Despite the fact that South Korea is home to 50 million cellphone users, idol groups are still headlining for not having one. Boy group ZE:A, who's currently preparing to promote their first official album, "Lovability", is one of those groups. Star Empire Entertainment prohibits their trainees and artists from having cell phones. They reasoned, "Trainees should focus on practicing their dancing and singing, it's better that they don't have cell phones. In cases of emergency, they are allowed to borrow cell phones from the agency." Other agencies promise cell phones a year or two into the artist's debut, and although ZE:A finally passed that landmark, they will not be getting cell phones anytime soon. Representatives continued to explain, "Rookie singers must bow and greet their seniors and other program staff members when they're at broadcast halls. But if they have cell phones, they'll most likely be walking around while checking their phones, and won't be able to greet everyone properly." "A while ago, one celebrity did not greet a senior because she/he was busy texting and received a lot of criticism for that. In order to prevent such misunderstandings from happening, it's better that they don't have cell phones." Other groups like SECRET and CNBLUE are also prohibited from owning cell phones for those same reasons. In the case of F.T. Island, the boys promoted without cell phones for two years, before they finally got them back after winning first place. Musing over the increased rate of idol groups without cell phones, an industry representative stated, "The majority of idol groups live together in dorms, so even without cell phones, they don't really have a need for it. These days, tablet PCs and Twitters are used more often for communication." Source: IS Sports via Naver