Singaporeans hung up on mobiles
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Hung up on mobiles
Kuala Lumpur - Singaporeans are among the most attached to their mobile phones, according to a global survey.
Market research firm Synovate's survey said three-quarters of the more than 8,000 respondents polled online in 11 places said they take their cellphones with them everywhere. And leading the pack are Russians and Singaporeans.
More than a third of the respondents went as far as to say that they cannot live without their mobile phones, topped by Taiwanese followed by Singaporeans, while one in four finds it harder to replace cellphones than wallets or purses.
Calling mobile phones the 'remote control' for life, Synovate's poll said cellphones are so ubiquitous that by last year, there were more people who owned one than those who did not.
'Mobile phones give us safety, security and instant access to information. They are the No. 1 tool of communication for us, sometimes even surpassing face-to-face communication. They are our connections to our lives,' Ms Jenny Chang, Synovate's managing director in Taiwan, said in a statement.
Mobile phones have also changed the nature of relationships, with the survey showing that nearly half of all respondents use text messages to flirt, a fifth set up first dates via SMS, and almost the same number use the same method to end a relationship - led by Filipinos, Malaysians and Russians.
'Let's face it - it is just plain easier to break up with someone via text message than having to tell them face to face,' said Synovate's managing director for Malaysia, Mr Steve Murphy, noting that more than one in five Malaysians have broken up with someone, or have been jilted, via text messaging.
The survey also found that 31 per cent of respondents have lied about their whereabouts via text messaging.
Apart from the obvious calling and texting, the top three features people use regularly on their mobile phones are the alarm clock, camera and games.
As for e-mail and Internet access, 17 per cent of respondents said they check their inboxes or surf the Internet off their phones, led by those in the United States and Britain.
-- REUTERS
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