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• Holidays more about phone time than face time

"Most think of the holidays as down time with the family, but our recent survey shows that Canadians are thinking about more than family while they're gobbling up that turkey and opening the presents," says Andrew Bridge, Managing Director, Virgin Mobile Canada.  "Canadians are taking a break from the family time to send out greetings, keep up on the latest gossip and even send a few naughty notes!  Whether it's at the dinner table or caroling by the tree, we're all about keeping up on our mobile phones and making sure we don't miss a single e-mail, text or tweet!"

Phones are the new holiday hot spot

Are Canadians spending all their time texting Santa their personal wish list?  Survey says – not likely. Nearly    3 out of 5 of Canadians (58%) send generic holiday cheer to friends and family rather than personalized messages – even to Santa! So, if we're not sending heartfelt holiday notes, what are we doing on our phones?

• No matter the age, Christmas is for texting. More than half of Canadians older than 55 (53%) can't get through the holidays without their cells vs. 55% of 18-34 year olds.
• Old school no more. Traditional methods of communication during the holiday season, such as hand-written notes (2%) and the telegram (0%) now appear to be obsolete. 
• Family vs. flirt. 28% of Canadian's admit to sending flirty text messages to their crush during "family time."
• Who's the friskiest reindeer at the table? 49% of Canadians aged 18-34 have sent saucy messages during holiday time - and 10% of adults 55 years and older are doing the same thing. Keep an eye on your parents' cell phones during family dinner!
• Texting sweet nothings. More boys than girls are getting naughty by text – almost a third of guys (32%) send their lovers a little something during holiday family hour.

"With awesome superphones making it easy to text, call, e-mail and message our friends and family, the only reason to leave the house is to go get more eggnog!" continued Bridge. "The holidays are the perfect time to catch up with everyone you know – and now you can do it all from your phone."

From Atlantic to Pacific, the holidays are terrific

• Up close and personal. Quebecers are all about face time, with 32% communicating in person more than any other method.
• Texting the love. Albertans show the most love of all the provinces, with 37% of them exchanging flirty texts during time with the fam.
• Not-so-wild West. British Columbia wins for being the least adventurous province with only 23% of respondents getting playful on their phones during family time.
• Fast fingers in French! Quebecers are in a typing frenzy – 47% send holiday greetings via e-mail, compared to the national average of only 35%.

About Virgin Mobile Canada

Virgin Mobile Canada rewards, entertains and connects like no one else, delivering the hottest phones on the hottest 4G network.  Virgin Mobile Members also get access to must-see events, global roaming and award-winning service. 91% of Members would also recommend Virgin Mobile to a friend. 

The Virgin Mobile group of companies has attracted more than 15 million customers worldwide.  Virgin Mobile phones are available at more than 4,000 locations nationally including The Source, Virgin Mobile retail locations and additional retail partners. Virgin Mobile products can also be purchased online or by calling 1-888-999-2321. Get personal with Virgin Mobile Canada on Facebook and Twitter.

About the survey

From November 7th to November 8th 2011 an online survey was conducted among 1,017 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is /- 3%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.