世論 What Japan Thinks

The following survey from Macromill was very superficially summarised in the press, focusing on just a single question when a lot more interesting data was available regarding mobile phone use of mothers bringing up children.

Demographics

Over the 5th and 6th of November 2009 500 married mothers from the Macromill monitor group completed a private mobile phone-based questionnaire. All the sample was female, of course, and 25.0% were between 20 and 24, 25.0% between 25 and 29, 25.0% between 30 and 34, and 25.0% between 35 and 39 years old.

Some of the figures are very surprising to me (mainly because I’m not a young mother) such as just over half the youngest age group writing a Mommy blog and over a quarter shopping or bidding in auctions at least once a week, although I did expect the number of emails exchanged to be higher!

Research results

Q1: What do you use your mobile phone for? (Sample size=500, multiple answer)

Email	98.8%
Talk	92.2%
Taking photographs	85.2%
Shopping, auctions (to SQs)	66.8%
General internet browsing	65.4%
Looking at recipies	60.8%
Community sites, SNS viewing, writing to	53.6%
Listening to music	28.8%
Watching one seg television	21.8%
Osaifu Keitai electronic wallet	11.4%
Managing the household budget	2.4%
Other	6.0%

Q1SQ1: About how often do you do net shopping, auction? (Sample size=334)

Almost every day	6.9%
One to four times a week	21.6%
Once a month	36.5%
Once every three months	18.9%
Once every six months	10.2%
Once a year	3.3%
Less than that	2.7%

Q1SQ2: What do you buy, bid for when net shopping, auction? (Sample size=334, multiple answer)

Adult clothes	65.0%
Child clothes	54.8%
Bag, shoes, accessories	43.4%
Cosmetics	38.3%
Food, ingredients	26.9%
Books	18.0%
CD, DVD	16.8%
Toys, picture books	16.2%
Household electrical items	8.4%
Tickets	8.1%
Nappies, baby milk, baby food	4.8%
Travel	4.5%
Other	7.8%

Q2: How do you use your mobile phone for child-rearing, housework? (Sample size=500, multiple answer)

Looking up bento lunch box, other recipies	65.8%
Searching for information on child injuries, illnesses, hospitals for treatment	52.0%
Searching for places to go with children	37.2%
Obtaining information on sales, discount coupons, etc	36.6%
Writing a Mommy blog	27.4%
Discussing problems, worries on SNS, bulletin board, etc	26.0%
Shopping for food	7.6%
Publishing bento lunch box, other recipies	4.6%
Updating the household budget	3.4%
Other	1.0%
Nothing in particular	6.8%

Just over half of the mothers between 20 and 24 years old were writing their own cellphone Mommy blog!

Q3: Since getting married and having a baby, has your way of using your mobile phone changed? (Sample size=500)

Yes	77%
No	23%

Q4: About how many mobile phone emails do you send and receive per day? (Sample size=500)

Less than one a day	1.4%
One to four a day	19.8%
Five to nine a day	22.3%
Ten to nineteen a day	25.7%
Twenty to twenty-nine a day	10.3%
Thirty or more a day	20.4%

Q5: Who do you most often exchange email with? (Sample size=500)

Husband	36%
Mother	8%
Fellow mothers of child’s friends	26%
Other friends	16%
Workplace boss, colleagues	3%
Other	11%

Q6: Is your mobile phone bill larger than your husband’s? (Sample size=500)

Yes	45%
No	55%

Q7: Have you ever secretly peeked at your husband’s mobile phone? (Sample size=500)

Yes (to SQ)	61%
No	39%

Q7SQ: What was the main reason you peeked at your husband’s mobile phone? (Sample size=306)

To check whether he was having an affair	35%
Just curious	34%
To check whether he was hiding anything	28%
Other	3%