Mobile Snacking?

Think interpersonal communication is going to Hell in a handbasket?
This press release from Palm Canada identifies what appears to be a new term for the technology challenged set. However it is a realistic portrait of the new world order.

“Always On” Canadian Professionals Build Bite-sized Entertainment into Busy Schedules

TORONTO, May 16, 2007 – While you’d be hard-pressed to find many young adults without a cell phone in hand these days, is it all work and no play when it comes to mid-aged Canadians and mobile technology? Hardly. According to a new Palm Canada/Leger Marketing study, tech-savvy “30-to-50-somethings” are active consumers of wireless entertainment, grabbing quick nibbles of fun time during those “whenever” minutes throughout a hectic work day -- what’s referred to as “mobile snacking.”

Three in five (60 per cent) respondents surveyed consider themselves “always on” between family and work commitments. The same amount say that communication technology is key to balancing personal and professional commitments. More than half of Canadian professionals polled credit technologies such as cell phones and PDAs for keeping them connected at work, and one in five (20 per cent) say they rely on an “all-in-one” device such as a smartphone to balance their social and professional lives.

And while 71 per cent of those surveyed say that technology helps them get and stay ahead in their careers, it isn’t all about email. Almost half (45 per cent) also use PDAs, cell phones and laptops to unwind in their leisure time. In fact, 44 per cent of people surveyed use their mobile device to listen to MP3s, one in five (19 per cent) are checking out videos, and 10 per cent even admit to checking updates on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

“As on-the-go Canadians consume content in bite-size, easy-to-digest portions, mobile snacking is becoming more mainstream,” says Michael Moskowitz, vice president, Americas International, Palm, Inc. “From news alerts to watching videos to sending emails, downloading information is becoming as common as downing a granola bar.”

Trends such as mobile snacking appear to be the result of working extended hours and adopting mobile lifestyles. Working beyond the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday is not uncommon for Canadians; over a quarter (27 per cent) surveyed admitted to working 10 hours a day or more.


Additional Fast Facts


Mobile snacking habits – that’s entertainment

- 73 per cent admit emailing on a mobile device is a form of entertainment
- 44 per cent report using mobile technology for text messaging and listening to MP3s
- 33 per cent report using mobile technology for listening to the radio
- 19 per cent report using mobile technology to watch videos

Career commitment – working for more than the weekend

- 76 per cent check email outside their work day
- 60 per cent admit to being “always on”
- 28 per cent take Saturdays off but tend to work on Sundays
- 58 per cent check email/voicemail before going to bed at night
- 37 per cent confess to doing work while attending a social or family engagement
- 27 per cent have responded to email during dinner

Mobile devices – it’s personal

- 89 per cent agreed the easier the technology, the more likely they are to use it
- 52 per cent feel they can afford innovative, high-end communications technologies
- 24 per cent say that they are defined by the tech devices they use