Tag: Text messaging

Goin’ Mobile – Part 2

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As we all know, the spike in smartphone adoption is changing the way users interact with their mobile devices. We use the phone but that has become secondary to all of the other capabilities these amazing little devices have.  With penetration rates continuing to climb, more and more people interact with their smartphones as the first access point to information, e-mail etc. because it happens in real-time and provides both valuable utility, such as directions, prices, and reviews as well as breaking news and information.

How many times do you look at your smartphone everyday?  Most people look at their phone about 150 times a day, (that’s roughly once every 6.5 minutes), according to Qualcomm CEO, Paul Jacobs. Those glances are to check incoming e-mail and text messages, but also to browse the mobile web.

So what is really going on here.  We are at the forefront of a social behavior change phenomenon.  How we communicate with friends and family, how we shop, how much time we spend, how many devices are being replaced by one, shop, how marketers communicate with us, how a marketer measures their advertising spending, how breaking news is distributed and so on.  We have all been empowered by these amazing devices.

Check out these fun facts:

The end of the desktop?

Looks like we are now multi-tasking all the time:

With just an iPhone we can replace many devices and save big bucks:

We don’t need all these stinking devices!

Enjoy the weekend.

Webman

Teens and Phones

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I have three daughters and to say that their phones are important to them would be an understatement.  The days of talking on the phone are over for their generation.  Really no need to have a voice plan for the children and they do not ever use it.  Text on the other hand, downloading content, uploading pictures to Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and the like, now we are talking.  I just received a text message from Verizon saying that one of my daughters had already used half of her monthly data plan and we are only a few days into the billing cycle.  Geez!

As a parent it is always amazing to me how much time my children spend on their phones.  I am sure many of you are wondering as well.

Just came across some updated information on teen phone usage – Parents, you are not alone 🙂

  • 75% of teens between 12-17 have phones
  • Teens send and receive an average of 2,108 texts per month
  • That’s 556,512 words per teen per year, equal to War & Peace
  • They also download on average 11 applications per month
  • 65% of teens sent a text in the middle of the night
  • 70% received a text from someone NOT in their contact list
  • Parents are checking in on their teens with them locking phones during school, at night and instantly at times

Information for this blog was sourced from a very cool infographic I found on www.visual.ly – here is the link – http://visual.ly/those-phone-crazy-teens

Watch those kids!

Webman

Blurring of the Lines!

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My friend DaCoacha is now retired, living the life.  He is a regular reader of the Webman’s blog and as he tells me he has time on his hands to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it.  DaCoacha is not worried about the life/work balance because he has put a check in the work box and can now solely focus on the things he likes to do with the people he likes to do them with.  I can regularly find him on Facebook after many years of being disconnected.  A very good thing, by the way, as we can find and locate the many people that we grew up with and reconnect in some way after so many years.  Would not have happened without the technology.

Many of you have teenage children or have observed their behavior of being constantly connected.  They will have friends over let’s say to watch a movie.  While watching they will constantly be on the ready with the phones, waiting for the little bell or ding to go off, identifying a new rather important to them text, tweet, Facebook post, e-mail or some other form of incoming information.  They immediately respond to the news, regardless of whether they are in a conversation with a friend or just watching the movie.  My favorite is when they are actually texting the people they asked over to watch the movie, when they are in the same room!

I have an on-going debate with one of my daughters over what I call “obsessive texting”.  She says, “Dad, I am just going to text so and so to see how he or she is doing.”  Seems harmless enough right.  I have then observed her actions over the course of the day and she will still be texting with that person, still finding out how they are doing.  How long does it take to find out how someone is doing?  A 10 minute conversation?  Asking them to come over to hang out and talk?  No, finding out how someone is doing has now taken the form of 500 text messages to determine how he or she is doing.  When I ask the question, the answer is, “Oh dad, she is fine.”  500 texts for that?  Geez.

Communication has been changed forever by technology.  There certainly is no going back.  The question is how can we all utilize these capabilities in a way that does not cause us more stress, where we can truly connect with the people we enjoy, love and admire.  Where we can learn the things we not only need to learn but want to learn?

Let me know your thoughts on this topic by posting your comments below.  More to come this week.

Webman