Mobile phones now an 'instrument for life'

Melbourne, May 18: Mobile phones, though marketed as a business tool, have now become an instrument for life, according to a new survey.

The survey involving 1000 workers has shown that cell phones not only keep users "perpetually available", they also help in stress because "dead time"- for example, waiting for the late morning train-can be revived by making a call to mum or looking for a work contact. Most people still think mobile phones split up and rush our lives, but the reality is that it doesn't seem to be a perniciously accelerating technology," the Age quoted time-use expert Michael Bittman as saying.

The study showed that nearly two-thirds of all communications monitored were to family and friends.

And work-related calls were confined to standard work hours. Merely 2.6 per cent of the calls were made between 7pm and midnight.

The research also showed that only 0.02 per cent interrupted a leisure activity and prompted actual work.

Professor Bittman said that people, who were making heavy use of their mobile phones, did not describe themselves as more rushed than lighter phone users.

"The 'always on' character of mobile technologies offers new opportunities to save time and for more flexible meetings," he added.

ANI