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Popularity Among Teens


The mobile phone has become so prevalent in the teen community that surveys have concluded that they are indispensable to teens. The statistics out there do support this claim. The following are some figures from the Nielson report:

  • About four out of every five teens carry a cell phone, up from 40% in 2004
  • half of kids age 8 to 12 years old own cell phones in the U.S
  • on average kids get their first cell phone between the ages of 10 and 11 years old
For more information, see this CBS article.

Though different surveys report different findings, the underlying conclusion is consistent: Cell phones are popular with teens, and this popularity will increase.


How did this popularity begin?

As with most new technologies, the mobile phone did not become big overnight. The first mobile phones, which originated in the 1980's, cost thousands and the production costs were high. Consequently, the user base was limited to the those who could afford it, which commonly were businessmen. However, as the industry progressed, costs ebbed and new services were added. This opened the technology to new markets and new  age groups. Beginning in 2000, carriers pushed their product on teen markets by introducing family plans. With costs out of the way, the cell phone ably permeated teenage lives.

Why Do Cell Phones Appeal to Teenagers?

The teenage phase consists of some of the most influential years in a person's life. At this age, children are easily molded by external pressures. They perceive and emulate the surrounding world in an attempt to define themselves. It is no wonder, then, why cell phones are so popular in this age bracket. In essence, the cell phone has transcended the label of an object of utility, and has become more of a symbol. Now that seemingly every teen has one, not having one is tantamount to being ostracized from a group. The child that wants to mature and grow up will see the phone as a sophisticated device that all the important people carry. The child eager to connect to his or her friends will see the phone as a social device that all the other kids have. Still, the child that wants to be popular will see the phone as a trendy device that all the celebrities and television characters flaunt.

However, this affinity to cell phones is not solely natural. Cell phone manufacturers and related companies play a role in aggrandizing the popularity of the phone. Manufacturers try to target younger markets in numerous ways:

  • Product placement: We've all seen them. In that teen movie, when the characters come up with a plot-twisting idea they casually remove a phone from their pocket and call all their friends as the screen splits into multiple cameras of the friends on their phones. In that spy film, when the hero is in a precarious situation he frantically grabs his sleek, futuristic cell phone and dials as he runs from a ticking bomb. The ubiquity of the phone in the media underscores three points:
    • It reflects the state of our society, one in which everyone and their mom has a phone.
    • Since it serves as different symbols in the movies, the cell phone is further associated with different images.
    • It plays on the "cool factor" of the phone and in doing so propagates it.
  • Designing teen-oriented phones: Most manufacturers, undoubtedly motivated by the dollar sign, have tailored their phones to young markets, even creating some "hip" phones. The Motorola Rokr, the music phone of the early 2000's, were backed by numerous commercials with a silhouette of a young person dancing around town (a very colorful town) listening to the phone. The T-mobile Sidekick, a early messaging phone with teen-centric applications, was made for teens and signed on many celebrities to advertise it. 
  • Developing teen-oriented services: Companies targeted young age groups by developing services popular with teens. Mobile games, for example, were designed extensively and advertised a source of relief from boredom. The Nokia N-Gage was one of the first phones to cross the boundary between cell phone and mobile gaming, as it sported a directional gamepad and boasted hundreds of games. Social networking (Facebook, Myspace) and messaging clients (AIM, Yahoo) began developing applications for mobile devices.