Malaysians interact more through screens than face-to-face

Have gadgets taken over from physical interaction?
A survey last month by OMD Malaysia and digital research agency Pulse Group showed that over half of Malaysians surveyed spend more time looking at screens than at the faces of loved ones, and 57% talk over screens rather than face-to-face.

The online survey of 304 people from throughout the country also showed that an average four-member urban household has at least 10 different screens — four mobile phones, three computers, two television sets, one MP3 player and an iPad or GPS navigator.

“It is not uncommon to see people using their mobile devices all the time these days; couples playing on their individual phones while eating out; parents pacifying their kids with iPad or gaming devices at the dining table. It has come to a point where we do not consume media but rather, the media consumes us,” Omnicom Media Group managing director Andreas Vogiatzakis said in a press release about the results.

This survey is the fourth in OMD’s “Tomorrow Now” thought leadership series.

Jason Lo, CEO of Tune Talk, agrees with Vogiatzakis. Lo, a musician who has released three albums and is currently working on his fourth, describes a scene which prompted him to write one of his biggest hits, Operator, the Line is Dead.

“There was this family who was out having lunch. The father was on his mobile, the mother was texting someone, the daughter was BlackBerrying and the son was on his Gameboy. Throughout the meal they just sat there with their devices, not saying a word to each other. I went back and wrote Operator, the Line is Dead, which in part reflects a breakdown in communication.”

The survey also showed that over four in 10 (43%) check on their mobile phone every 30 minutes or more frequently. For almost half the respondents (47%), the mobile phone is the first and last-seen device of the day, and 15% would even get up from sleep to check on an incoming SMS or notification, showing how attached Malaysians are to their phones.

Amanie Business Solutions Sdn Bhd consultant Baiza Bain, who carries three devices, says he knows people who would rather die than part with their BlackBerry.

“My colleagues BBM each other instead of talking now. You could say that BBM is the new voice of the tech generation. My favourite device, by the way, is the iPhone,” he said.

Interestingly, almost six in 10 (58%) of the respondents claimed to have better family relationships as a result of such devices.

Bob Chua, CEO of Pulse Group plc, isn’t so sure. “Relationships could suffer. This has prompted us to look into the matter, trying to understand the relationship that we have developed with the devices and to gauge the impact they have on our relationships,” he said.

Alvin Ung, the author of Barefoot Leadership, is a great advocate of face-to-face interaction. “I carry a dumb phone. I can use it only for conversations, SMSes and as a torch light. People have been telling me to tweet or Facebook. And about how I’ve got to get an iPhone. I see where they are coming from. But if I do this, I need to learn how to carve out boundaries.

“All important conversations must be conducted face-to-face (or at least, via voice). In neuroscience and psychology, lots of research is being done on ‘signalling’, that is, how bodies and faces send messages all the time. When we do this well, we create meaningful and authentic conversations,” said Ung.

Ahmad Rizan Ibrahim, CEO of Dataprep Holdings Bhd, is not concerned about gadgets taking the place of human interaction. “Smart devices are just enablers. They will not replace human interactions. But they do, in fact, enhance interactions. You can share pictures on Facebook or Flickr, videos on YouTube, put your updates on Twitter or Facebook. Through Facebook, you can actually get in touch with long-lost friends or family members. And through all this, you are being updated on a real-time basis if situations should arise,” he said.

This article appeared on the Media & Advertising page, The Edge Financial Daily, Dec 15, 2011