Don't call a Finn at a party

Danes and Finns turn off their mobile phone at parties, while Swedes and Norwegians keep their phone on. If you want to be sure to reach someone at a party, sending an SMS message is always the safest bet. These are some of the findings of a recent survey on communication habits that was commissioned by TeliaSonera. More than 2,000 Scandinavians were polled.

Four out of five Swedes, as well as four out of five Norwegians, feel that you can answer your mobile phone at a party, but only one of out five Danes, and one out of two Finns, consider it acceptable. “The Danes have a restrictive attitude towards using mobile phones in all social situations and public places, although parties are one of the few occasions when Finns do not accept talking on a mobile phone,” says Maud Frisk, marketing manager for the consumer market at TeliaSonera Sweden. Eight out of ten Scandinavians have a mobile phone, seven out of ten send SMS messages regularly and the majority have access to the Internet. In many ways, Scandinavians share a similar attitude towards modern communication channels, although there are clear differences in attitudes between the countries. Attitudes towards talking on a mobile phone during parties is one issue where there are the clearest differences between countries. However, sending SMS and MMS messages during parties is considered more acceptable. Slightly more than 80 percent of the Swedes feel you can read and send SMS messages during parties, while the corresponding figure was 50 percent in Finland and Denmark. About the survey: 2,063 people between the age of 16 and 64 in Sweden, Denmark, Norge and Finland answered questions in an e-mail survey. The respondents were randomly selected and are representative of the percentage of the population with access to the Internet. The survey was commissioned by TeliaSonera and conducted by the Cint research company.