In the main, Americans think that when people focus on their phones instead of their companions, it hurts the group in which they are participating. This Pew Research Center survey attempted to measure feelings about this complicated issue from both directions — respondents were asked first about whether cellphone use might hurt social gatherings, and then whether cell phone use might help gatherings. It was possible for them to answer “yes” to both questions, or “no” to both.The social balance sheet they constructed looks like this:
Phone use hurts gatherings: 82% of all adults (not just cell owners) say that when people use their cellphones at social gatherings, it at least occasionally hurts the conversation and atmosphere of the gathering. Some 37% say it “frequently” hurts the gathering and another 45% say it “occasionally” hurts the gathering, while only 18% say it “rarely” or “never” hurts the gathering.
Phone use helps gatherings: On the other hand, 33% of Americans say that when people use their phones at social gatherings it at least occasionally contributes to the conversation and helps the atmosphere of the gathering. Only 5% say such phone use “frequently” helps and 29% say it “occasionally” helps. Meanwhile, 66% feel that when people use their cellphones at social gatherings it “rarely” or “never” helps the tenor of the event.
The strongest objections to phone use during social get-togethers come from women, whites and older cellphone users. Older women are especially bothered when people turn to their screens during a gathering: 52% of women age 50 and older say that cellphone use at social gatherings “frequently” hurts the occasion; similarly, 35% of women in that age bracket say that cellphone use “never” contributes to a gathering. Overall, adults 65 and older are especially likely to say that cellphone use in social settings frequently harms the gathering and also to say that it never helps the gathering.
Additionally, 85% of whites say that cell use during social gatherings frequently or occasionally hurts the gathering, compared with 71% of blacks and 76% of Hispanics who say the same. And 69% of whites say such phone use rarely or never contributes to the atmosphere of the gathering, compared with 62% of blacks and 60% of Hispanics.
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