This article is about the changes in usage and the
associated behavior of people that are so attached to using their cell/data
phone, that they are forming a personal addiction or obsessive use.
 |
| Cell Phone Generations - Courtesy of Wikipedia |
There are many reports in the news and online
talking about data phone addiction based primarily on the fast growing
increases in data downloads. There is
also research that I found on line at phonearena.com. This web site has published the following:
“While certainly not as debilitating as other chemical based
addictions, nomophobia has its first recovery center in southern California.
Nomophobia is the term created by British researchers in 2008 to identify
people who experience anxiety when they have no access to mobile
technology.”
They also go on to say:
“70% of women, compared to 61% of men, worry about losing
their cell phone. However, men are more likely than women to have two
phones, 47% to 36%. Not surprisingly, the younger age groups have higher
numbers of people that would feel distress of being without their mobile
phone. In the 18-24 age group, 77% revealed nomophobia. In the
25-34 group, that number drops marginally to 68%. What may come as a
surprise is that the third-most nomophobic group was the age-55 and over
group.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 |
| Courtesy of news24.com |
 |
| Courtesy of openequalfree.com |
 |
| Courtesy of businessinsider.com |
Ok, my survey is more about statistics I have observed, and
the resulting behaviors I have observed in Taipei, Taiwan from November 2012
thru February 2013.
 |
| Clockwise from top: Taipei skyline, Grand Hotel, FarEastern Plaza, National Palace Museum, National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei Metro (Jiantan Station) |
Courtesy of Wikipedia
 |
| The busy streets of Taipei's Ximending at night - Courtesy of Wikipedia |
In my daily life in California over the last 13 years or so,
prior to my trip to Asia/Taiwan, I seldom ever used mass transit means of
transportation. In Northern California,
from the Sacramento, San Francisco, to San Jose Regional areas, there is
high quality public transportation systems, but not necessarily world
class. The area has BART (Bay Area Rapid
Transit – Train Service), Light Rail Transportation, Metro bus systems, etc. In essence, I drove my car or traveled by
car with others daily. During peak
travel hours, I was just another automobile commuter stuck in traffic jams.
My limited exposure to younger generations using phones was
limited to public areas such as shopping stores and malls, movie theaters,
entertainment events, etc. Of course, I
did see people, mostly teenagers and young adults, “glued to their phones” from
time to time, or at least carrying them in their hands wherever they walked.
I was seldom in a stationary location more than a few minutes, so it never occurred to me that this could be an addiction or obsession.
 |
| Always carrying Data Phones in their hands! |
I was seldom in a stationary location more than a few minutes, so it never occurred to me that this could be an addiction or obsession.
After my arrival in Taipei, Taiwan, it did not take long to
see a significant difference to data phone usage. People of many ages carried data phones in
their hands or used them while eating in restaurants, walking down streets, in
shopping areas, on mass transit, ….. everywhere. The following are a few glimpses of a busy day in downtown Taipei near Taipei 101.
An early observation was that almost everyone had their eyes and hands “glued” to their data phones, and was unaware of what was going on around them. This also seemed to me to be an anti-social behavior.
I thought it would be an
interesting idea to collect real data and see if my initial instincts were
correct. ……. Is this a fad? Is it a trend?
Is it an addiction? Is it an
obsession? Or is it NOT really an issue at all?
An early observation was that almost everyone had their eyes and hands “glued” to their data phones, and was unaware of what was going on around them. This also seemed to me to be an anti-social behavior.
Courtesy of bangkokpost.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OVERVIEW
I decided that since I used the Subway/MRT (Mass Rapid
Transit) or the Metro Bus services almost every day, that I would keep a record
of my observations in my small pocket notebook.
On crowded buses and subway trains, it is almost impossible to collect
data from the entire bus or train car.
So, I decided to only count data from my immediate area that I could clearly see what they were doing and what they had in their hands. My minimum sample was to be 5 people, and a maximum of 15 people and I tracked all people in the group vs. those in the group hold/using a data/cell phone in their hands. Furthermore, I decided I had to collect a minimum of 500 people in this survey over a 2 month period of time or less, starting in early November.
So, I decided to only count data from my immediate area that I could clearly see what they were doing and what they had in their hands. My minimum sample was to be 5 people, and a maximum of 15 people and I tracked all people in the group vs. those in the group hold/using a data/cell phone in their hands. Furthermore, I decided I had to collect a minimum of 500 people in this survey over a 2 month period of time or less, starting in early November.
I also would track gender (male/female); age groups; and
what they used their cell/data phones for.
The Age groups are of course my
best perception of their age including: 15 to 30; 31 to 45; 46 to 65. Many users I could see what they were doing
on their data phone screens, especially if I was standing, and I tracked that
information. If it looked like they were
texting or if I was not sure what kind of mobile APP they were using, I grouped
all of these in one category. The other
categories are Games, Music, and making a voice phone Call. Music is accurate data because they had to
have ear phones, or Bluetooth devices in their ears. Similarly making voice calls is accurate
data because I had to hear them talking.
Games was easy to quantify.
Based on early observations, I quickly elected not to
include Senior Citizens (over the age of retirement), because I seldom saw
these elderly people using a cell phone on the Bus or MRT. So, all people over my perceived age of 65,
has been excluded from this data.
NOTE: I did take a few candid photos, then I started asking a number
of people if I could take their picture using their cell phone for my blog and
all declined. Since many cell phone users did
not speak English, or were to shy to reply or agree, I decided I would only take a few more photos, and rely mostly pictures from
internet sources for this blog article.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DATA SOURCE, AND STATISTICS
So, I explained the type of data, except for one last data
set. If a person was using the cell
phone, and then either put it away, or just cradled it in their hands, but
stopped using the data phone, then they appeared to me to be a Non-Addict. Those that were “glued to the data phone’
from the moment I first observed them until they were no longer in my line of
sight, then I considered these people as “Data Phone Addicts (I also refer to
them as DPA’s in this blog).
First, the following are interesting data sets that might be
of interest:
1. Only 0.72% of
users had text only of flip style voice only phones.
2. Less than 20.0% of
users had cell phones with screens that appeared to be about 3” diagonal or
less.
3. Much more than 50% of the younger generation users have bright/decorative
cases, and most of those have “trinkets/miniature toys/gadgets”
dangling from the phones. A small percentage
(less than 25%) of those categorized in the 31+ age groups may have colorful
cases but never had “STUFF” dangling or stuck to their phones. I did not start tracking this data, but it is
an interesting observation.
4. A much higher percentage of users are female, and my
perception of Data Phone Addict’s (DPA’s)are primarily female.
 | ||
| One of my candid photos |
5. Men seem to use
phones to make voice calls more than females.
6. Surprisingly, more
than 50% of game player DPA’s are female.
 |
| Courtesy of rawstory.com |
7. Groups of two or three from the 15-30 age groups (mostly
under 20 years of age) may rarely have only one DPA in the group, and usually
the others are also “glued to that one DPA’s data phone”. This is somewhat social behavior sharing data
phone content. I did observe many
groups where more than one or all had cell phones and used them.
8. This Addiction or Obsession is everywhere. I did not add those I observed walking down
the street, in department/grocery stores, or restaurants, etc. to this survey.
9. I have observed
people with more than one data phone. A
few used one for music and the other for data, while others used one primarily
for data and used their second data phone to answer a phone call.
10. Most DPA’s are so
focused on their data phone, that they interfere with others and act selfishly
since their data phone is more important than people around them.
11. I only observed
one woman with young children that used a cell phone in an obsessive way. Only two others used a cell phone at all. All the rest (more than 30) focused all their
energy on their children and their surroundings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, now the statistics:
In 2012, there are several reports that estimate there are
over 6.0 Billion Cell Phone Users in the world and the estimated population is
only 7.012 billion. This number is based
on active SIM Cards, not actual cell phone sales. The tabulated data below was compiled from
numerous sources, and reported by Wikipedia.
(See Wikipedia for more details).
The top ten
countries in the world are as follows:
Rank Country # Cell Users Population % Pop. Date Last
Reported
1 China 1,046,510,000 1,341,000,000
75.3 June
2012
2 India 908,358,714 1,210,193,422 75.1 October
2012
3 United States 327,577,529
310,866,000 103.9 June 2012
4 Brazil 261,780,000
192,379,287 136.1 December 2012
5 Russia 256,117,000 142,905,200 155.5 July 2011
6 Indonesia 236,800,000 237,556,363
109.3 September 2012
7 Pakistan 122,060,799 178,854,781 68.83 Dec
2012
8 Japan 121,246,700 127,628,095 95.1 June 2011
9 Germany 107,000,000 81,882,342
130.1 2009
10 Nigeria 101,271,578
140,000,000 72.3 May 2012
11 Bangladesh 98,470,000 73,973,000
130 February 2012
13 Mexico 92,900,000 112,322,757 82.7
Dec. 2011
14 Italy
88,580,000 60,090,400 147.4 Dec. 2008
15 Philippines 86,000,000 94,013,200
91.5 October 2011
16 Gr. Britain 85,750,000 61,612,300
122.9 Dec. 2008
17 Vietnam 72,300,000 90,549,390
79 October 2010
18 France 72,180,000
63,573,842 114.2 Dec.
2008
19 Egypt 92,640,000
82,120,000 112.81
20 Thailand 69,000,000 65,001,021
105 2010
21 Turkey
66,000,000 71,517,100 92.2 2009
22 Ukraine 54,103,347 45,579,904
118.7 April. 2012
23 South Korea 52,510,000
48,580,000 108.1 2011
24 Spain
50,890,000 45,828,172 111.0 Dec. 2008
25 Argentina 50,409,800
40,134,425 125.6 2010
26 Poland
47,153,200
8,186,860 123.48 2010
27 Colombia 46,147,937
45,393,050 101.6 2011
28 South Africa 59,474,500
50,586,757 117.6 2011
29 Algeria 33,000,000
35,000,000 94.2 2011
30 Taiwan
28,610,000 23,197,947 123.33 Sept. 2011
31 Kenya 28,080,000
42,000,000 71.3 2012
32 Venezuela 27,400,000
28,200,000 98.0 2008
33 Peru 33,000,000
30,000,000 110.0 Oct.
2012
34 Romania 22,800,000
21,438,000 108.5 March
2008
35 Canada
25,543,862 34,482,779 74.1 Q3 2011
36 Morocco 36,550,000 31,968,361
113.6 Q1 2012
37 Netherlands 20,000,000
16,515,057 121.1 Nov.
2009
38 Australia 21,260,000
21,179,211 100.4 Jun
2007
39 Saudi Arabia 46,000,000
27,137,000 169.5 Jun
2010
40 Malaysia 30,379,000
28,250,000 106 2010
41 Chile
21,000,000 17,094,270 122.9 Dec. 2010
42 Nepal
18,240,670 26,620,020 68.5 Mar. 2012
42 Ethiopia 18,000,000
85,000,020 21.8 Dec.
2012
43 Guatemala 17,571,895
14,713,763 119.4 Jun.
2010
44 Sri Lanka 17,359,312 21,000,000
80.95 Dec. 2010
45 Ecuador 15,900,000 14,300,000
111.18 Jan. 2012
46 Portugal 13,400,000 10,562,178
126.87 Nov. 2012
47 Hong Kong 13,264,896
7,008,900 187.9 Nov.
2010
48 Belgium 11,822,000 10,414,000
113.6 2009
49 Hungary
11,833,000 10,020,000 118.3 Sept. 2010
50 U.A.E. 11,540,040
8,264,070 139.6 Nov 2011
51 Sweden 11,194,000 9,103,788
122.9 July 2012
52 Bulgaria 0,655,000
7,600,000 140.2 2008
53 Israel 9,319,000 7,310,000
127.5 2008
54 Denmark 7,000,000
5,543,819 126.2 Feb. 2008
55 Azerbaijan 7,000,000
8,900,000 78.7 Nov. 2009
56 Jordan 6,010,000
5,950,000 101.0 March 2010
57 Singapore 7,289,000 5,076,700
143.5 Dec. 2010
58 New Zealand 4,620,000 4,252,277
108.6 2008
59 Estonia 1,982,000 1,340,602 147.8 April 2009
60 Lebanon 2,720,000 4,224,000
64.4 Oct. 2010
61 Lithuania 4,960,000 3,341,966
148.4 Feb. 2010
This global data is interesting to go through, but
difficult to analyze for many reasons.
The only clear statistic is that cell phone usage is global, and most
countries have more active cell phones than the number of people living in their
country!
My data summary is in the chart below. Let me restate some of my definitions.
Users: those people using a cell/data phone but stop
using it while I observed them. Some
Users continued to hold the phone, and others put them away in a pocket or
purse or “man purse”.
DPA: " Data Phone Addict", a person addicted to constantly using a data
phone under my observation, and may only glance up occasionally, or NOT at all.
Age Groups: This data is very subjective on my part. I estimated their age based on looks,
clothes, and others in their group. I
believe my estimates are within a +/- 5 year range.
Music or M/V: This category only includes those data phone
users or addicts that used earphones that was attached to their phone. It is difficult to tell the difference at
times, but if the user looked around, it was most likely music. If the user was “glued” to their data phone
screen using it was usually video movies, youtube, and occasionally a
game.
Data Phone
Applications: I have only tabulated the various uses of the data phone
based on behavior or actually seeing the screen. If I was not sure, I added these individuals
in the “Data/Text/Unknown Apps” category.
CATEGORY
|
%
|
#
|
Total People (vs. Users)
|
61.4%
|
598
|
Total (15-30) Age Group)
|
51.3%
|
307
|
Total (31-45) Age Group)
|
30.3%
|
181
|
Total (46-65) Age Group)
|
18.2%
|
109
|
Total Males
|
42.3%
|
253
|
Total Females
|
57.7%
|
344
|
Total Users
|
367
|
|
Total Users (15-30) Age Group)
|
40.3%
|
241
|
Total Users (31-45) Age Group)
|
16.6%
|
99
|
Total Users (46-65) Age Group)
|
4.5%
|
27
|
Data/Text/Unknown Apps
|
65.4%
|
240
|
Talking on Cell/Data Phone
|
9.3%
|
34
|
Listening to Music/Video (M/V) on Data Phone
|
15.3%
|
56
|
Playing Games on Data Phone
|
10.1%
|
37
|
Total Male Users
|
34.6%
|
127
|
Total Female Users
|
65.4%
|
240
|
Total DPA (vs. Users)
|
87.2%
|
320
|
Total DPA (15-30) Age Group)
|
70.0%
|
224
|
Total DPA (31-45) Age Group)
|
26.6%
|
85
|
Total DPA (46-65) Age Group)
|
3.4%
|
11
|
Total DPA Males
|
31.6%
|
101
|
Total DPA Females
|
68.4%
|
219
|
DPA - Data/Text/Unknown Apps
|
60.1%
|
192
|
DPA - Talking on Cell/Data
Phone
|
10.5%
|
34
|
DPA - Listening to M/V on Data
Phone
|
17.5%
|
56
|
DPA - Playing Games on Data
Phone
|
11.9%
|
38
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MOST IMPORTANT OBSERVED DATA
1. Total Sample size
of 598 people using the Metro
Bus and MRT (Rapid Transit) seems to be a valid sample size.
2. In this sample, a
total of 367 people used
their cell/data phones or 61.4%.
3. Young people in
the 15-30 years of age group represented 51.3%
of the people in the survey. The Young
generation relay on mass transportation in Taipei.
4. Women (57.7%) seem to use this means
of transportation more than men (42.3%). This is even higher in the two older age
groups, but I did not track that data.
5. Users of data
phones are mostly women representing 65.4%
vs. men at 34.6%. This is slightly less than a 2 to 1 ratio.
6. The most shocking
statistic is that 87.2% of
the data phone users seem to be addicted to using their data phone!
7. Those people mostly
addicted to data phone usage in this survey are women (68.4%) vs. men (31.6%)
by more than a 2 to 1 ratio. Also, 70%
of those addicted to data phone usage are in the 15-30 years old age group!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NORMAL OBSERVED BEHAVIOR
As a young boy, my father gave me some wise advice. He said to me “Son, to live a quality life,
remember one simple thing from me as your father…. Do Everything in Moderation!”
I have used cellular phones for over 20 years mostly for
business. This included the early
Motorola Cellular phones with large, heavy transportable battery packs and
receiver/transmitter wired to the headset.
In 2007, I upgraded from flip phones to Blackberry text phones, but
seldom used the test messaging more than occasionally. In 2011 I got my first Data Phone with a
maximum 1GB then later a 2GB plan from AT&T, and have never even come close
to the maximum download program. Sure it is convenient when time permits to use
mobile apps, games, surf the net, etc., but never did I become addictive to
this service. One could say, I use cell
and data phones in moderation for business and and personal pleasure.
I also want to point out that I have been traveling to
Taiwan for more than 15 years. During
that time, I came to know many Taiwanese people on both a business,
professional, personal, and social basis.
As a result of these many trips to Taiwan, my perception is that for the
most part, Taiwanese people are intelligent, friendly, polite, peaceful,
humble, kind, loving, respectful, giving, hardworking, generous, and even shy
or timid at times. These are the
traditional core values that makes it easy to love, trust, respect, and make
long lasting friends in Taiwan. They are
NOT argumentative, pushy, aggressive, greedy, mean, violent, rude and it is
difficult to find “genuinely bad” people or even those with just “bad” tempers
in Taiwan.
That being said, I started this survey observing that many
of the younger generations that are addicted to data phone use are losing some
of their wonderful, traditional Taiwanese core values. I also believe that this behavior is not
limited to Taiwan. It appears to be
prevalent in most urban societies worldwide.
So, let's talk about what behaviors I observed as a direct result of
excessive use of data phone technology.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OBSESSIVE/ADDICTIVE OBSERVED BEHAVIOR
These behaviors are in no particular order, and selected
from the many notes I recorded over the survey period. This behavior is limited to people “glued to
their data phones”, with primary disregard for the world outside of their data phone
screen.
1. Addicts walk
around with their head pointed down towards their cell phone, and only quickly
glance up when walking.
 |
| A young girl almost walking into an MRT Train support focused only on her Data Phone |
2. On buses and the
MRT (subway) most do not even look up until they hear the announcement for
their stop, or they hear a disturbance nearby.
3. Many addicts stand
near the door of the subway restricting others from entering or leaving. I believe they do this so they can quickly
get off at their stop without losing much time on their data phone use.
4. Many addicts aggressively push into the bus or MRT car to
get a seat and will push others aside to get the open seat. It is easier to use their data phone sitting
rather than standing.
5. In the MRT and Metro Bus, seats are marked in a special
color for the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, etc. The MRT has many announcements requesting
passengers to give these seats to those in need. Addicts sit in those special seats and do not
look up and acknowledge those in need.
When they look up, rarely will they give up their seat. Many non-data phone users give up their seats
in Taiwan, because they are observing people around them, not focused solely on
their data phone.
6. Addicts will push
their way off the subway at their stop while keeping most of their attention on
their data phone. I saw many, many
instances when these addicts bump into others, and they DO NOT offer any
apology.
7. One young female addict
stood in line with others waiting to get on the MRT train at the Taipei Main
Station. While she was “Glued to her
data phone screen”, others got on the train, and the young lady missed her
train! A similar situation also occurred
on Taipei’s Heping East Road at a Metro Bus stop and the young lady missed her
bus. The driver would not wait for her.
8. A decade ago a
large number of people and mostly the younger generations used iPods and
similar devices to listen to music, but they were still aware of people and
things going around them. With data
phone addiction, these people really do not care what is happening beyond the
screen on their data phone.
9. DPA’s carrying
bags, put their bags on the floor of the MRT between their legs so they can use
both hands for their data phone.
10. In restaurants,
as soon as a table of 6 girls sat down, they quickly ordered and then 5 out of
6 picked up their data phones and seldom talked to the others. This is anti-social behavior. Even as food was served, several held the
phone in one hand still using it while eating there lunch with the other hand.
11. Just a few days
ago, again on the MRT train, two young people, a man and woman (~early 20’s)
was sitting in the reserved seats for the elderly or disabled. Both did not take their eyes off their data
phone, even when an elderly man stood inches from them. Finally at a major MRT stop, the young man
got up and then offered his seat to the elderly man as he was leaving the train
at his stop.
12. On multiple
occasions I noticed this addictive/obsessive behavior with people walking into
elevators, onto escalators, or going through payment “gates” where they stopped
or slowed greatly and as a result held up others from using the escalator,
elevator or payment gate at the MRT stations.
13. In the Taipei MRT
stations, there are very few places to sit down while waiting for a train. Almost every day that I used the MRT, young
people (mostly from the youngest age group) sat using their data phones on
these benches, not allowing elderly or those in need a chance to sit while
waiting to board their train.
CONCLUSION
With billions of Cellular/Cell/Data Phones in use globally,
this obsessive/addictive behavior will not go away in the short term and will
most likely become even more common worldwide. Cell/Data Phones and their usage is here to stay for generations to come.
In no way am I condoning the behavior or even suggesting that it should
be controlled or discouraged.
 |
| Courtesy of tradestation.com |
Data
Phones are the best way people stay connected with other people and with
information or entertainment. Much like
the advertising on radio, TV and published media for the dangers of texting and
driving, I think it might be a good idea for the press or at least friends and
family to encourage one another to be more polite to others when engaged with
their data phone. At least, be more
aware of people around you for their safety and the safety of others. Rarely should obsessive or addictive behavior
using the data phone be more important than showing courtesy and respect for
others in need or those around you. Of
course, in emergency situations, short term perceived obsessive behavior is
expected.
The survey detail in this blog is soley my observed data as
described above in this blog. The views
and opinions expressed in this blog are purely my opinions and comments, and therefore
should not be construed as being judgmental or a personal insult to anyone and
everyone that use data phones. I wrote
this blog to share my travel experiences here in Taipei, Taiwan and hope that
all my readers find it interesting, informative, and inspirational to encourage
others or themselves to use data phones wisely while respecting others around them.
REMEMBER EVERYONE, as you travel the journey of your life,
one chapter at a time, if you want to lead a quality life and improve the quality of interactions with those people around you,
DO EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
!
Edward C.
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