Those with cell phones ignore those without.
By Andre Mouchard
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA, Calif. – 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, in no particular order, is some of what they found:

1. Don’t trust or really know much about the new toy.

2. Think a lot about the cell, sort of like it, but don’t use it all that much.

3. Love the phone, program it to include lots of phone numbers, but keep phone calls to those friends short and shallow.

4. Erase part of that once-full phone memory, talk longer to the contacts who remain, think rarely about the phone.

• 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 times 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 who can be reached via cell are. A lot. They 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.

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-Use cells for security.

-Don’t change their lifestyle to suit the technology

-Fear incoming calls because they often mean bad news.

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-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.

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-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.

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(c) 2003, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).

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AP-NY-05-08-03 0606EDT