Are You a Mobile Phone Addict?

Seven out of 10 Korean mobile phone users were found to feel insecure when they leave their handsets behind at home or their batteries are close to running out.

This finding was released by Marketing Insight Inc. (F-Inside), a marketing research institute, on July 19 based on a recent e-mail survey of 10,779 mobile phone users from 14 to 59 years old.

According to the results, 68.1 percent and 67.9 percent of respondents, respectively, answered they felt insecure and nervous when their cell phone batteries were running short or they had left their cell phones at home.

In addition, many of those surveyed responded positively to questions such as: “Frequently check if there are any calls” (63.2 percent), “Don’t turn off cell phones despite disturbance or laziness to take calls” (56.0 percent), and “Text back even during work” (47.5 percent).

Of seven questions, F-inside classified the respondents who replied “yes” to six or more questions as the “addictive top” group. Those who said “yes” to three to five questions were grouped in the middle, and zero to two as the bottom.

As a result, the “top” bracket accounted for 23.7 percent, and women (26.2 percent) tended to be more addicted than their male counterparts (21.8 percent). Also, people in their teens (31.9%) and 20s (27.6%) were found to be most addicted to mobile phones.

Sang-Hoon Kim sanhkim@donga.com