A significant 62% of Americans are part of a wireless, mobile population that participates in digital activities away from home or work. That figure grows with youth, showing an ever-widening gap between in-school technology use and the rest of life.

A survey and report from the Pew Internet Project shows that young adults (those between the ages of 18 and 29) are most likely, on a typical day, to use their cell phone or PDA to access a non-voice data application; 73% with wireless handheld devices do so. This compares to the average of 42% of the general, device-owning population.

Though African Americans and Latinos lagged in "desktop" online access in the late 1990s and early part of the decade, the report shows a very different pattern for wireless access on the go. Some 56% of English-speaking Hispanics with a wireless handheld device use a non-voice data or information application on the average day, and 50% of African Americans with wireless handhelds do so. African Americans and English-speaking Hispanics are more likely than white Americans to use cell phones or PDAs for non-voice data applications.

Overall, 75% of all American adults say they own cell phones. Here's how the data breaks out when looking at non-voice data activities people access from their cell phones or personal digital assistants (PDA), with percentage represented as a share of those with cell phones or PDAs.

• Send or receive text messages: 58% have done this at some point, with 31% saying they do this on a typical day.
• Take a picture: 58% have taken a picture with their device; 15% say they do this on the typical day.
• Play a game: 27% have played a game on their handheld device, with 8% saying they do this on a typical day.
• Send of receive email: 19% have done this, with 8% saying they do this on a typical day.
• Access the internet for news or other information: 19% have used their handheld device for such information access, with 7% saying they do this on the average day.
• Record a video: 18% have done this with their handheld device, with 3% say they shoot a video on their cell phone on the typical day.
• Play music: 17% do this with their cell or PDA, 7% on the typical day.
• Send or receive instant messages: 17% have used their device for IM-ing, and 6% saying they do this on the average day.
• Get maps or directions: 14% say they have gotten maps or directions with their device; 3% do this on the typical day.
• 10% have watched a video on their handheld device, with 3% saying they do this on the average day.
  
  

The survey also shows that traditional email, despite predictions of its demise, is alive and well. Though mobile device owners use those tools for personal communications, business communications rely on email.

Source: Pew Press Release; full report, Mobile Access to Data and Information