Study: Talking Over Phone No Longer Popular Way to Chat

According to a new study, people say they are more likely to reach out to their friends and family via text messages or e-mail than a voice phone call from a mobile or landline phone, according to the study conducted in March by Nokia.

Twenty-one percent of survey respondents said they preferred to send an SMS text message to contact someone; e-mail was the second preference, at about 18 percent. Meanwhile, 17 percent of respondents said they prefer a voice call from their mobile phone.

Messaging services like WhatsApp, Skype, Twitter, and instant messengers were all found to be more favored by survey respondents than making a voice call from a landline.

Also when given the choice of sending a message to someone over Facebook or talking face-to-face, 10 percent said Facebook was the best way to communicate, while 8 percent said face-to-face was preferred, according to the study.

Nokia did not release how many people were surveyed in its study.

Source: “Text and E-mail More Popular for Communication Than Mobile Phone Calls: Nokia,” AFP Relax (March 28, 2012)