I’m a gen-x-er who grew up with computers and got in on the ground floor of the modern Internet/Web in college (used Gopher and Archie and then used Mosaic to browse the Web, etc.), and now make my living in front of a computer all day.
But I’ve never really used technology to socialize–never understood chat, IM, Friendster, internet dating sites, etc. And I grew up before cell phones. (See? I’m of the generation that calls them “cell” phones, not “mobile” phones.) So I never really got into the habit of using the cell phone to chat–it’s strictly for business–or to text-message. Or camera phones. Or ring tones.
I guess I’m just an old fuddy-duddy now. But it does seem like the web is starting to intersect with mobile phones in a serious way now (web-enabled phones are not just theoretical/public relations BS). Which means I’d like to find out how much today’s teens (and younger) actually use their cell phones. I know they seem to text-message each other almost more than they call each other. I know you can take and share photos. I know that you can send text messages to various services in order to (for a fee) download new ring tones, horoscopes, jokes, etc.
How much are kids doing each of these things? What else are they doing with their mobile phones?
From what I hear they mostly use the phones to text message each other. Personally I can’t stand sending text messages on my phone. Its too tedious to type them in and remain coherent. Then again when you spell sentences like L00|< @ //\3, 1’//\ L337! you can say more with less.
How young is young? I’m 24 and use my mobile just like I used to use my landline when I had one. I have a camera and text and pic messaging capabilities on it but I’ve never used any of them.
It’s not just the kids, I deal with small business owners and they seem to find it acceptable to try and conduct business on a cell phone. While driving. With the window down. Holding a screaming infant. Hmm, I seem to be getting away from the OP’s point.
I’m 25 (am in in the ‘young people’ group?) I call it a cell phone. I hate texting too, so much so that it’s disabled on my phone. I love the ability to take pictures and videos anywhere, so there’s always an opportunity to catch a drunken friend passed out, or particularly funny sign, or a beautiful sunset.
I’m not much for ringtones, although I have a couple. I don’t bother with web access or IMing through the phone - that’s what computers are made for.
One friend of mine has three phones, with all the options possible. He’s on them nearly 20 hours of the day though, so it is more useful for him. I’m just waiting for the day he gets his Bluetooth earpiece surgically attached to his head!
I’m 18 and I use my cell phone when I, well, want to call someone. That’s about all I use it for. Occasionally I text message someone if I have something brief to tell them and don’t want to chat.
What are you talking about “young people”? I’m 33 and me and most of my friends have been using cell phones since we graduated college ten years ago. We use them for everything you use a regular phone for - calling people to do stuff, booty calls, ordering pizzas.
It’s actually kind of mind boggling that someone who is “Gen-X” and works in technology doesn’t have one.
I’m not a big text message fan, but it is useful for sending addresses or contact info to people when they are out and can’t hear you.
I’m also a teacher. They use them differently, of course–“young people” is a pretty diverse group–but they are definitely blending with all other technology.
One thing is that different communication channels are appropriate for different types of communication/degrees of intimacy, and I think the kids have a better intuitive grasp of that. Texting (like on-line chatting) is much more acceptable among casual aquaintainces, probably because it put a lot less pressure on the other person to respond: you have to answer or ignore a phone call, you can think about answering a text. There appears to me to be a definite “texting/IMing” stage of development in adolecent friendships/relationships these days. That’s new.
One big difference is that they don’t email much, except to send large files. They text short messages and call for converations. They use blogs or My Space to keep in touch with aquaintances that they don’t feel close enough to call.
I have a cell, and I use it for talking and text messaging. Texting is nice for when you just need to say “I’m running 10 minutes late” or something like that. It’s slightly more compliacted thana ten-key, and faster & easier than the “Hey, it’s me… fine, you… hey… hey… I’m going to be a bit late… my cat caught fire, I’ll tell you when I get there… no, really, I have to merge now…”
I had a phone with pictures and fancier ringtones and such, and it was nice to have essentially a small desktop background, but I ditched that phone and went back to the basic Nokia brick-phone. I have a camera, I have a laptop. I don’t need my cell phone to do that stuff.
I have a colour phone that can text message, play polyphonic ringtones, browse the internet, take pictures and share them etc etc.
I use the text messages. Also, occasionally I call someone.
Most of the other activities are expensive and usually not worth what they cost.
I understand people’s reluctance to use text messaging. I wouldn’t use it either if I found it uncomfortable or slow. However, somehow -I’m SUPERFAST at texting. I hate the abbreviations. (U R l8. Where u @?) Arrrgh! Write properly! I refuse to use all of them. People hate my messages because they’ll take 3 minutes to type out the above example and I’ll send them back a perfectly spelt and punctuated 345 character long epistle detailing my whereabouts and reasons for lateness. Also, a joke I just thought of and a whimsical question about the nature of thought 30-40secs later.
Awww. Those poor yanks, can’t figure out that text messaging is faster than making calls.
Seriously - I probably send thirty texts for every one call I make. This week, I’ve rearranged meetings, bitched about a colleague, flirted, insulted, informed, and apologised, all by text. I’ve made only one call from my mobile all week, to arrange the meeting which I later changed.
How do the children I know use them? Predominately text messages. Part of it is because they’re mostly on pre-pay tarrifs, and so the cost is more predictable. But that’s not the whole explanation - hell, they’ve all got multiple email accounts, so cost isn’t the deciding factor. The phone is more like having a PA…they can pass on messages, which you can choose to ignore, and they can field calls you’d rather deal with later, while allowing through the important ones.
I’m 19, and I agree with GorilllaMan. It’s a phone. Text messaging is quicker and it works as a good answering machine, too. Plus if you need information from someone you hate talking to, a simple text message to them with (hopefully) get one back, raw info, no small talk. Great.
Incidentally, I haven’t noticed that the t4lkn l1k ths styl f typn is actually that common, at least between people I know. I think that’s all pretty exaggerated, thought shortening some words does make sense.
Me, I don’t do anything with my phone. I take calls on it from my mother sometimes. She bought it for me. I didn’t want it. I asked for the cheapest model available, one with a black and white display and no features whatsoever. She got me a colour one with Java and internet access, but thankfully no camera. I carry it around in my bag and “forget” to give my number to friends.
I’m in my early 20s and I’ve had some pretty cool cell phones. My first one was a Nokia with a fold-out keyboard and Internet capabilities… I used it to download ringtones and Java programs, browse the Internet, receive “live” news feeds via SMS, etc. for about a week before figuring out that all of that works much better on a regular computer. So I gave up and used the device as a regular cell phone for the next year.
Then my contract expired and an upgraded model with Bluetooth and a camera came out and I got that and I played around with the Internet functions again and messed with the Bluetooth and snapped all sorts of pictures for about five days and got bored and used it as a regular phone for a year.
Then my contract expired again and I switched carriers and got a phone with a megapixel camera and a SD slot and on-demand video and music - ooh ooh, talking heads on a 1" screen! – and I played with all that for three days before getting really bored with the same old shit and cancelled all the additional features and now I’m using it as a regular phone again.
But now I see that my carrier is rolling out a sweet selection of Windows-based smartphones with big, beautiful screens and large, slide-out keyboards that work like a charm with the IE Mobile browsers they come with and I get excited all over again and consider signing up for another 1-year contract just so I can go online and look for maps and check my email forty times a day. Then five minutes later, I remember what happened to all my previous super-cool, ultra-useless phones and I pray that I’ll soon learn my lesson So that’s what I do with my phones. I buy 'em, love 'em, hate 'em, use 'em and repeat.
But on another note, I gotta say that cellular broadband access is the BEST thing to happen to both cell phones and computers in the last ten years! You can either tether to a cell phone or get a dedicated PC card, but either way, it’s extremely addicting. You can go online practically everywhere – on the road, in classrooms, cafes, airports, people’s houses – and never have to worry about finding an open hotspot again. It’s the one cell phone feature that survived more than 5 days on my plan, and honestly, I don’t know how I ever lived without it.
