Survey pegs cellphone as most valued tech tool in US
Americans would rather give up their televisions or the Internet rather than do without their mobile phones, according to a report released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project on Wednesday, 5 March 2008.
Researchers found that a little more than half - 51% - of respondents who use wireless phones said it would "be very hard to give up" their cellphone versus 45% and 43% for whom ditching the Internet or television would be a struggle.
Disconnecting their landlines would be tough for 40% of those with a home phone, while going without e-mail and a wireless e-mail device would be too much to bear for 37% and 36% of the users surveyed, respectively.
The numbers represent a flip-flop among the importance of technology from surveys conducted in 2002 and 2006. Six years ago, the bulk of respondents - 63% - said it would be hard to give up their landline, with 48% claiming a similar issue in 2006.
