Can you imagine living without your smartphone nowadays?
More and more residents of Calabarzon are now becoming dependent on their gadgets for their everyday lives, based on data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) last Monday, September 29.
During the 2024 National Information and Communications Technology Household Survey (NICTHS) forum held in Calamba City, Laguna, officials of the PSA bared that nine out of 10 Calabarzon residents now own smartphones.
According to Charity Bautista, officer-in-charge of the Statistical Operations and Coordination Division of PSA Calabarzon, 95.8 percent of mobile phone users in the region owned smartphones.
This is higher than the national average of 93 percent and up from 81.5 percent in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, use of basic cellular phones dropped to just 4.7 percent from 20.9 percent during the five-year period.
Internet use also expanded significantly, with 53.2 percent of households reporting home connections in 2024, compared to 24.2 percent in 2019.
Individual internet users rose to 71.4 percent, more than double the 33.1 percent recorded in 2019.
Electronic or mobile money account holders likewise grew sharply from 5.1 percent in 2019 to 43.6 percent in 2024, while online buying and selling accounts increased from 7.9 percent to 38.3 percent.
While the trend reflects a growing shift toward online connectivity and electronic transactions in the region and in the country, concerns have been raised that Filipinos are also becoming more vulnerable to scams, hacking, and fake news due to their increasing dependence on their gadgets for such everyday tasks as messaging people, accessing information, and online transactions.
With report from PNA
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonNews