The cell
phone is a
social
medium developing into a multi-media digital platform that provides,
obtains,
and shares personal and social information. Thus digital divide,
social
support, and privacy issues familiar to studies of the Internet are
here
applied to understanding why people may be more or less interested in
new text
and video cell phone services. The first part of this study develops a
basic
model of demographic, social, and prior technology use influences on
interest
in three categories of cell phone text and video services derived from
uses and
gratifications studies of traditional and new media—surveillance,
entertainment, and instrumental. Hypotheses from this model were tested
using
data from an April 2007 US national random-digit-dialing telephone
survey. The by-now familiar digital divide demographics had both
indirect
and direct influences on assessments of these sets of services, though
primarily for entertainment services (which were also negatively
influenced by
concerns about privacy threats). Surveillance services—here,
providing
location of family, friends and self to each other—were more positively
assessed when family and friends lived closer, and with less prior
communication technology use. Instrumental services—such as
directions
when lost and health emergency information—were more positively
assessed by
those with greater social support and a stronger belief in privacy
rights. Thus, while overall only the entertainment services were
even
moderately explained, there were understandable differences in
influences among
the three sets of services, with demographic factors predominating.