Monday, February 11, 2013

Study: Cell Phones Still Not For The Dinner Table

A new study, issued today by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, says that the majority of Americans still don't think pulling a cell phone out at a meal is appropriate. The study found that 62 percent of Americans feel that it's not at all appopriate to have a cellphone on the table during dinner, with 76 percent saying that texting is not all all appropriate, 80 percent panning browsing on the web, and 84 percent saying you shouldn't talk on the phone at a meal.

Not surprisingly, the study found that there was quite a difference between generations in the inappropriateness of cell phones at a table; Millenials, aged 18-34, were far more accepting of cell phone use at a meal, with only 49 percent feeling it's inappropriate to have a device at the table, and only 55 percent frowning on texting. The USC group said that a "whole new social etiquette" is developing about the appropriateness of mobile devices, particularly among millenials.

USC said its result came from it's upcoming annual report on the impact of the Internet in America, and was gathered from 989 Internet users from an online consumer panel; the group said the survey as a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

---