Americans Love Their Cell Phones Even More Than TV

It's official, Americans are addicted to their cell phones. In fact, for the first time ever we love our cell phones even more than our TVs!

According to a survey recently released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 51 percent of respondents said it would be hard to give up their cell phone. That's more than the 43 percent who felt it would be difficult to give up television. It also beat out the 40 percent of people who said it would be hard to give up a landline phone. This is a drastic change from 2005, when only 38 percent of people said it would be hard to give up their cell phones, compared with 47 percent of respondents who said the same thing about their television and 63 percent of people who felt that way about their landline phones.

Another large leap is in our dependency on Blackberries and other wireless e-mail devices. In 2002, only six percent of respondents said it would be hard to give them up. Compare that to the 36 percent that were hooked in 2007, and you can see how quickly we're embracing the fast, mobile way of life.

Leading the way in this world of untethered access are young adults (under 30), Hispanics and African Americans. A majority of young adults as well as Hispanics said it would be more difficult to give up their cell phone than the Internet or e-mail. What are they using their cell phones for? Texting, of course.

See also: 25 Texting Terms You Need to Know

Actually, text messaging is the number one use for all age-groups, except the 65+ users who prefer to snap cute pictures of their grandchildren instead. Overall, on a typical day 31 percent of the adults in the study use their cell phone to text message; 15 percent said they took a picture; eight percent played a game; and another eight percent said they sent or received e-mail with their phone.

See Also:

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Students Slow to Embrace Text Alerts