Dear Commons Community,

Michael Hanley, a professor of advertising and director of Ball State’s Institute for Mobile Media Research, has conducted a series of surveys of the mobile technology buying habits of the students at his university.  His preliminary findings indicate that the students prefer smartphones and laptops over tablet computers.  As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

“Tablets are for entertainment purposes, not for writing papers and doing class projects—key components of higher education,” Mr. Hanley said in a news release about the study. “After graduation and getting a job, you can afford to splurge on entertainment.”

About 1,800 students volunteered to participate in six online surveys from February 2009 to February of this year. In 2014, 89 percent reported owning a smartphone, while only 29 percent owned a tablet. That number had dropped from 31 percent in 2013. Mr. Hanley called that trend “a slight but directional decline.” It indicates that “tablet use by students has not increased as the industry hoped it would, but has, instead, stalled and even begun a small decline,” he said.

Buying a tablet was also not a high priority for most students, according to Mr. Hanley’s research. A little more than 8 percent said they planned to buy one in 2014.”

These findings are interesting and make sense.  Smartphones are simple and less expensive for keeping one connected while laptops  are much more convenient for writing papers and doing class assignments.

Tony