Mobile phones and texting have changed the way people communicate

Young people love their mobiles

24 July 2006 12:20 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Mobile phones are changing the way we relate to each, and are even introducing a new type of language because of text messaging.

The Times today is reporting on a study by the London School of Economics and published in conjunction with the Carphone Warehouse that surveyed 16,500 people about their mobile phone habits.

More than 50% of mobile phone users aged 18 to 24 have sent or received invitation to a date via text message, while a similar percentage agreed that sending a flirty text to someone while in a relationship is cheating.

However, 14% of all those surveyed said they'd used their mobile to contact someone they didn't want friends, family, or partners to know about.

A depressing 20% of those surveyed under-25-years-old have dumped someone via text.

The article quoted Kate Fox, director of the Social Issues Research Centre, saying, "People often saying things in text which they would never say in 'real life'".

"Essentially, there is almost a whole new language, a whole new dialect; and a new, unwritten set of rules is in the process of being formed."

"The rules of behaviour are still being established."

Women use mobiles as a crutch in certain social situations, relying on a fake "emergency" phone call to get them out of awkward dates; 54% of women under 25 have used their mobile in public to deter unwanted attention.

Statistics from the survey showed that peoples send 3.6 texts a day, but only make phone 2.8 phone calls a day.

Fifty-one per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds text at least six times per day.

The survey also gave names to six types of mobile users, including Generation Mobile, Phonatics, and Silver Cynics.

Via The Times