[wordup] How cell phones are changing our social habits

[Adam Shand]

From:http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/personal_technology/5867613.htm

Posted on Thu, May. 15, 2003		
How cell phones are changing our social habits
By Andre Mouchard
Orange County Register

We're ruder.

We're later.

We're more spontaneous, less hamstrung by geography and at least 
semi-willing to accept rules of conduct created by children.

Mobile phones may be smaller than ever, but they're changing us in big 
ways. Context, a Baltimore company that uses anthropologists to study 
consumer trends, says as much in its latest study of cell phone users, a 
report called ``The Mobiles.''

Here is some of what they found:

• Parents initially see cells as security, staying in contact with their 
children throughout the day. Over time, cells become a source of 
tension, as kids and parents take cell calls during dinner and other 
family time.

• Teens and children use cells to connect with parents, and as a way to 
create their own world outside the family.

• If you came of age using a cell, your idea of community might not be 
limited by geography or age. Traditional changes that once ended 
relationships -- moving away, going to college, changing jobs -- don't. 
You talk with friends from junior high or you regularly dial up three 
time zones away. The conversations might not be deep, but you're ``in 
touch.''

• Conversely, you might see little difference between seeing people face 
to face and talking to them on the phone. It's not unusual for younger 
cell-phone users to hang out together and chat with other cell-phone 
users, ignoring those without cells.

• Teens typically play the role of cell expert, teaching parents and 
grandparents. Teens also, increasingly, set the rules of mobile-phone 
etiquette.

• Crisis is redefined. Bosses wind up making decisions that subordinates 
once handled routinely.

• Workers who use their phones conspicuously run the risk of being seen 
as slackers. Real workers with real work don't have time for their cells.

• Slave to your cell? You're not alone. Many jobs now require full-time 
cell contact. This results in some free labor for employers and 
resentment among employees.

The study also found that many:

• Use cells for security.

• Don't change their lifestyle to suit the technology.

• Fear incoming calls because they often mean bad news.

• Americans, once keen on punctuality, are routinely late, using cells 
to set up new meetings or for last-minute planning. Also, as long as 
they've been warned, Americans aren't automatically bothered by tardiness.

• South Americans, where punctuality wasn't a big deal in a pre-wireless 
world, are with cells more punctual and increasingly less tolerant of 
lateness.

• People of all ages complain about other people having private 
conversations on cell phones in public.

• Virtually everyone who has a cell uses it for a private conversation, 
in public, as they adjust to the technology. As they become more 
comfortable with cell use, they don't make public calls and they don't 
criticize those who do.