone companies market their 3G network like it will change your life (and maybe make all of America show up in your house or behind you on the street). The 3G network allows phones to contain features like mobile email, which 26% of Americans use on a regular basis.
Now how about some dirt on how people use their phones? 36% of Americans have flirted with their partners via their mobile phone (a love poem in 160 characters or less…ahh, how romantic.) Even better, 16% of Americans have flirted with someone other than their partner via their phone. (Look out, they keep records of those texts, buddy.) 9% of Americans have also set up a first date via text–that really makes the ladies swoon!
Now for the seedy underbelly of mobile phone usage. 4% of Americans admit to breaking up with someone via text (low blow!). Although someone is apparently lying, because 5% have been dumped via text (the dumpers don’t even own up).
Americans do have some redeeming qualities. 71% of Americans say they don’t use texts to send a difficult message (”Honey, I think you may be hitting the potato chips too hard…”). 79% of Americans also say they haven’t lied about why they were running late via text (”I had to save this kitten from a tree and then I fell down a manhole and now I’m in the sewer and…”).
The moral of the story? People are attached to their mobile phone and many use it as a way to conduct normal social encounters. Maybe that Surrogates movie isn’t so far off…
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