Main form of communication
Q. What is the main way you communicate with friends and family?
Total |
|
Men |
Women |
|
Aged 18-34 |
Aged 35-54 |
Aged 55+ |
|
Mobile phone |
33% |
39% |
28% |
34% |
37% |
26% |
||
Text messages |
21% |
18% |
24% |
37% |
17% |
9% |
||
Landline phone |
20% |
18% |
21% |
3% |
20% |
39% |
||
10% |
11% |
9% |
5% |
9% |
18% |
|||
9% |
6% |
11% |
12% |
10% |
4% |
|||
Letter |
* |
– |
* |
– |
* |
* |
||
* |
* |
– |
* |
– |
– |
|||
Other |
4% |
5% |
4% |
5% |
5% |
3% |
||
Not sure |
2% |
2% |
2% |
3% |
2% |
1% |
33% mainly use mobile phone to communicate with friends and family, 21% mainly use text messages and 20% mainly use landlines.
Women are more likely than men to use text messages (24% to 18%) and Facebook (11% to 6%) while men are more likely to use mobiles (39% to 28%).
By age groups – those aged under 35 are most likely to use text messages (37%) and mobiles (34%), those aged 35-54 are most likely to use mobiles (37%) and those aged 55+ most likely to use landlines (39%).
Changes in communication
Q. Compared with two years ago, has your use of the following means of communication increased or decreased?
Total increase |
Total decrease |
|
Increase a lot |
Increase a little |
Stayed much the same |
Decrease a little |
Decrease a lot |
Not sure |
Don’t use |
|
Mobile phone |
41% |
8% |
16% |
25% |
46% |
5% |
3% |
1% |
4% |
|
Text message |
41% |
10% |
18% |
23% |
42% |
6% |
4% |
1% |
6% |
|
34% |
14% |
10% |
24% |
50% |
10% |
4% |
1% |
1% |
||
30% |
11% |
12% |
18% |
32% |
6% |
5% |
1% |
26% |
||
7% |
7% |
2% |
5% |
16% |
3% |
4% |
2% |
68% |
||
Landline phone |
8% |
42% |
1% |
7% |
40% |
17% |
25% |
1% |
10% |
|
Letter |
3% |
41% |
1% |
2% |
25% |
9% |
32% |
1% |
29% |
41% say they have increased their usage of mobile phones and text messages. 34% have increased usage of email and 30% increased usage of Facebook.
42% say they have decreased use of the landline and 41% have decreased usage of letters.
Opinion of NBN
Q. From what you’ve heard, do you favour or oppose the planned national broadband network (NBN)?
27 Sep 2010 | 14 Feb 2011 | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
Total favour | 56% | 48% | 65% | 30% | 71% |
Total oppose | 18% | 31% | 12% | 55% | 13% |
Strongly favour | 27% | 19% | 30% | 8% | 38% |
Favour | 29% | 29% | 35% | 22% | 33% |
Oppose | 12% | 16% | 8% | 26% | 8% |
Strongly oppose | 6% | 15% | 4% | 29% | 5% |
Don’t know | 26% | 22% | 22% | 15% | 15% |
48% favour the planned national broadband network and 31% oppose. This represents a significant drop in support for the NBN since this question was asked in September last year.
By age, under 35’s favour the NBN by 46%/23% but those aged 55+ are split 42%/42%.

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