It is predicted that there are more than 75,750,000 mobile phones in use in the United Kingdom. This is a sum that totals 122.9 percent of the total population of the nation: Many users have more than one mobile. The primary use for phones is, perhaps astonishingly, not talking but texting. Users of all age groups prefer to send non-verbal communication in the form of text messages over voice calls. Mobile and smartphones have a variety of other uses, including multimedia Internet browsing, taking photographs or video footage and entertainment in the form of games and applications. Many mobile users claim that they cannot live without their phones, taking them everywhere from bed to the loo.
While the mobile phone is an invention that has revolutionised communication, a recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project indicates that many people are using their devices to avoid interacting with people. From pretending to be taking a voice call to furiously tapping out a text message to nobody in particular, mobiles have become an excuse for deflecting face-to-face conversation. Young people are the worst offenders: Nearly 30 percent of surveyed mobile users between the ages of 18 and 29 admit to using their phones as a diversion tactic. While the surveyed were American, it is easy to assume that this trend is popular in any nation with prevalent mobile usage.
According to a poll by GOOD magazine, many young people do not think that using a mobile in a social situation goes against etiquette at all. However, because mobiles are recognised as a distraction from the immediate surroundings, the gesture of turning off a mobile or smartphone has become a show of affection among this demographic. It signifies the intention of paying complete attention to the person with whom you are conversing and negates the possibility of mobile interruption. Intimate settings are not the only instance that demands a break from mobile communication. Twenty-nine percent claim that they occasionally disconnect their phone to avoid contact for their own purposes.