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Poll: The mobile phone as messenger of love

- Mobile communication facilitates relationships
- Women, youngsters and partners living in different homes use mobile phones the most

Mobile phones have conquered the love lives of Austrians: Three fourths no longer want to dispense with ?mobile relationship care?. This is not surprising as the mobile ranks first when it comes to dating. This is illustrated by a study commissioned by ONE carried out by the opinion research institute Integral on the use of mobile phones in relationships. Psychological causes of ?mobile fever? are illustrated by psychoanalyst Walter Hoffmann with his thesis of the electronic umbilical cord.

"The mobile phone is the modern Cupid?s dart : It is present whenever people date,", comments ONE Managing Director Jørgen Bang-Jensen the results. "Next to face-to-face conversations, mobile phones are by far the most important means of communication in relationships. However, people prefer to argue face to face." In fact, their relationship would change for 76 percent of Austrian mobile users if they did not have a handset: They would talk to each other less often and would be less flexible. Psychoanalyst Walter Hoffmann considers mobile phones "an electronic umbilical cord" offering protection against being lonely and fears of separation: "Ever since mobile phones have been existing, we no longer need to feel separated. In our relationships we can stay online around the clock. Even if we do not call, knowing that we can get in touch anytime is sufficient."

Number 1 when it comes to love

As ?messenger of love? the mobile outshines everything: For the majority of interviewees keeping in touch with their partner is indispensable, while most could do without the fixed line or e-mail. Moreover, mobile communication facilitates partner contact: 66% consider owning a mobile primarily an advantage, about one fourth even believe it to promote the stability of their relationship: Organising one?s everyday life better and more spontaneously, the mobile facilitates being close ?in between? and is inexpensive. Lovers with mobile phones use them for contact in between (97 %) and for dates (80 %) , followed by longer conversations (69 %), "imparting what one does" (62 %) and endearments (51 %). Partners are more reluctant when it comes to arguing over the phone (36 %). Primarily women and elderly mobile users consider the fact that one can be checked on by the partner anytime as one of the disadvantages of mobile phones in relationships. Only seven percent of those polled - primarily men and youngsters - suspect that mobile phones are frequently used against the partner: For instance to contact a secret lover, to pretend to be somewhere else or so that one is not available.

Mobile users with heart: young, female, in different homes

Most active and frequent users of mobile phones in relationships are women, youngsters and couples living in separate homes. ONE users rank top, followed by max.- and A1 users. ?This is linked to the structure of our customer base?, Bang-Jensen is content, ?because ONE has many young customers for whom mobile phones play an important part in their relationships.? This is also illustrated by the study: For 37 percent of ONE users the mobile plays an important part in the relationship, in case of A1 users for 32 percent and in case of max.mobil. users for 30 percent. Bang-Jensen: ??With offers such as the love horoscope or ONE Filter, we offer applications conducive to relationships for this target group in particular.?

Ranking of means of communication

The mobile is considered the easiest, most spontaneous and most direct means of communication as well as an agreeable way of spontaneously saying something nice to one?s partner. SMS and e-Mail are popular, but not indispensable. SMS messages are most important when it comes to exchanging nice and brief messages with partners or funny messages with friends. E-Mail is primarily used for business or organisational purposes rather for a spontaneous, emotional exchange. The fixed line and letters are considered old fashioned, expensive and impractical. Moreover, they do not facilitate independence because they are linked to a particular location. However, the fixed line is important primarily for keeping in touch with relatives.

SMS: Men want quantity, women quality

Lovers use SMS the most to tell their partners ?that I love him/her?, so that the other one is happy ?to read something written by me? or because he/she could not be contacted. Walter Hoffmann confirms the role of SMS: ?The Short Message symbolises proximity and confidentiality and is very fast. Since one is not face to face with the interlocutor, one can sometimes also express things in a more personal manner.? Men write more SMS, but for women they are more important, and they use them more deliberately in their relationships. Expressing feelings in writing agrees with them, whereas men value the expediency of this means of communication. It is also practical and relatively inexpensive for longer distances.

Intimacy and shame

In Austria exhibitionism and shame are in a normal range: About 50% of those mobile users in relationships polled said they felt rather uncomfortable when receiving a call by their partner in public. The other 50% did not mind at all. They also conduct longer and confidential conversations in public. Women do not mind that much talking to their partners in public. The results of this study are in line with depth psychological findings: The mobile phone shifts intimacy and shame. ?On the one hand we caress each other in public, on the other hand we can no longer hide?, says Walter Hoffmann.

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