Mobile Messaging Addiction

Despite warnings of turmoil throughout the global economy, mobile messaging growth shows no signs of slowing down according to a new forecast [1] issued by market analysis firm ABI Research, which anticipates worldwide mobile messaging services revenues will increase from $151 billion in 2008 to more than $212 billion by 2013. So at the risk of looking a gift horse in the mouth, a question about mobile messaging behaviors still must be asked, and that question is: What the hell is wrong with people? An overwhelming percentage of mobile messaging users admit they're so addicted to their CrackBerries that they engage in inappropriate or even dangerous behavior to access and respond to email during off hours according to a recent consumer study [2] conducted by Osterman Research and commissioned by software firm Neverfail.

The Osterman study found that 94 percent of respondents use their phones to send email or text messages during worknights or on weekends, and nearly 96 percent never leave their phones at home, even to go on vacation. Mobile email addiction is so rampant that 79 percent of respondents have sent messages from their phones while in the bathroom--another 71 percent admitted to texting behind the wheel of a moving automobile, and 41 percent said they've texted on commercial flights while the plane was in mid-air. Most appalling, 11 percent of respondents said they've sent mobile email while engaged in, um, "intimate behavior." It's official: We are very close to the end of civilization.