The first study in Australia to use nationally representative data on how mobile phones have become integrated into everyday lives has released its final report. The study, The Impact of the Mobile Phone on Work/Life Balance, is a collaboration between AMTA and the Australian Research Council.

The three-year project has been undertaken by leading social researchers from the Australian National University, the University of New England and the University of New South Wales.

The survey’s final report finds that only 12 per cent of the 13,978 calls made on mobile phones were work-related. Conversely, the mobile phone is used overwhelmingly for contacting family (49 per cent) and friends (26 per cent). The remainder of calls are to service providers or to pick up messages from voicemail (less than 15 per cent).

Among the 49 per cent of calls to family members, for both men and women, the highest proportion are calls to one’s spouse (18 per cent). Women are disproportionately likely to phone their children (13 per cent), parents (11 per cent) and extended family (12 per cent).

“On the other hand, in general, men are almost twice as likely to use the mobile for work-related calls and this holds true even when employment is taken into account. Employed me devote 25 per cent of their calls for work-related purposes while for employed women it is 14 per cent,” says the report.

Family (47 per cent) and friends (43 per cent) are by far the most common recipients of text messages. This finding is overwhelmingly true for both males and females. Within families, texting between spouses (19 per cent) constitutes the highest volume of text messages and those who are employed are more likely to text their spouses.

About 26 per cent of people send four or more text messages on workdays; it increases to one in three people on non-work days.

View the full study here.