Americans’ Views on Mobile Etiquette

This Pew Research Center report explores newly released survey findings about Americans’ views about the appropriateness of cellphone use in public places and in social gatherings and the way those views sometimes conflict with their own behaviors. The results are based on a nationally representative survey of 3,217 adults on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, 3,042 of whom are cellphone users.

For many Americans, cellphones are always present and rarely turned off -- and this constant connectivity creates new social challenges. Some 92 percent of US adults now have a cellphone of some kind, and 90 percent of those cell owners say that their phone is frequently with them. Some 31 percent of cell owners say they never turn their phone off and 45 percent say they rarely turn it off. Mobile devices play a complex role in modern social interactions -- many Americans view them as harmful and distracting to group dynamics, even as they can’t resist the temptation themselves. Fully 89 percent of cellphone owners say they used their phone during the most recent social gathering they attended. Young adults have higher tolerance for cellphone use in public and in social settings; they also are more likely to have used their phone during a recent social gathering.