Canadian Social Media Surveys and Studies Social Networking News

Connected at the hip, and umbilical cord still attached: Canadians increasingly dependent on mobile devices

CANADA - If this keeps up, we won't know what anyone really looks like in real life. Mobile devices are continuing to replace face-to-face communication, personal relationships, cameras, books, magazines and computers, and we are becoming a never-off society.

Whether it's at a wedding, funeral, or even in a courtroom, we bring our smartphones along so we can contact anyone, anywhere, anytime. No where is sacred.

How addicted are we to our phones? A recent survey* gave some surprising insight:

74% of us use them in places that we shouldn't:

The bathroom (17%) - 21% of Ontarians admit to this habit, compared to 10% of Quebecers
Church or other places of worship (11%)
A job interview (9%)

50% of us break cell phone etiquette by texting someone in the same room, or while in the middle of a conversation. Guilty behaviour depends on where you live:

Maritimes (59%)
Quebec (53%)
Ontario (49%)
Manitoba/Saskatchewan (48%)
British Columbia (47%)
Alberta (45%)

80% of Quebecers and 74% of Ontarians have admitted to using their cell phone in a place or situation they should not, compared to 62% of BC residents.

Believe it or not, though, the matrimonial ceremony seems to be sacred with Quebecers. Only 3% would use their phone during a wedding.

Texting has replaced communication with:

Siblings (55%)
Best friends (61%)
Spouses (51%)
Kids (51%)

We still speak directly to our pets, though.

The cell phone replaces a landline for 72% of Canadians polled.

35% of Albertans use cellphones in their car, while 25% of Ontarians say they do.

There may be an app for that, but Albertans couldn't care less. An amazing 46% could live a full and complete life without their apps, while a paltry 24% of the rest of us could say the same.

*These are findings of a Leger Marketing survey conducted on behalf of Future Shop from January 23 and 26, 2012. This online survey of 1,523 adults aged 18 and older in Canada is accurate within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.