CDC: 17.5 percent of Americans rely solely on wireless phones
“… the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics has been tracking wireless use in semiannual surveys. The figures from the first half of 2008 are in, and they show 17.5 percent, or more than one in six, U.S. households have cut the cord, up from 13.6 percent a year earlier.” [via Good Morning Silicon Valley]
[snip]
The trend is strongest where you’d expect — among unrelated roommates, renters, young adults, and those living close to the poverty line (a growing demographic thanks to the economic crisis).
The interesting thing about a tech trend study done by a health agency is that it comes with bonus health information. Wireless adults, for instance, did twice as much binge drinking as their landline peers. On the other hand, the unwired were more likely to report that their health status was excellent or very good, more likely to engage in regular leisure-time physical activity, and less likely to have ever been diagnosed with diabetes. Which is good because they were also twice as likely to be without health insurance.