UK residents are more likely to send a text than make a phone call when communicating with friends and family, according to a new study.
Of the 1,980 UK adults included in Ofcom’s ninth annual communications survey, 59% said they use text messsages at least once per day to communicate with friends and family, followed by face-to-face meetings (49%), voice calls (47%), social networking (32%) and email (30%).
It’s not the way people would prefer to keep in touch, the study suggests it’s simply the most convenient.
The majority (67%) said they prefer face-to-face meetings over other forms of communication by a vast margin; voice calls followed at 20%, and only 5% said they prefer to keep in touch by text.
Texting is slightly more popular in the U.S.: In a study published by Pew Research Center last year, 51% of adults said voice calls were their preferred choice of communication on their mobile devices, while 31% cited a preference for text messaging. The study did not confine communications to friends and family, however.
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These trends sync with device buying patterns. Two-fifths of UK adults now own a smartphone and a tenth have an e-reader. Eleven percent now open a tablet, up from 2% a year ago. Internet-connected TVs are also on the rise, and are now present in 5% of UK households. The average household now owns three kinds of connected devices, such as a laptop or Xbox 360; 15% own six or more.
