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Pew report: Americans and their cellphones, 2011
2011 report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project on the ways Americans use mobile phones.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .
by Christopher Olver, The Journalist's Resource September 14, 2012
This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/media/pew-americans-cellphones-2011/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">
As of 2011, 83% of American adults own a cellphone and 35% own some form of “smartphone.” This equals more than 300 million mobile phones currently in use, up from 86 million just a decade ago.
A 2011 report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Americans and Their Cell Phones,” used data from telephone interviews conducted in April and May 2011, among a sample of 2,277 adults aged 18 and older, to catalog how Americans view and use their mobile phones.
Key findings include:
- Overall, 51% of mobile phone owners use their devices to access information, 42% as entertainment devices, and a full 13% to avoid interacting with the people around them. For users under the age of 29, 70% use them to stave off boredom and 30% have pretended to talk on phones to avoid interpersonal contact.
- Since an earlier report in May 2010, five of the most prevalent activities had risen significantly, including “sending photos and videos” (up from 36% to 54%), “accessing the Internet” (from 38% to 44%) and “sending and receiving email” (from 34% to 38%).
- For smartphone users (35% of Americans), 92% take pictures and send text messages (as opposed to just 59% of traditional cell phone users), 84% access the Internet, 76% access email, 69% download apps, 64% play games and 59% record videos. Only 13% of smart phone users, however, utilize video-call or video-chat features.
- A complementary report by the Pew Center found that 28% of American mobile phone owners use location-based services to get directions or place-based recommendations. This equals 23% of all American adults.
The researchers ultimately found that “cell owners value their phones for quick information retrieval, for entertainment, and for assistance in emergency situations. At the same time, a number of cell owners report that they have turned off their phone to get a break from using it, and that they can have trouble accomplishing desired tasks when their phone is not available.”
Tags: consumer affairs, survey, technology, telecommunications, mobile tech
About The Author
Christopher Olver
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Smartphone ownership in the U.S. 2011-2023, by ethnicity
Share of adults in the united states who owned a smartphone from 2011 to 2023, by ethnicity.
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Show sources information Show publisher information Use Ask Statista Research Service
January 2024
United States
May 19 - Sept. 5, 2023
1,502 respondents
18 years and older
Telephone interview
“Smartphone ownership” includes those who say their phone is a smartphone, or who describe their phone as running on the Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm or Windows platforms. For 2011 data, n=2,277 adults ages 18 and older, including 755 interviews conducted on respondent’s cell phone. For 2012 data, n=2,253 adults and survey includes 901 cell phone interviews. Both 2011 and 2012 data include Spanish-language interviews. Estimates for Asian respondents represent only the English speaking users. For 2013 data, n=2,252 adults and survey includes 1,127 cell phone interviews in English and Spanish. Source did not provide information for the number of respondents in 2016, 2017, and 2023
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COMMENTS
Mobile phone ownership over time. The vast majority of Americans - 97% - now own a cellphone of some kind. Nine-in-ten own a smartphone, up from just 35% in Pew Research Center's first survey of smartphone ownership conducted in 2011. ... Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts ...
About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.
According to the Pew Internet Project's 2011 teen survey, three quarters (77%) of teens have a cell phone, a figure that is similar to the 75% of teens who owned a cell phone in September 2009 and up dramatically from the 45% of teens who were cell owners in late 2004. Older teens ages 14 to 17 are substantially more likely to have a cell ...
Mobile phone ownership. % of U.S. adults who say they own a …. 0 20 40 60 80 100 2005 2010 2015 2020. Cellphone. Smartphone. Note: Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown. Source: Surveys of U.S. adults conducted 2002-2021. PEW RESEARCH CENTER.
For the first time, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has found that cell phone ownership among adults has exceeded 90%. Cell phones are now being used by 91% of adults, according to the survey conducted between April 17 and May 19 of 2,252 adults. While the adoption figures are stunning by every measure— the cell ...
Smartphone ownership (85%) and home broadband subscriptions (77%) have increased among American adults since 2019 - from 81% and 73% respectively. Though modest, both increases are statistically significant and come at a time when a majority of Americans say the internet has been important to them personally. And 91% of adults report having at least one of these technologies.
Americans' Use of Mobile Technology and Home Broadband. Most U.S. adults today say they use the internet (95%), have a smartphone (90%) or subscribe to high-speed internet at home (80%). About four-in-ten report being online almost constantly. fact sheet | Jan 5, 2024.
findings on the state of smartphone ownership in America today, based on a series of surveys conducted by Pew Research Center in association ... access other than their cell phone. PEW RESEARCH CENTER . 5 PEW RESEARCH CENTER www.pewresearch.org 62 57 44 43 40 30 18 Get info about a health condition Do online banking
Cell phone ownership is up from 65% of American adults in November 2004, but has remained steady since 2009. More adults have a cell phone than have an iPod or mp3 player (46%) ... based on cell phone users. And Pew Research enter's Internet and American Life Project survey from August 18 - September 14, 2009. n= 2,253 adults, age 18 and ...
Two in five adults (41%) own a cell phone that is not a smartphone, meaning that smartphone owners are now more prevalent within the overall population than owners of more basic mobile phones. Changes in smartphone ownership, 2011-2012 % of US adults who own… Source: Pew Research enter's Internet & American Life Project April 26-May 22 ...
BY Jacob Poushter. FOR MEDIA OR OTHER INQUIRIES: Jacob Poushter, Senior Researcher Rhonda Stewart, Senior Communications Manager. 202.419.4372. www.pewresearch.org. RECOMMENDED CITATION: Pew Research Center, February, 2016, "Smartphone Ownership and Internet Usage Continues to Climb in Emerging Economies".
2004, when Pew Research conducted its first poll on cell ownership. At that time, 65% of Americans owned a cellphone. Some of the other findings: Computers are the next-most popular device among those measured. Some 73% of U.S. adults own a desktop or laptop computer, a figure that is similar to the 71% of those who owned a
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
black adults are cell phone owners, and 56% own a smartphone of some kind. Cell phone ownership is much more common than internet use among older African Americans. Just 45% of African Americans ages 65 and older use the internet, but 77% are cell phone owners (most of these seniors own basic cell phones, as only 18% are smartphone owners).
PEW RESEARCH CENTER www.pewresearch.org SMART1 Some cell phones are called "smartphones" because of certain features they have. Is your cell phone a smartphone such as an iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Windows phone, or are you not sure?3 Based on cell phone owners YES, SMARTPHONE NO, NOT A SMARTPHONE NOT SURE/ DON'T KNOW (VOL.) REFUSED
Pew Research Center conducted a series of focus groups to better understand how people think about their own mobile phones and the impact of these devices on their society. Five focus groups were held in each of the following four countries: Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines and Tunisia. Each focus group consisted of 10
Almost three-quarters (74%) of smartphone owners get real-time location-based information on their phones as of February 2012, up from 55% in May 2011. This increase coincides with a rise in smartphone ownership overall (from 35% of adults in 2011 to 46% in 2012), which means that the overall proportion of U.S. adults who get location-based ...
In its first standalone measure of smartphone ownership,1 the Pew Research enter's Internet & American Life Project finds that two in five cell owners (42%) ... or no cell phone Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 26 - May 22, 2011 Spring Tracking Survey. n=2,277 adult internet users ages 18 and older ...
The project conducted a national cell phone survey of 2,254 adults and 903 interviews from March 15 to April 2, 2012. Key study highlights include: Among American adults who owned a cell phone in spring 2012 — an estimated 88% of the population — a majority of these owners (55%) used their phones to access online content. This represents a ...
This equals more than 300 million mobile phones currently in use, up from 86 million just a decade ago. A 2011 report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Americans and Their Cell Phones," used data from telephone interviews conducted in April and May 2011, among a sample of 2,277 adults aged 18 and older, to catalog how Americans ...
Mobile phone ownership in the U.S. 2019, by age group ... Share of cell phone brands owned in the UK 2017, by gender; ... Pew Research Center. (January 31, 2024). Share of adults in the United ...
Phone ownership trends. Since 2015, cell phone ownership has increased 20%. ... Pew Research Center. Mobile Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center. Published April 7, 2021. Evaluated September 13, 2023.
For 2011 data, n=2,277 adults ages 18 and older, including 755 interviews conducted on respondent's cell phone. For 2012 data, n=2,253 adults and survey includes 901 cell phone interviews.