Jane Vincent Research Fellow

1. Growing up with Mobiles – emailing, talking and texting • Jane Vincent • Research Fellow UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

2. Growing up with Mobiles • Introduction • Methodology • Examining the Research Material • Functionality and Usage • Growing Independence • Showing and Fun • Conclusions UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

3. Introduction • Study aimed to learn more about Teenies (11 – 16 year olds) use of mobile phones and ICT • Data collected was compared with studies by DWRC and others UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

4. Methodology

5. Methodology • Research commissioned exclusively for this study • 67 diaries kept for a day by the children to record their ICT activity • 47 children interviewed in group discussions and one to one sessions to further examine and explore ICT use UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

6. 67 Diary Respondents • Girls more willing to participate • Boys said ‘Not cool’ or ‘Couldn’t be bothered’ • Lack of credit or loss of phone during survey precluded others UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

7. 47 in Focus Groups and Interviews • Focus Groups in 2 Secondary Schools • Comprehensive School in South Surrey • Secondary Modern School in South Bucks • Interviews • Children less comfortable talking one-to-one than in focus groups UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

8. Examining Research Material • Three themes were identified • Functionality and Usage • Growing Independence • Showing and Fun UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

9. Functionality and Usage

10. Teenies have a variety of uses for their mobile phones • Teenies mostly use text and voice plus some other features – alarm, clock, diary, games • Age, gender and maturity impact on usage UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

11. Teenies are sophisticated mobile phone users • Phone call not text for lifts from parents • ‘They don’t know how to use text’ or ‘If I phone and speak to them I know that they have got the message and will come and get me’ • ‘Group text friends first then phone those who reply ‘When we go bowling we find out who can go first then call to make arrangements’ UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

12. Most know running costs and are frugal, optimizing tariffs • Voice Calls to parents are short • Mum, I’m at the station’ ‘or I’m at Jenny’s’ or ‘I’ll be home at 6’ • Longer calls to friends are done on house phones or by IMS on home PCs ‘I phone my girlfriend every night for 45minutes; we take it in turns, …I only phone her on my mobile when she isn’t at home and is on her’s because I am not allowed to make long calls to mobiles from the home phone’ UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

13. Teenies are very price sensitive • Most children spend £10 or less per month on their mobile phone • ‘Phone call with my sister: I phoned her then she rang back as I was low on credit’ • Most children are on pay as you go & do not pay for the handset • Around a third of respondents’ bills are paid by parents, remainder by child or both • ‘My parents pay the first £10 and I pay the rest’. UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

14. Growing Independence

15. Teenies are ‘coming of age’ • Children get their first phone aged 9 to 11 • Mobile phone is important to parents’ notions of bringing up children (Ling) • ‘they’ve run out of credit so can’t do the diary’ or ‘she’s lost the phone and so she’s got to find the money herself to get a replacement’ • When the money runs out the mobile is not used BUT it is substituted by borrowing friend’s or family’s mobiles, the home phone and ISM • Calls to mobiles from home phones are often banned by parents UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

16. Conflicts arise about when it is OK to use the mobile • Some parents are more tethered to their children than vice versa • ‘My Mum rings me every five minutes when I get on the train – it’s really annoying’ • Texts from Dad to keep in touch are OK but calls or texts from Mum are not • Teenies still rely on parents instead of mobiles on some occasions • ‘‘On my paper round I can only carry my CD that I listen to, my parents know when I should be back’ UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

17. Many Teenies find the mobile is too valuable to lose • ‘I keep my phone in my pillow case at night so my brother can’t steal it (or my mum can’t read my text messages from my boyfriend) • ‘I hold it in my hand when I sleep’ • ‘I don’t take it to theme parks - they fly out of your pocket on the roller coasters and then you’ve lost it for ever’ • ‘I don’t take it to school on a PE day, they get stolen from the changing room’ UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

18. Showing and Fun

19. Playful use of mobile varies with age • 11-12: Exploring, showing off, talking about but not using mobiles much • 13-14: Integral to social life of girls, gets displaced by computer games for many boys • 15-16: Integral and expected part of running your life ‘What if you didn’t have a mobile?’ ‘I’d be lonely’ UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

20. Games and Pictures • No respondents used mobile internet • All used games on their mobile • Camera phone used but images rarely sent except by IR or Bluetooth • ‘I want a camera phone but I don’t have one because it is more likely to be stolen’ • ‘I use the camera to take pictures of famous people and I just keep them’ • ‘I have silly pictures of friends that come up when I call them or they call me’ UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

21. A few thoughts for the future • These Teenies were not interested in future technologies • They expect things to change – but for the better & are disappointed when new tariffs bar access to services (e.g. ring tones) and games that were free • The future for them is getting hold of their Dad or Mum’s present mobile as soon as he/she upgrades UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

22. Conclusions • For Teenies it is ‘When I get my mobile phone’ not ‘If I get a mobile phone’ • Behaviours found were similar to those in previous studies BUT occur at earlier age • Common social practices between Teenies and adults e.g. value paradox • Usage curtailed by how much they can spend • Mobile phone is part of a wider communications and ICT repertoire • Mobile phones are essential and fun UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk

23. Growing up with mobiles… • ‘The Teenies in this survey may be the last generation in the UK for whom the mobile phone can be remembered as a new experience in their household. However, its role as a rite of passage into the Teenies years, and as a tool for social and economic parental control is likely to remain’ UniS: Digital World Research Centre j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk