No One Talks Anymoreby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 15 May 2007 05:08 AM Will talking go the way of the dinosaur? With all of the new data-driven diversions out there for cell phones and computers, it seems that people are choosing to communicate less by using their vocal cords. At least, that is the claim from a recent report by Forrester Research, which studied cell phone use. The report shows that at least half of all mobile phone subscribers use services other than voice when communicating. In other words, there is a lot of messaging and typing going on and less actual speaking. One of the reasons that there are so many new messaging options available (as well as other diversions) is that prices for voice minutes are falling. So, cell phone companies must come up with other ways to make their money, such as packing in all sorts of extras into their phones. Some examples of this are downloading ringtones and playing games on a mobile phone. At the time of the study, eleven percent of all cell phone users use the internet on their phones. Young people, who you think would be the most likely to use their cell phones to talk and talk and talk, aren't. That is, a whopping seventy-eight percent of cell phone subscribers between the ages of 18 and 26 use data services. Messaging, it seems, is more popular than simply picking up the phone to chat by voice. Add in the popularity of internet chat rooms and message boards and you have to wonder if anyone ever talks anymore. I am guilty of this. Although I don't have a cell phone, I do most of my daily communicating over the internet, through e-mail, private messages and the forums here at Families.com. On a daily basis, I probably do type more conversations than I actually speak. What do you think? Will talking over the phone become less and less a part of our lives? I'd love to hear your opinion! Mary Ann Romans writes about her family's money saving secrets in the Frugal Living Blog here at Families.com Related Articles: Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantcomputers tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags cell phones, text messaging, voice communication Discuss this article
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