A new survey has provided further evidence of the mobile phone phenomenon with findings showing that men now spend more time on the phone than women.
The Guardian/ICM poll revealed that 72% of UK men now have mobile phones and on an average workday, they spend 66 minutes using a fixed-line phone or mobile. This compares to just 53 minutes before the advent of mobile phones.
By contrast, the average amount of time that female mobile phone users spend on the phone during the week has declined from 63 minutes before they got a mobile to 55 minutes now. The implication drawn from this is that men are more enthusiastic about hi-tech products while women tend to want to keep costs down. However, both sexes use the phone for approximately the same amount of time (50 minutes) during the average weekend.
The study did not support the well-held belief that mobile phone penetration is higher amongst the younger generation, claiming that people in the 45-54 age group are more likely to own one (81%) than the 18-24 age group (79%). Furthermore, ICM found that more than 40% of over-65s now have have a mobile.
However, class does seem to be a factor in determining mobile phone ownership with more than 80% of ABs claiming to have one while only 51% of those in the DE group do so.
