Is there a gender difference in mobile phone usage

The introduction and diffusion of a new communication medium has tended to affect media usage patterns and thus people's lifestyles. While the mobile phone has been popularly accepted and has become incorporated into people's everyday lives, our media usage patterns and lifestyles have been changed accordingly. The extent and degree of this change have become one of the major concerns of communication scholars. This research attempts to look at the degree to which the gender difference in the actual mobile phone usage and its social meanings for the users can be found when the mobile phone has been widely incorporated into men and women's everyday lives. For this examination, this research conducted a survey of 456 mobile phone users in the Seoul metropolitan area. This research has found several statistically significant differences between men and women in different age groups. However, these results simply don't back up the viewpoint that women's mobile phone usage is much different from men's, reflecting their gendered social roles, their femininity, and their stereotypical passivity in utilizing new media. Although there are several statistically significant differences between men and women in their making social meaning from mobile phone usage which reflect women's traditional interests in family relations and self-presentation, the gender-based difference cannot be generalized. The gender difference in valuing the multi-media functions of the mobile phone and its employment for social gatherings and instrumentality is not statistically significant enough. Moreover, women are more active than men in their adoptability and willingness to adopt the multi-media functions of the mobile phone. With mobile phones, women are expanding their social and cultural experiences and their capability of new media usage.