Men just love their cellphones

NEW DELHI: Cellphone or mating prop cum status symbol? According to a new survey, men''s relationship with their mobiles is vastly different from women''s: men just love their gadgets and play with them frequently.
Whether it''s sending SMSs, playing games, or downloading stuff, Indian men love to fiddle with their mobiles (33 per cent) as compared to women (21 per cent), says the Siemens Mobile Lifestyle Survey 2004.It was conducted in nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Men also tend to talk louder on their mobiles in public than women, the survey found out.
These findings are not dissimilar to a University of Liverpool study which observed patrons at an upmarket pub: while women kept their phones in their purses and took them out only when needed, men would take them out of their jackets/briefcases as soon as they sat down and place them on the bar counter or table for all to see; they fiddled with them often, checking to be sure the battery was charged.
What''s it with men and their mobiles? "Men use their mobile phones as peacocks use their feathers and male bullfrogs use their croaks: to advertise to females their worth, status and desirability," said researchers in the journal Human Nature, which published the pub study.
"Technology subserves primal impulses, specifically the impulse to strut."
It also suggests that the evolution of technology is driven, not merely by scientific innovations or the demand for heightened worker productivity, but by the social need of people to find novel ornaments and status symbols that distinguish them from the pack.
"There''s a gender difference in the way they''re displayed and used. To women, a phone is just a phone, while men fingered theirs so often, you''d have thought it was, well, a cigar," says the pub study.
But that''s where the difference ends. For both sexes, mobiles are an indispensable part of their lives. In fact, 63 per cent Indians said, according to the Siemens survey, that they can''t go out without their cell phones — and that they would go back home to get them.
While 50 per cent Indians agreed that today''s society is less courteous and considerate because of the increasing use of mobile phones, 70 per cent said their mobiles were always by their side and that they picked them up irrespective of where they were or what they were doing.
While a majority (53 per cent) said they would not allow their partners to read SMSs received by them, almost 55 per cent said if their loved ones received an SMS, they would ask who it was from.
So if you can''t live without your mobile, if you''re constantly checking it for an SMS or a call, and if you''re taking it to the loo too — relax. You''re not alone.