November 13, 2007

InsightExpress Research Reveals Gen Y-ers Use Mobile Phones As A Social Crutch
Bad Date? Your Mobile Phone to the Rescue.

STAMFORD, CT - November 13, 2007 - According to InsightExpress, a leading provider of digital marketing research, a significant percentage of younger adults use their mobile phones to avoid uncomfortable or unwanted social interactions, and even fight boredom. The company announced today that recent research designed to better understand consumer behavior indicates the mobile phone has become a social crutch of sorts, especially among Generation Y (18-24 year olds).

Gen Y-ers use their mobile phones for approximately three quarters (76 percent) of all personal calls. Not surprisingly, this age group also engages in other mobile activities like texting, surfing the Web and gaming. Now, this generation has found that the devices come in handy when they want to do anything but communicate.

Most mobile phone users are well aware of gaffes like loud talking and conversing in places like movie theaters and restaurants. Yet, Gen Y is apparently rewriting the definition of mobile manners. A healthy 38 percent of Gen Y-ers have pretended to talk on their mobile phone with nobody on the other end. Furthermore, 34 percent have arranged to have another person call their mobile device in order to "rescue" them from an unpleasant social situation.

Mobile phones also feed into the need for instant gratification, a characteristic that has been associated with Generation Y. Over half (56 percent) of Gen Y-ers have spent time looking for new things to do with their mobile phone while they were bored. But sometimes such easy access to friends and family can lead to distress for this age group; 47 percent of Gen Y-ers have sent a text message they regretted.

"The mobile phone has apparently become like a panic button, used for 'rescue missions' in awkward social situations," said Joy Liuzzo, Director of Mobile Research at InsightExpress. "It's clear that, as an extension of self, these omnipresent devices play a much broader role in the lives of young people, especially when it comes to interpersonal relationships, than simply voice or text communication."

About The Research
InsightExpress fielded an online survey to 2000 mobile device owners age 18+ in October 2007. The survey data has a margin of error of 3 percent, assuming a 95 percent confidence interval.

About InsightExpress
InsightExpress is a leading provider of high-quality, digital marketing research and plays a preeminent role in the measurement of advertising effectiveness across online, mobile and other media. Through its patented technologies, proprietary solutions, world-class expertise and time-tested research principles, InsightExpress transforms the way advertisers, agencies, publishers and researchers optimize their marketing activities. InsightExpress is headquartered in Stamford, CT, with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.insightexpress.com or call 203-406-3233.