Teens Prefer Landlines To Talk To Friends

from the talk-talk dept

Wed, Jul 27th 2005 3:05pm — Carlo Longino

The lastest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project is out, and doesn't look to include anything quite as controversial as their podcast survey a few months back: while it's not surprising that the phone is still teens' overwhelming choice for communicating with their friends, they prefer landlines over mobiles. It's likely that the choice comes down to cost -- even though family plans from cellular carriers are growing in popularity, the landline is still generally the cheapest method for long-duration local calls, particularly if Mom and Dad are footing the bill. Twenty-four percent said IM was their perferred method, double the percentage that cited mobile phones -- but keep in mind, too, that just 45% of teens surveyed said they own a cell phone.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

3 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

thatguy, 27 Jul 2005 @ 3:28pm

I agree it's cost but....
I think it has more to do with trying to have a long or important conversation with someone and there is voice delay (lag). There is nothing more annoying (in my mind) than trying to talk on your cell phone to someone else who is on their cell phone. There is always this constant studdering "are you talking or is it my turn" sort of issue going on.

I truely think that if cell phone end up with the same overall quality as landlines and people start using the "service to service" free minute plans (all your friends/family use the same cell company), then this survey will change quite significantly and teens would much rather use their cell phone for most of their conversations.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2005 @ 3:32pm

Another reason...
The main reason I never like to talk a long time on a mobile phone is that those suckers heat up real fast.

After 20 minutes my ear is on fire and I'm ready to hang up quick!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jul 2005 @ 2:02pm

Re: Another reason...
Good god, are both of you writing in from the 80's? Do your phones also weigh more than a housecat? I'm sure if you had any experience with equipment manufactured somewhat recently by a reputable vendor, you'd notice that these issues are long gone.
[ link to this | view in thread ]