One Third of 18-24 Year Olds Don't Have Land Lines
Telephones have been around since at least 1876 and perhaps even 1,000 years before that but it wasn't until the 1990's that the telephone became a portable device. Cordless and cellular phones became popular and as the costs for cellular phones dropped, the need for a regular, land line also decreased.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control released a study showing that we may have reached a tipping point. For the first time in history, the number of households which have only cellular / mobile phones was greater than the number of households which have only land lines. According to the study, some 20 percent of U.S. homes only have mobile phones while only 17 percent only have land lines. That ratio has changed dramatically. As recently as 2003 the number of mobile-only homes stood at just three percent while 43 percent only had landlines.
So where is this growth in mobile-only phones coming from? As you probably guessed, Gen Y. The study broke young adults into two age groups. In the first group, those between the ages of 18 and 24 years old, 33 percent reported living in households with only mobile phones. In the second group, those between the ages of 25 and 29, a whopping 40 percent reported living in households with only mobile phones.
Interestingly, the percentages of those living in homes with only mobile phones wasn't just determined by age. Other groups who are likely to live in homes without landlines include the poor, renters, Hispanics, southerners, midwesterners, and those living with unrelated adults such as roommates or unmarried couples.
Approximately 60 percent of homes have both landlines and mobile phones and two percent have no phones at all.
Leave a comment