Young people might not know how to call emergency services
It won’t surprise anyone to learn that we’re making far fewer calls from landlines than 10 years ago, but one unexpected impact could be on the 999 service.
Telecoms regulator Ofcom has warned that young people might grow up not knowing which number to ring in an emergency because they prefer to contact people using messaging apps.
Its latest research on how people use ‘online communication services’ (www.snipca.com/48080) shows that the time Brits spent making landline calls fell from 103 billion minutes in 2012 to 32 billion in 2022. During this time mobile calls increased from 132 billion minutes to 170 billion – peaking at 190 minutes in 2020 during the Covid lockdowns.
These are striking statistics, but more significant is the dramatic fall in the number of text (SMS and MMS) messages sent – from 151 billion a year to 36 billion. In that time the number of messages sent annually through messaging apps soared from 100 million to 1.3 trillion.
Most of those messages were sent on WhatsApp, which is used by 76 per cent of UK adults, making it the most popular app in the country.
The next two most popular – Messenger and Instagram Direct Messenger – are also messaging apps. All three, along with Facebook, are owned by Meta.
What’s really important is that most people (60 per cent) now prefer messaging apps to making phone calls of any kind – whether landline or mobile. Only 23 per cent would rather send a text while even fewer (16 per cent) prefer calls.
Of those who make mobile calls, only 26 per cent do so every day. In comparison, 67 per cent who use messaging apps do so daily. It’s hardly surprising then that 58 per cent say they’d rather go without mobile-phone calls for 24 hours than give up their messaging apps.
But there’s a big difference between the generations. Three quarters of 24-to-44-year-olds prefer apps, while over 40 per cent of over-75s are more comfortable with phone calls. Yet most older people still use messaging apps regularly – at least once a week.
Similarly, nobody aged 55 to 64 thought they should contact emergency services on WhatsApp, compared with four per cent aged 16 to 24.
That latter figure concerns Ofcom, giv
