Texting everywhere for everything: Gender and age differences in cell phone etiquette and use

The majority of research on cell phone use has focused on adolescent and young adult users with less attention on cell phone use by those older than 25 years of age. In this study, adult participants from 18 to 68 years completed a survey about their own use of cell phones and the contexts in which they considered cell phone use appropriate. There were age and gender differences in beliefs about the etiquette as to when cell phone use was appropriate. Older participants and women advocated for more restricted cell phone use in most social situations. Men differed from women in that they viewed cell phone calls as more appropriate in virtually all environments including intimate settings. Across all age groups in all communication settings, cell phones were used to text. The only exception was that romantic partners were more likely to receive a call than a text. In the younger age groups, texting communication is so normative that over 25% had dumped or were dumped by a romantic partner. The preponderance of gender similarities point to cell phone usage as a stable communication vehicle for maintaining social contact.