When is it OK and not OK to use your cellphone in public? A new Pew Research Center survey of more than 3,000 adults sought to identify what people feel is proper mobile etiquette.
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With 92 percent of U.S. adults owning a cellphone, the majority of whom confessing they never or very rarely turn it off, the study’s authors say the issue is becoming one that defines modern life.
“This ‘always-on’ reality has disrupted long-standing social norms about when it is appropriate for people to shift their attention away from their physical conversations and interactions with others towards digital encounters with people and information that are enabled by their mobile phone,” according to the survey.
About 77 percent of adults surveyed say they think it is generally OK for people to use their cellphones while walking down the street, and 75 percent say it’s OK for others to use phones on public transit. However, only 38 percent of respondents say it’s generally OK for others to use cellphones at restaurants. Just 5 percent believe it’s OK to use a cellphone at a meeting, according to the survey.
Eighty-two percent of adults say that when people use their cellphones in group encounters it frequently or occasionally hurts the conversation. Women are more likely than men to say they feel cellphone use during social gatherings can hamper a group conversation – 41 percent versus 32 percent of men. Also, adults over the age of 50 are more likely than younger cellphone users to say cellphone use in group conversations can hurt social interactions.
Nevertheless, 89 percent of cellphone owners say they have used their phone during the most recent social gathering they attended. Some say they used their phone to send or read a message, take photos or videos, or take an incoming call.
So, why do so many still use their cellphones at social gatherings even when they believe it can hamper relationships? For some people, it may be about avoidance and distraction. About 23 percent of cellphone owners admit using their phone in a public space to avoid interacting with others nearby. Sixteen percent said they used their phone because they were no longer interested in what the group was doing; 15 percent wanted to connect with other people who were strangers to the rest of the group; and 10 percent used their phone so they could avoid participating in what the group was talking about.
But the survey found that the majority of people say they use their cellphone in public spaces for information gathering or social purposes rather than anti-social purposes. Forty-five percent of survey respondents say they used their phone to post a picture or video they had taken of the gathering and 41 percent say they used their phone to share something that had occurred in the group by text, e-mail, or social networking site.
“Many cellphone owners are using their mobile devices while out in public for a variety of reasons, and while their visible actions might seem rude or inconsiderate to an outside observer, in many instances they are using their phone to further their social engagement with others,” according to the Pew Research Center study.
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