Creating new (e)Communities

New cultures, new societies...

The world's a cell-phone stage
The device is upending social rules and creating a new culture

- Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, February 27, 2006

The phone, TV, personal computer and Internet have found revolutionary ways to connect people, entertain them and empower them.

But nothing has matched the seismic cultural shift created by the cell phone, with its ability to connect and deliver content virtually anywhere, anytime. Although most of us have grown familiar with cell phones during the past 10 years, we often don't realize how much our world has been transformed by the little device in our pockets and purses.

But now a number of surveys, studies and industry statistics provides a better glimpse of how this gadget has pushed us into new realms, allowing us to converse with friends, family and others from the most intimate corners of our lives to bustling public spaces.

In anecdotal evidence that surveys are only beginning to reflect, we are starting to see how cell phone use is upending existing social rules and creating a new culture that worships mobility and modifying -- if not replacing in some instances -- many long-held social rules that govern the use of landline phones.

That rapidly evolving culture is evident in instances where people think nothing of engaging in a cell phone conversation in a bathroom or a restaurant; couples flirt via text messaging and say they have interrupted sex to pick up a cell phone call.

"I don't think there is a precedent for something that has spread so quickly around the world to so many individuals; we're talking about 2 billion phones around the world," said Howard Rheingold, digital journalism professor at Stanford and author of "Smart Mobs."

"It's an intimate technology that has the capability to reach into your intimate zone and it brings up a lot of emotions with it."

No other recent invention has so quickly earned so much praise -- and scorn. According to a 2004 MIT survey, the cell phone topped the list of inventions people hated the most but can't live without, with 30 percent of the respondents putting themselves in that category. That beat out the alarm clock (25 percent) and the television (23 percent).

In a 2005 study by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, 83 percent of respondents said cell phones have made life easier, besting the Internet in second place at 76 percent. But another 60 percent said they find cell phones somewhat irritating when used in public.

The cell phone clearly inspires mixed feelings for many people. But as time goes on and people grow more accustomed to the cell phone and its attendant ills, it has only further insinuated itself into our lives. In straightforward and sometimes laughable findings, this dependency becomes increasingly apparent.

Users love their phones

A Sprint user survey released earlier this year found that 47 percent of Bay Area respondents said they were inseparable from their wireless phones. A study by Telephia, a mobile industry tracker, found that Americans used their phone an average of almost 13 hours a month -- with users ages 18 to 24 racking up close to 22 hours of cell phone talk time a month.

In a 2005 international survey of more than 3,000 people by BBDO Worldwide, an advertising agency, 75 percent of Americans said they had the phone turned on and within reach during their waking hours.

According to the BBDO survey, 15 percent of Americans have interrupted sex to answer a cell phone call. It also found that 59 percent of us wouldn't think of lending our cell phone to a friend for a day. Another 26 percent said that a cell phone was more important to go home to retrieve than a wallet.

"The cell phone is a conduit to things that can make dreams come true. I can now hear from people I want to talk to all the time. That's what makes cell phones irresistible," said Paul Levinson, a Fordham professor in communications and media studies.

Heidi Hansen, 32, of San Anselmo said she can't go a day without her cell phone. Hansen, a marketer for a medical laboratory, said she has bought chargers on vacations just to stay connected to her friends and clients.

"If it breaks, I have to go that day and make sure it gets dealt with," she said. "I have given out my number to clients. I can't do that and not be available."

The phone's initial allure was its ability to create instant conversations. But with technological advances and some of our own creativity, it has evolved to do much more.

According to December 2005 data by M:Metrics, which tracks mobile data use, the most popular non-voice feature is text messaging, with 61 million users having tried it at least once. An additional 46 million have tried mobile gaming, followed by 33 million who take photos.

At the bottom of the list, 3 million people have used their phone to access a dating service, 1.5 million have accessed their horoscopes and 1.2 million have looked at comics or humor sites on their phone.

People are also learning to use cell phones in a variety of ways not entirely foreseen by cell phone carriers and manufacturers.

According to the BBDO Worldwide study, 44 percent of Americans have found ways to flirt using their cell phone, such as through text messages. A Cingular Wireless study released earlier this month found that 27 percent of people have communicated with dates via text message and 17 percent of users said their wireless phone saved them from an uncomfortable date.

In the Sprint survey, almost 2 of every 3 people used their cell phone backlight to look for something in the dark, mostly keyholes and walkways, while 7 percent said they used their backlights to cheer on their favorite band at a concert, replacing the trusty lighter of the past. And finally, 4 percent have used it to light up their face to tell a ghost story.

"These technologies are interesting in the same way that a shoe can also be a hammer," said Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguistics professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information. "There are incidental uses for cell phones that often can be something that changes it altogether."

But there's another side to the cell phone: bad and rude behavior.

In an ABC News poll released last month, 87 of respondents said the bad behavior they observed the most was people making annoying cell phone calls. The study, however, found that annoying cell phone calls were actually the third-most- bothersome conduct for respondents after overall rude behavior and use of bad language. Survey data show we are still trying to figure out the socially acceptable limits for cell phone use. In a survey about to be released by Let's Talk, a mobile retail and research company, 38 percent of 2,119 people said it was fine to use the cell phone in the bathroom. That is down from 62 percent in 2003 and 39 percent in 2000, when the survey began.

The same survey found that only 2 percent say that using a cell phone in a movie or theater is acceptable, compared with 11 percent in 2000. Cell phone use in restaurants and public transportation are also slipping in approval, down to 21 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Cell phone use in supermarkets, however, is growing more acceptable, with 2 of every 3 people deeming it OK.

Breaking down walls

Berkeley's Nunberg said the cell phone is breaking down walls, allowing people to have intimate and private conversations in places that they would have never thought of doing so in the past.

"Cell phone makes those boundaries between public and private very porous," Nunberg said. "In the past, if you're having a spat with a significant other in a public place, one of you will argue and say, 'Not here' because it's intrusive. But now, with cell phones, there's no 'Not here' anymore."

Let's Talk Chief Executive Officer Delly Tamer said etiquette, as it usually does, lags behind new technology. But he said the survey also shows social norms and rules are starting to assert themselves again.

"I think people are increasingly more aware of others when speaking on a cell phone," Tamer said. "They're trying to show more restraint and more respect for others in different surroundings."

But Fordham's Levinson said cell phone behavior will continue its slide toward social anarchy despite a temporary spell of rehabilitation. He said with younger generations growing up in a mobile world, attuned to these new mores, it's only a matter of time before cell phone use in public places becomes more universally acceptable outside of movies and theaters.

"I predict that in five to 10 years we'll see well over 80 percent have no problem with cell phones in a restaurant. When new media is introduced people tend to be loyal to the old media they grew up with and often suspicious and antagonistic to new media," he said. "But for someone in their 20s, it's like it's a part of our bodies. It's like leaving the house without one of your ears."

It's not just the younger generation that is pushing for more-relaxed limits on cell phone etiquette. Dave Sutton, a 63-year-old Pleasant Hill real estate agent, said he doesn't mind testing the boundaries if it means he doesn't lose out on a sale. Sutton said he can't recall if he's placed or received a call from a bathroom stall but he has no qualms about the practice.

"The point is you want to talk to people, I don't care where I am. Luckily, I don't embarrass easily," Sutton said.

Your phone is you

The negative perceptions about bad cell phone use suggest that the way we use our cell phones can have a strong effect on how others perceive us. In the Cingular Wireless survey, more than one-fourth of respondents formed opinions of someone based on their ring tone, while 7 percent have ended a relationship due to rude or offensive wireless behavior.

In the BBDO Worldwide study, 31 percent of Americans said a cell phone revealed as much about a person as their car.

"Cell phones are now just like your clothes," said Clifford Nass, professor of communications at Stanford. "It's a very personalized thing. The assumption is you can wear anything you want, so this tells you something about me."

The cell phone still has a long way to go, said Levinson, in transforming our lives. "It's still early," he said. "Television has been here 50 years, computers 25 years. The cell phone is still in its infancy. Every sign indicates it will continue to be hugely important to us."