Americans use phones more for games, Internet

Published July 7, 2010 at 8:42 p.m.
Americans' use of non-voice programs on cell phones has "grown dramatically" over the last year, with even more of us using our phones as cameras and video recorders, as well as for e-mail, Internet and playing games, according to a report from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.

"Cell phones have become for many owners an all-purpose chat-text-gaming-photo-sharing media hub that is an essential utility for work and a really fancy toy for fun," said Aaron Smith, Pew research specialist and author of the report, "Mobile Access 2010."

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There are a growing number of tertiary devices that can connect to the Net, and a small number of Americans are also using these right now to do so. Nine percent of adults go online using an MP3 player, game console, e-book reader or tablet computer, such as Apple's iPad, Pew said.

Of the 42 percent of Americans that own a game console like the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, 29 percent use those consoles for Internet access, Pew said. Of the 46 percent of Americans who have an MP3 player, 16 percent use them to get online.

E-book readers and tablets, a fledging tech category, are also being used for Net access. Pew says 4 percent of Americans now own an e-book reader like Amazon's Kindle, and 46 percent say they use the devices to access the Internet. Three percent of those surveyed said they have a tablet computer, like Apple's iPad, which they use for the Internet.


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