With wireless coverage and services growing ever larger and more attractive, it’s not hard to see why one in eight US households have shunned the traditional hardline telephone in favor of the wireless variety. A new survey conducted by the National Health Interview Survey has indicated that 13.6% of all US households have done away with their landlines and are relying on their mobile phones as their sole means on communication/connection with friends and loved ones.
The number of households going wireless-only has been steadily increasing since 2003. The most-recent numbers suggest that:
- More than 55% of adults living with unrelated roommates used only their cellphones
- 28% of renters were wireless-only, compared with 6.7% of homeowners
- More than 30% of those aged 25-29 rely solely on mobile phones; almost 30% of those aged 18-24 shunned landlines; 13% of adults in the 30-44 age group are landline-free; about 7% of people 45-64 used only cellphones; while only 2% of adults 65 and older shunned hardline telephones
- Men were more likely than women to be landline-free – a trend that has persisted throughout the years
But, there’s an interesting correlation between wireless-only adults and their penchant for the “finer things” in life. Mobile phone-only adults were twice as likely to binge drink, twice as likely to report not having health insurance, and more likely to be current smokers. However, most of these adults also reported their health to be in “excellent or very good” condition and participated in more physical activity in their free time than those that had landlines.
Whatever the causation, it seems that the wire-free life is the life to live. At least until all that not-having-health-insurance catches up with them. Time to get us some health insurance!
[Via: RCR]