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Infographic

How Cell Phones Shape the Lives of College Students [Infographic]

by Eric Limer | 4:10 pm, October 31st, 2011

Cell phones have changed college life for sure. I mean, back in the day, people used to actually have hardwired phones in their dorms and stuff. Right? I don’t even know. I’m not that old. In any event, there’s no arguing that among people who are using their phones to the fullest extent possible, college kids are right up there. But what exactly are the using them for? This infographic from HackCollege jumps right into that.

As it turns out, a whopping 94% of college students are texting everyday, 97% of those with smartphones are using them for social networking and 88% regularly text in class. Of course, there are some exceptions to these rules. The one I find the most confusing is that apparently only 75% of college students sleep with their phones next to them. How is that not 100%? Where else would you keep a phone at night? Does anyone actually still use dedicated alarm clocks? I guess so, but I find that pretty hard to believe.

(HackCollege via Mashable)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/wdarling Wendy Darling

    I was in college ’93-’97 – before cell phones and back when the Internet, including email and the web, was brand new. I was at UMass Amherst. In place of cell phones, we actually did pretty well with a land-line-based phone system with -awesome- voicemail. With our voicemail, we could forward messages, send direct message, etc. and not only from our rooms but any phone on campus, including “emergency” phones. I remember checking my voicemail from all over campus. I also was able to register for classes by phone, pretty much just like students due now via the web. So the phone system was a lot like email / texting back in the day. Now as far as the web, we had email and the web (I designed my first site in about ’95) but it was only really a sliver of us using it. We had Internet in our dorm rooms via TAUs (terminal access units, sort of like LAN access) that the university gave students for free with a minimum deposit. During my senior year I was at another school (UGA) on exchange and we had a computer lab in the dorm, which was very full since at the time only a small percentage of students, like myself, had personal computers at school.

    I have since worked at two universities (Georgia Tech and Emory) and have seen student communications evolve greatly in that time. What’s quite notable is the gap between students and those who are trying to communicate with them, like professors, departments, university administration, college news, and alumni association once they have graduated. Even someone like me, who specializes in web communications, social media, etc., and is under 40 is not thinking about communications the same way as a 20 yr. old. I barely ever text because my smartphone’s plan charges 20 cents a text and I barely know anyone else who texts. I and colleagues use email a lot on our phones, but I don’t even see it included in this infographic as a communications/social mechanism. Email is dead to college students, I’m told. I wonder what college students do when they are plugged into environments with older workers who are email-centric or who don’t use FB to communicate what they are doing.

    Sorry for the ramble and thanks for the infographic!


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