Abstract
With the new technology and the popularization of mobile phone. the functions and designs of mobile phone have been varied rapidly. However. based on the user's level of familiarity on mobile phone function and knowledge of information technology. the using behaviors of mobile phone. especially between the young users who are well acquainted with the latest function and technology and the over middle-aged users who are relatively not. would be quite different. A survey was conducted to investigate the various using behaviors of mobile phone in different age groups. The total number of six hundred and sixty-seven people from age seventeen to sixty participated in this study. The participants were divided into young group (age between 17 to 29) and the over middle-aged group (age between 40 to 60) to compare the difference group considered design. price. and function of the mobile phone as three important factors. on the other hand. the over middle-aged group considered quality of communication. price and ease of use as three important factors. All the respondents of the young group know how to use the text messaging function. however for the over middle-aged group. 40% of the respondents knows how to use the text messaging function. The over middle-aged group seemed mainly use the mobile phone for voice communication. however the young group had a tendency to communicate each other with short text message rather than through voice conversation. Twenty percentage of young group responded that they had an experience of pain or discomfort at the thumb. the thenar eminence area. or carpus area during pushing the mobile phone keypad. The excessive frequent use of keypad may cause the risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI). The results of this study could provide important information to understand the way of using mobile phone in different age groups. and also could be used to design and market the mobile phone.
