Mobile health continues to climb in popularity, especially among smartphone owners. Now that 85% of U.S. adults own a cell phone -- and half (53%) of those are smartphone owners -- information is available wherever and whenever people need it. According to a new survey conducted in August?September 2012, 31% of cell phone owners say they use their phone to look for health or medical information online. That is up from 17% of cell phone owners in September 2010.
Throughout this report we will refer to cell phone owners (85% of adults) and the smaller sub?group of smartphone owners (45% of adults). Smartphone owners lead this activity: 52% have used their phone to search for health information, compared with 6% of other cell phone owners.
Younger adults, minorities, and those in particular need of health information lead the way. Among all cell phone owners, some demographic groups are more likely than others to look for health information on their phones: Latinos, African Americans, those between the ages of 18 and 49, and college graduates.
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- Copyright 2012 Pew Internet &, American Life Project.
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