Users would miss the TV more than the Internet, report shows
If you had to give up one of your digital activities, what would you miss the most? Would you miss watching videos or DVDs? Would you miss playing console or computer games? Or would you miss listening to the radio or using your mobile phone?
But which activity would you miss the most? The Internet or the TV?
One of the questions asked by Ofcom, in its annual report was: 'Which media activity would you miss the most'?
Overall, 44 per cent would miss the TV and 17 per cent would miss the Internet (up from 8 per cent in 2005). 12 per cent overall would miss their mobile phone and 10 per cent would miss listening to the radio
For the over 55 age group the answers differ. In this group, 49 per cent say that they would most miss the TV. Only 10 per cent would most miss the Internet and 1 per cent would miss their mobile phones.
For young adults aged between 16 and 24 things change again. 23 per cent say that they would most miss the TV and 26 per cent would miss the Internet. However 28 per cent would miss their mobile phone the most.
Mobile addiction
It is no great surprise that teenagers would miss their mobile phones the most.98 per cent of younger adults are much more likely to have a mobile phone than have a fixed line. 79 per cent will use their mobiles to send and receive calls instead of using a fixed land line and 32 per cent will use the mobile device to go online and browse the Internet.
The Pew report shows that teens prefer texting over phone calls and e-mail. In 2010 on average, 5 text messages were sent for every person in the UK -- 129 billion text messages in total for the year.
Teens would certainly miss sending text messages if they did not have their mobiles.
Although young adults and teenagers use SMS messaging in place of mobile voice calls, we are using social messaging much more than traditional mobile services. But it is losing revenue for the Telco's.
Ovum's report on the Casualties of social messaging indicates that services used to access social media sites such as Facebook, games and apps cost telecoms operators $13.9 billion in lost revenue in 2011.
The report expects the decline to continue as the popularity of messaging apps grow. Services such as BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) and other apps such as Skype for mobiles will further eat into Telco's revenue streams.
Mobile operators could consider mobile broadband as an alternative source of revenue according to Neha Dharia, consumer analyst at Ovum and author of the report. Dharia said that 'Social messaging has disrupted traditional services and operators'.
From voice to text, to MMS, to data, mobile operators have continually looked at ways to add to their revenue stream by adding new services to their contract.
But would we miss it if it was not there -- or would we go back to our TV and surf channels instead?