Multifunction Phones, Monofunction Owners

It’s one thing to buy a cell phone that can perform multiple functions. It’s another actually to use those capabilities. Polling by Mediamark Research Inc. quantifies the gaps, with the chart at right giving some specific numbers. As you’d guess, the youngest adults are the most likely to use the phone’s not-just-talking features. One example: 39 percent of 18-24-year-olds whose phones have game-playing features have used this function in the past 30 days, vs. 34 percent of the 25-34s, 24 percent of the 35-44s, 17 percent of the 45-54s and 16 percent of the 55-64s.