People Use Their Cellphones in Public for a Variety of Purposes % of cellphone owners who do these things in public with their phones
Explicitly anti-social behavior while in public is considerably less common. Some 23% of cellphone owners say that when they are in public spaces they use their phone to avoid interacting with others who are nearby at least on occasion. Of course, those around the cellphone user may still experience various uses of cellphones as anti-social, even if that was not the intention of the user.
People Use Their Cellphones in Public for a Variety of Purposes  | % of cellphone owners who do these things in public with their phones  | Freq uently  | Occasiona lly  | Rarely  | Never  | Look uu information abo ut where you  | 22  | 33%  | 32  | 13  | are going or how to get there  | To coordinate getting together with  | 21  | 29  | 41  | 9  | others  | To catch up with fa mily and friends  | 29  | 38  | 20  | 12  | To catch up on other tasks you need  | 22  | 18  | 34  | 25  | to accomplish  | For no pa rticular reason, just for  | 27  | 18  | 32  | 23  | something to do  | Get information or detailsabout  | 36  | 12  | 24  | 27  | people you are planning to see  | Avoid intera cting with others who are  | 46  | 16  | 31  | snear you  | Source: Pew Research CenterAmerican Trends Panel survey, May30-June 30. 2014 N=3.042 cell users  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 