The number of connections reaches a maximum at the age of 25 for both genders.
Unnamed call records, gender and age information of 3 million mobile phone users from a European country were used to provide a probabilistic interpretation about the communication patterns of individuals. The findings reveal that patterns in communication reflect the social goals of individuals. There is a clear difference in which men and women maintain their relationships.
At the age of 25 age both men and women are able to invest time in maintaining large social circles. This is also the time when men and women start looking for their prospective romantic partners. Once people settle down in life, they withdraw from causal relationships and invest time to balance between work and family life.
After the age of 25 the social circles start shrinking until it stabilizes again in late 40s. After 60s the decay begins again and old people appear to be rather socially isolated. However, on average older people use mobile technology less than others.
###
The joint study of Department of Computer Science, Aalto University and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, shows how technological networks mirror the social fabric, and how data obtained from such networks may serve as tools to better understand the society. The data is from 2007, a period that precedes the advent of most of the social media.
More information:
Kunal Bhattacharya
PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow
Aalto University
Department of Computer Science
358-50-512-4277
kunal.bhattacharya@aalto.fi
The article: http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/4/160097.full?ijkey=xtX37zRENRaOonz&keytype=ref
Picture: http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/4/160097.figures-only
Royal Society Open Science