1 CELL PHONES AND SOCIETY GROUP 2 COURSE: HM 216 Science, Technology and Society Course Instructor: Dr. Madhumita Mazumdar FALL 2013 DHIRUBHAI AMBANI INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY GANDHINAGAR
1
CELL PHONES AND SOCIETY
GROUP 2
COURSE: HM 216
Science, Technology and Society
Course Instructor: Dr. Madhumita Mazumdar
FALL 2013
DHIRUBHAI AMBANI INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
GANDHINAGAR
2
GROUP MEMBERS:
Yarlagadda Sharvani (201201001)
Hari Eswara Anjaneya Reddy Parreddi (201201012)
Ansul Agrawal (201201040) – Group Leader
Sagar Maru (201201061)
K Vedasagar (201201114)
Vishwa Modi (201201136)
Arun Bansal (201201155)
Tapan Kumar (201201174)
Khyati Vaghamshi (201201220)
Pericherla Avinash (201201236)
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Acknowledgement
We would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to the
individuals and the organizations without the help of whom the success and final
outcome of this report would not have been achieved.
We respect and thank Dr. Madhumita Mazumdar for giving us such a great
opportunity to explore the world beyond our college premises, both urban and
rural areas through our field work.
We are thankful to all those people, which includes people from the rural areas,
school and college students and the local urban residents, who helped us building
our data by giving their invaluable inputs during our survey.
We would also like to extend our gratefulness to the psychologists for their timely
support and guidance which helped us in successfully accomplishing our project
report.
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INDEX
1. Introduction 5.
1.1. Project Approach and Objectives 5.
2. History of Cell Phone 7.
2.1. Emergence of Cell Phone 7.
2.2. Diffusion of Cell Phone 8.
3. Cell Phones and Urban Society 11.
3.1. School Kids 11.
3.2. College Students 15.
3.3. Working Class 20.
3.4. Professionals 23.
3.5. Housewives 25.
3.6. Underprivileged 28.
3.7. Elderly People 35.
4. Cell Phones and Rural Areas 39.
5. Ethical Issues 43.
6. Conclusion 51.
7. Bibliography 53.
5
1. Introduction
Cell phones have become an integral part of everyone’s life. Ever since the mid‐1980s, they
have been moving their way quickly into our life. As cell phones evolve, they have more and
more impact on our lives. As with new technology in any other form, cell phones have changed
greatly over their relatively short life spans.
Cell phones have become a necessity for almost all the people around the globe. The ability to
keep in touch with friends, family and access to internet are only a few of the reasons for the
increasing importance of cell phone. In case of emergency, a cell phones allows one to reach
his/her contacts quickly and possibly save lives. But today, the purpose of cell phone has gone
way beyond that with the introduction of internet and smartphones. These high‐featured
phones are equipped with GPS, camera, applications which allows a user to perform even more
tasks than what a normal computer could provide.
1.1 Project Approach and Objectives
This report mainly analyzes the inter‐relation between society and cell phone. Every social
group has its own use and interpretation of cell phone. The study and analysis of this would
help in developing a complete picture of inter‐relation between society and technology.
We are mainly focusing on the following points:
Basic demands for cell phone by different social groups
Their interpretation and importance of cell phone
Effect on human brain and behavior
Is cell phone acting as a status symbol and dividing the society into further classes and
strata?
In spite of there being tremendous advantages of mobile phones, is it really an
inevitability or just an overhyped technological boon?
For this, we divided the society in some categories:
Urban
o School kids
o College students
o Professionals
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o Working Class
o Housewives
o Underprivileged
o Elderly people
Rural
To analyze the above categories, we conducted the surveys at following places:
Urban Areas
o DA‐IICT, LDRP, Nirma
o Infocity
o Residential areas in Gandhinagar
o Elderly house (in Gandhinagar)
Rural Areas
o Tarapur
o Sargasan
o Koba
o Kudasan
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2. Cell Phone
2.1 Emergence of Cell Phone
About a century ago, the idea of communicating through voice over large distances, much less
owning a cell phone was something one could only dream. The communication technology has
undergone a drastic change over the last century which resulted into something omnipotent
which we today call as cell phone.
Until 1920s, mobile radio communication was used only to send messages in Morse Code. Till
now, communication was only one‐way. In 1924, Bell Laboratories invented the modern
version of cell phone, one able to communicate two‐way over voice.
During World War II, extensive work was conducted in radio research and development for use
in military. In 1943, Motorola’s Dan Moble designed the first ‘Walkie‐Talkie’. This ‘Walkie‐
Talkie’ became extremely vital in battlefield communications during World War II. Due to this
war, cell phone circuit boards were commercially produced.
Until 1981, cell phone had not been introduced in Europe. In early 1980s, first cell phone
system was developed in Europe. They were called ‘transportables’ because they were large
and had a heavy battery alongside them.
On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper, the GM of Motorola’s Communications Systems Division
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placed the first public telephone call on a portable cell phone. This caused a revolution in
communication and technology all over the world because by that time, no one ever saw a
cordless phone, let alone cell phones. After that, Cooper worked to make this demonstration a
public reality. On March 6, 2003, his team released Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, the first ever
portable cell phone available for general public.
Throughout the late 20th and 21st century, cell phones have evolved in ways that, fifty years
ago, one could never have imagined. When the world's first phone was designed by
Motorola, the primary influence was on the dream of staying in touch with family and
friends away from the home. Today, the cell phone has evolved into smartphone, which
possesses every feature one could possibly imagine.
2.2 Diffusion of Cell Phone in Society
Mobile phones have drawn merit attention in global technology diffusion due to the rapid
diffusion rate and the great increase in mobile users. Now this generates a few questions:
1) How has the society been able to adopt this particular technology so quickly?
2) What are the reasons behind this rapid diffusion rate?
3) Why is this adoption rate not uniform across all parts of the world?
In response to the first and second questions, the rapid increase in mobile phone
subscribers during the last decade may be primarily due to the increase of the average
household income and mobile phone production. Besides, there has been a significant
decrease in price of mobile phones along with corresponding tariffs. All these factors have
contributed to the increase of the mobile phone subscribers. However, equally important
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reasons are to be found in the decrease of growth rate in land line phone. Service quality,
convenience, flexibility and availability favor adoption of mobile phones than land line
phones.
Projected path of mobile density in India
Source: Sanjay Kumar Singh. The Diffusion of Mobile Phones in India
In the case of India, by looking at the above graph, the mobile density in future can be
estimated by looking at the past growths. It reaches a saturation level at some point of time.
In response to the third question, there are several factors that might explain those
differences (according to Graph 1) in adoption rates in different countries. Some of them
are:
Per capita income:
Always there has been a correlation between country’s income level and its adoption of
mobile phones. In emerging markets, GDP reflects the financial capacity of consumers to
purchase mobile phones and its services. So in general this adoption is somehow depending
on the share of income allocated to mobile expenditure.
Weakening of landline usage:
Mobile phone demand has traditionally been associated with pre‐existing landline phone
service. First, the awareness of the potential value of the telephone based communications
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1995-96 2000-01 2005-06 2010-11 2015-16 2020-21 2025-26 2030-31
No.
of m
obile
pho
nes
per 10
0 in
habi
tant
s
10
is greater in countries with high fixed lines compared to the country with low fixed lines.
Second, the country with more fixed lines has more necessity of mobile phones. Third,
countries with more fixed lines have greater backbone network which helps in the
deployment of mobile networks. In total, even in low income emerging countries with
relatively few landline phones, mobile networks are initially installed in urban areas which
help in stimulating interest in adoption of mobile phones.
Prepaid phone products:
As prepaid has flexibility in variable demand of usage of calls, most of the emerging
economies been interested in prepaid.
Unlimited competition:
Competition is a key factor in stimulating mobile phone diffusion through lower prices and
other marketing effects.
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3. Cell Phones and Urban Society
3.1 School Kids
Indian teenagers today seem to have a big obsession for cell phones that these have become
their most valuable assets in life. Literally, they cannot imagine a life without mobile phones.
This trendy yet bizarre tendency is due to factors such as more pampering by parents, more
pocket money, no day‐to‐day parental control, urbanization and western influence.1
Addiction to cell phone is becoming common. Youngsters feel a group pressure to remain
inter‐connected and reachable round the clock. Children start to use mobile phones at an
early stage of their life. Youngsters who excessively use cell phones are more prone to mental
and physical abnormalities like interrupted sleep, pressure and fatigue as they spent most of
their time on their cell phones.
The pros of allowing teenagers to own a cell phone are faster and better communication device in case of emergencies, useful in getting information and teens can use them as a teaching aid, mobile phones also play important roles for teenagers in their social interaction. Calling and texting are the ways for teenagers to keep connecting with their friends nowadays.
The cons of allowing teenagers to own a cell phone are even if the phone is in silent mode, some teens will still text to communicate. This will result in poor concentration during studying. Health problems and psychological concerns, mobile‐addicts tend to neglect obligations of important activities (e.g. job or studies), drift apart from friends and close family, deny the problem and think about the mobile phone constantly when they do not have it with them. Cell phones are mostly used in cheating during exams and as a means of sending threats and abusive messages to other teens or even their teachers.
When weighing both sides, the parent should note what is best for the teen. If the teen is responsible and follows rules told to him then he may be allowed to own a cell phone. If the teen disregards rules and is always careless then it would be best to make sure he or she doesn’t carry a cell phone. It is essential to increase the awareness among youngsters of the negative effects of exuberant mobile phone use on their sleep‐wake patterns, with severe health risks as well as attention and cognitive problems.
1 http://www.watblog.com/2010/12/07/mobile-phones-what-indian-teenagers-cant-live-without/
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6%
12%
82%
10th
Design Functionality Both
Do they own a cell phone?
We notice that the percentage of students who own a cell phone increases drastically as we
go from class 9th to 10th and remains almost the same in 11th as well. Thus students feel a
need for individuality and responsibility as they move up a standard. Even the parents feel
that the children should become responsible enough to own a mobile phone.
What do you consider more important in case of a cell phone?
We observe that the students of all age groups feel that both design and functionality is
crucial while deciding what kind of a phone to purchase. In case of design or functionality
they tend to prefer the latter and design comes at the last preference but still is an
important factor.
Yes
No
0
10
20
30
40
9th 10th 11thYes 12 39 15
No 25 6 3
Possession of Cell Phone
Yes No
5%
17%
78%
9th5% 5%
90%
11th
13
Yes
No
05
101520253035
9th 10th 11thYes 21 33 17
No 15 12 1
Do You Text?
Yes No
Do you text?
We see that the percentage of students who text and don’t is almost equal in case of class
9th. But the number goes up in case of 10th and 11th standard. There are only a few students
who refrain from texting. Thus we infer that they develop a liking towards it as move
towards adolescence.
Is cell phone a status symbol?
From the above data we notice that in students’ opinion the cell phone acts as both status
symbol among the peers and a need for personal consumption. But majority of the students
tend to see it as a need rather than a status symbol. But the percentage in 1st case is still
considerable.
15%
27%58%
10th
Status symbol Need Both
5%
33%
62%
9th3%
16%
81%
11th
14
63%
33%
4%
10th
Positive Negative Other
Very FrequentlyFrequently
AverageRare
Very Rare
05
101520253035404550
Calling Texting SurfingInternet
Appsand
Games
Educational
Purposes
SocialNetwor
king
Musicand
videos
E-mails Photography
Very Frequently 27 27 27 31 18 19 41 13 31
Frequently 24 19 25 22 17 16 25 5 29
Average 34 19 19 11 27 22 19 22 18
Rare 8 12 6 16 18 19 1 11 18
Very Rare 5 20 20 17 17 20 10 46 9
What do you use cell phone for?
Very Frequently Frequently Average Rare Very Rare
What effect does cell phones have on your studies?
In case of impact of cell phones on academics the response shows that the percentage in
case of 9th class is maximum in case of positive and almost equal in other cases. Amongst
10th class students there is a vast variation as percent in positive impact escalates rapidly
followed by the negative case. In case of 11th students the percentage is maximum in case of
other effects followed by negative and then positive in contrast to 10th grade. In case of
other the most common answer received was ‘both positive and negative effects’ and in
some cases it was ‘sometimes positive and sometimes negative’. Thus we see that students
have mixed notions about the impact of cell phones and are not well aware about them.
44%
30%
26%
9th
26%
30%
44%
11th
15
We observe from the above bar graph that in case of:
Calling: Cell phones are commonly used by teenagers for communicating via calls and is
used rarely only by a few.
Texting: Texting is used almost equally by the students but not very frequently by anyone.
Thus it is not as common amongst them as compared to older age groups.
Internet: Cell phones are also utilised for surfing the net frequently by most of them.
Apps and Games: As we can see cell phones are very frequently used by teenagers for
gaming purposes. Thus it becomes their main objective of using a cell phone.
Educational Purposes: Used by them on an average basis. Neither very frequently nor very
rarely but is still preferred by a considerable percentage of students for academic purposes.
Social Networking: Again used for an ordinary amount of time.
Music and Videos: Cell phones are very popular among teenagers for listening to music and
watching videos. It is favoured by a vast number of students.
E‐mails: Using cell phones for sending and receiving mails is not very commonly preferred
by them. They probably use their PCs for such uses.
Photography: Cell phones are also usually utilized for taking photographs. As carrying a
camera would be cumbersome carrying a cell phone would be an appropriate option.
When asked if texting has had any effect on their English we received a large number of
answers saying that their English has gotten better due to texting frequently. It has helped
them to improve their Grammar as well as vocabulary. While some students replied saying
that it does have negative effects as we use a short hand language while texting. Thus
although the common notion is that texting is ruining the English language, we can see that
students tend to believe that they are amending their soft skills via texting.
For the question regarding the misuses of cell phones, the commonly encountered
responses are wastage of time by surfing the internet and playing games, watching adult
content through videos, cyber‐crime, prank calls, and radiations due to phones. Thus this
shows that the ill‐effects of cell phones are well known to the teenagers and they are not
generally ignorant about its utilization.
3.2 College Students
Mobile phones play an integral part in the life of college students. Now‐a‐days college
students aren't just concerned with getting good grades and finding the best parties, they're
also using their smartphones to navigate their life on campus. For many college students
16
today, living without a cell phone is inconceivable. Wherever they go, they just don’t seem
to be able to leave their cell phones alone. Right from early morning to late in the night,
they can been seen using their phones.
Moreover, college students do utilize their cell phone in every possible way, they use it for
calling, texting, surfing internet, social networking, using aps and playing games. These are
also the age group that are targeted the most by cell phone manufacturers. Since college
students compose a considerable part of the market for cell phones, the newer designs
come with characteristics that are most desired by them and that fit their needs.
Type of Cell Phones they possess:
Students use a variety of cell phones. On asking about on which operating system their cell
phone ran, it was found that about 70% of college students possessed a smartphone
(Android, iOS or Windows) and just 30% were those who went for simple phone (Symbian,
Java or Bada). Google’s Android was the most popular with 54% of those who reported
owning a smartphone. Other types of smartphones used include Windows (10%) and iOS or
iPhone (6%). The prices of these smartphone varied from 5,000 ₹ to as much as 50,000 ₹.
Those possessing basic phones had their price range within 5,000 ₹.
Also majority of those students (about 60%) possess a cell phone since their high school.
Only the remaining bought a cell phone when they got admitted in a college.
54%
6%
10%
15%
16%
Cell Phone Type
Android iOS Windows Symbian Other
17
Cell Phone Usage:
Students use their smart phones in every possible situations, right from waking up in the
morning to going to bed at night. They use it during travelling, or during idle time at college
or at home, and sometimes they also use it for college‐related tasks. They also use them
during multitasking, like watching TV, or listening to music or during walk.
In any event, there’s no arguing that among people who are using their phones to the fullest
extent possible, college kids are right up there. It is clear from the above graph that the
usage of cell phone over different aspects doesn’t vary much and remains almost the same.
This also suggests that the younger generation utilize the cell phone completely, making use
of every feature available to them. Still on comparing between different entities, calls and
listening music and watching videos were the ones that got a lead than others.
When talking about an individual entity, following were the results.
05
10152025303540
Calling Texting SurfingInterne
t
Appsand
Games
Educational
Purposes
SocialNetwor
king
Musicand
Videos
E-mails Photography
Very Frequently 32 28 22 16 9 20 29 15 20
Frequently 29 17 25 25 18 18 32 16 26
Average 33 15 23 28 34 21 27 16 28
Rare 4 22 8 12 14 15 4 14 15
Very Rare 3 18 22 18 25 25 9 39 11
What do they use cell phone for?
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Is Cell Phone a Status Symbol?
Yes84%
No16%
Students texting daily
Yes94%
No6%
Students making calls daily
Yes75%
No25%
Students using cell phone for social netwoking daily
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Status symbol As a need Both
Status vs Need
19
It is commonly observed that the cell phones have also become status symbol for youth and
they have indulged themselves in the competition of having best and most updated cell
phone with maximum features. But the survey indicates otherwise. It was found that only
about 5% of the students saw cell phone solely as a status symbol and not much as a need,
whereas on the opposite side, 65% students said it has nothing to do with status. Remaining
30% students saw cell phone as both, a status symbol as well as a need.
The above graph of price range also collaborates with the graph of cell phone being a status
symbol or not. As it is evident, most of the students (about 60 %) who think cell phone as a
need have settled for a cell phone with reasonable price range, whereas the remaining
students (about 40 %) who thinks cell phones to be a status symbol, go for high range
smartphones (above 15,000 ₹).
What do they look for when purchasing new phones?
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Below 5K ₹ 5K - 10K ₹ 10K - 15K ₹ 15K - 20K ₹ Above 20K ₹
Price Range
54%67%
50%68%
52%69%
5%0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
New Phone Requirements
20
When looking for new phones, majority of students fall for price, features and OS and
software. This clearly suggests that they demand maximum facilities at minimum possible
costs. The students going for latest technology are comparatively less as latest technology
also costs much.
3.3 Working Class
Mobile phones and its related technologies can be considered as one of the most prominent
inventions of the twentieth century. In the beginning it started as a process of calling a
person at anytime from anywhere. Nowadays, it developed to such a stage of where people
are using voice and video calling, text messages, internet access, social networking. These
features help to keep in touch with our family members and beloved ones. Furthermore,
mobile phones acts as our personal information manages and social networking devices. It
also enables different ways of entertainment such as music, videos and games. On the other
hand when it comes to professional life, mobile phone provides more convenient platform
to deal with employment related matters. Job employees also use facilities like video
conference instead of traditional face to face meetings. This saves great amount of time and
cost for the companies. On the other hand, due to the various applications available in
smart phones, it enables professionals to use them as mini computers.
Usage of cell phone:
When questioned about the kind of cell phone they use and their main purpose, almost all
the answers were (as expected) smart phones and main purpose was making and answering
calls, texting and checking mails. Other use of the mobile is to capture or send visual images
and a further quarter to play games and accessing the internet.
Importance of cell phone in their life:
When questioned about how important is mobile in their life, then almost 8 out of 10
people said that it would be very difficult to do their job without cell phone and some said
that they look at their mobile for at least once in every five minutes whether they had work
with it or not! But a few people said that they can do their job without a cell phone, taking
the view of people who give a great importance to cell phone in their life, it seems that they
spend most of their time, even during working hours with their cell phone.
21
Preference of smart phone or normal phone available at same cost:
Overall, 80% of the employees thought smart phone are useful because it provides several
applications like whatsapp, e‐mails etc. to make their work easy. Conversely, 20% of the
employees thought it would not be much useful for the them if it not performing well at
that cost. So, they prefer normal phone. It seems that when all the facilities are available at
the same cost, it would be preferred to go for better one (the one with more applications ‐
smart phone) when compared to the other (normal phone). It’s given by some report that
by 2013, 80% of all mobile devices will be touch screen (Garter 2010). This is because of the
improvement in technology and availability of technology at cheaper cost which is leading
to the increasing demand of their production.
Thinking of cell phone as disturbance element in their life:
Respondents were asked about the circumstances in which they would normally think cell
phone is disturbance element. Mostly think cell phone is disturbance at work meetings, and
restaurants. On the other hand, they think disturbance when they receive unwanted phone
calls (mainly from mobile companies) during working hours.
Usage of cell phone during driving:
Overall, 80% of the employees use their cell phone every time while driving. Conversely,
15% of employees use their cell if it is necessary for them. Remaining 5% do not use their
cell phone while driving.
22
How do they use their phone?
The Bar chart shown above shows that calling and checking e‐mails is the most common
activity, contributing 100% and 80% usage of cell phones among the job employees. And
using of texting and games takes 60% in their usage. On other hand social media (Facebook,
twitter, Google+) takes 40% in their usage .It is very interesting that entertainment take up
very less in their usage of cell phone.
The Bar chart shown above shows that need of cell phone is the most common view of job
employees, contributing 70%. And status takes 15% view of on cell phone and remaining
15% takes both status and need as their view on cell phone.
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3.4 Professionals
No matter what type of business you run, it is for sure that mobile communication plays an important
part in communication with customers, business partners and dealing matters.
Usage of cell phone:
Survey respondents who said that they are regular users of cell phone asked about how they
used their phones. Most of them are telling that they need cell phone to keep touch with
their co‐workers and clients. They don’t need a camera, lot of games and hundreds of
ringtones in their cell phone but they need one that is reliable, sturdy and has a long battery
life because there is nothing worse for them losing a call in the middle of conversation with
a customer or co‐ worker.
Importance of cell phone in their life:
Overall, most of respondents are telling that cell phone is very important in their life. Even
though they can’t run their business without a dependable phone. Because, the main
advantage of mobile phones is that they can be contacted at all times. If they are away from
the office then staff or clients can still reach them. It also means their co‐workers can
contact them when they are out of the office, which will lead to greater productivity.
Otherwise, their co‐worker has to wait until they are back in the office and a lot of time is
wasted at that time. A whole network of co‐workers will be able to be in touch every time,
no matter where they are, and with effective employer to employee and general staff
communication, their business will run a lot more efficiently.
Preference of smart phone or normal phone:
This people runs their businesses using their cell phones extensively. They connect to
Customers, their offices and co‐workers with their phones, making sales, sharing
information. So ,most of them are telling that smart phone is better for them because It will
be great to show client videos of the products they sell , while being able to easily receive
and send text messages from clients or co‐workers . And they need internet access to send
and receive emails and to share research on new products for their customers. Also they
want a larger screen so they can read more email at a time without having to scroll so much
and easier keyboarding. Other functions of cell phone like camera and games don’t interest
them at all.
24
Thinking of cell phone as disturbance element in their life:‐
Respondents were asked about the circumstances in which they would normally think cell
phone is disturbance element. Mostly no one thought that it was disturbance for them
because they want to keep touch with their client and co‐workers to run their business
efficiently. But there are some circumstances at which they feel disturbance is while
receiving unwanted calls during family and work meetings.
Usage of cell phone during driving:
Overall, business respondents are using their cell phone every time while driving. Because
they don’t want to lose their business without lifting calls from their clients and co‐workers.
So they use their cell phones while driving.
How businesses people using mobile technology:
Source: Constant Contact Mobile Technology Survey, 2013
Mostly the age group of 50‐60 (and above) seemed to be neglected user group of mobiles.
They use mobiles for very limited purposes like making a call (mostly), sending texting
(rarely) listening to songs or FM (very rare). One of the reasons for this is they find it very
difficult to operate such a complex function. And 1 out of 12 used (is using) a smart phone.
25
Although these days one of the prominent companies is producing mobiles that seems user‐
friendly to older people.
3.5 Housewives
Purpose of using Cell phones:
Women of age (40‐60) generally used cell phone for calls. Most of them had simple keypad
phones .They find it difficult to operate with touch screen mobile phones. We observed that
for them mobile phone served a mode of communicating or interacting with their relatives.
Majority of them did not knew other simple applications like to set alarm, to set ringtone
etc.
Very few of them used mobile phones for sending / receiving messages.
Women of age (25‐40) generally used cell phones for calling, sending/ receiving messages,
for clicking photos. They knew how to use other simple applications like to set alarm,
playing music etc.
Total call duration for each day
Is cell phone a communication barrier that reduces face to face communication or as a
communication bridge that helps us communicate even more?
0
12.5
25
37.5
50
62.5
75
87.5
100
0-1hr 1-2hrs 2-3hrs 3-4hrs
no of people
%
26
On the basis of the survey we analysed that according to them face to face communication
has reduced but still they don’t consider it to a large extent as according to them cell phone
has more advantages over which this can be neglected .So it’s like this problem has been
digested within their life. When asked this question one lady replied “what’s the need of
having face to face communication if communication can be done with the help of cell
phone easily. Our main purpose is to communicate, but that doesn’t mean that face‐to‐face
communication should not be done.”
Right age of children for having their own Cell phone?
Response of every women was that for safety child should be given cell phone mainly when
they go out of house whether with friends or for tuitions or for some other purpose. But
most of them also have a view that having their own cell phone could have negative impact
on their studies too. So they provide them cell phone with minimum features which doesn’t
have much entertainment part. When asked to them specifically that generally at what age
would they give cell phone to their children then most of them said that child passed 10th
standard should be given their own phone.
Attraction towards emerging technology in cell phones:
Women of age (40‐60) neglected their attraction towards new technology. According to
them simple phone is sufficient for them as they mainly use cell phones for calling so they
actually don’t require phone with new technology. They are satisfied with what they have.
While women of age(25‐40) are attracted towards new technology but they prefer for
buying it if they consider it much useful to them as compared to the current cell phone they
are having/using.
Chart of female SMS Users vs. SMS Non -Users
41.4% • SMS Users
42.7%• Total female
mobile owners
43.3% • SMS Non-Users
27
Qualities considered while buying new cell phone:
While purchasing new cell phone they first look at brand as they can rely on them due to
better service facilities, exchange rate and battery backup, then they prefer for features,
then comes looks but considering all these keeping their budget in mind.
How many of them cannot live without cell phone?
30%
70%
people that can live without cellphone
people that cannot live withoutcell phone
Perception of how access to a phone has improved different aspects of respondent’s life (mobile owners)
Scale: 1=no change; 5=greatly improved
28
Is Cell phone a disturbing element?
Every 6 in 10 housewives have to say that cell phone harasses a lot when unnecessary
company calls come .It also harasses when people call them when they are busy. According
to them it sometimes affect their privacy too. But as safety became prior issue, now a days
they consider it important to have cell phone.
So cell phone has become a part of their life and most of them cannot live without it as it is clear from the graph above. According to them cell phones have brought them even closer and in touch always with their relatives and colleague. As mobile phone provides a key benefit in terms of security and that is often the motivation for them getting connected in the first place. On the basis of the survey we analyzed that cell phone satisfied their need for communication and access to information easily but if cell phone were not there then they would have relied on landlines. Besides all these advantages of cell phone, there are disadvantages too. There are new tensions that the cell phone itself create like when in conversation with a
Lady ,during field work she said, “ sometimes when I call my husband to ask whether he
reached the office safely or not and he does not respond then I become tense and lots of
vague thinking’s come to my mind that why is he not responding?, is everything all right? ,is
he met with an accident?” . So cell phone sometimes do create a mental pressure on them.
But still cell phone is very useful to them. Cell phone was also seen to facilitate emotional
support especially for women who are separated from their families. In our country where
women commonly move away from their natal family and friends after marriage,
maintaining contact with family back home becomes important .Many such female
respondents relate that the phone makes it easier for them to contact and stay connected
with their emotional support groups.
3.6 Underprivileged
The sector, in our view, includes the people of the low‐level status, who don’t enjoy the same
standard of living or rights as the majority of the society, in other words what we call is that
“deprived of living a quality standard”. Here, the people we have surveyed were vegetable
and sellers, auto‐ rickshaw drivers, petrol pump workers, small shopkeepers, stall keepers
(including galla‐walas), security‐guards, sweepers, cleaners, etc.
29
Possessing a mobile phone:‐
As inferred from the survey, that approximately 76% of the people under this sector own a
mobile phone, while rest 24% don’t. The “positive” result here, inspired us to look for
situations like whether the latest technology is found more innovative and worth knowing, or
whether for a status symbol, or whether they must own it as a need, or is it the technology
(or mobile phones) being easily affordable even to them. While the “negative” part inspired
for situation of people’s economic condition, or their unawareness about the benefits, or
having any objection about owning a mobile phone.
Affordability:
76%
24%
Having Mobile Phones
YES
NO
39%
48%
13%
Affordability (for those who have mobiles)
Easily Affordable
Have Problem
Gifted
30
“Affordability”, the word itself implies that, was there any problematic situation in buying the
mobile phone? Taking the case of the ones who own at least a mobile phone (in fig. 2), there
were 39% of them who were easily able to afford their mobile phone(s), 48% though having
economic problems, anyhow managed to get at least one, i.e., in a way affording by using
their valuable savings, and 13% own mobile phone as a present from family, relatives, friends
or some or the other means. This high affordability is significantly defined by the declining of
the costs of mobile phones with emergence of newer technology day‐by‐day. Now, taking the
case of the ones who don’t own a single, a major part of them were due to economic trap,
minor part consists of reasons like disagreeing to the benefits of mobile phones, further
worries and concerns about the bills under their criticality, etc.
Taking considerations of bills for those who own mobile(s), almost all of them face no problem
in paying bills, although the bills vary according to their necessity. The statistics of amount of
bills they spend is like in the fig. 3 below.
‘I have managed to get my mobile using almost all my savings, which made an increment at
a very little extent monthly. But, after having a mobile, my contacts increased and have
made me feel like my savings weren’t in any wastage. ‘
- Auto rickshaw driver.
Uses:
“Use” especially refers here to the “reasons which tend one to buy mobile phone(s)”. For the
ones possessing a mobile phone, professional and family use have major impact. They
preferred to call mobile phone a benefit in a way that firstly, in their professional life, the
27%
20%27%
13%
13%
Monthly Billing Amount (in rupees)
0-50
50-100
100-300
300-500
>500
31
mobiles have helped them in setting up more contact with the customers and their
profession‐mates, and secondly, the same is like with family members and relatives. Going
statistically, professional use was responsible for 42% people, while family and relatives’
contact was responsible for 35% people, and also both reasons at the same time, together
tend 23% people to buy a mobile phone(s). For the ones not having any mobile phone, there
were cases like they have no crucial professional use and they have their family and relatives
are close in touch just a distance by feet could make them reach there.
‘It was difficult to get customer over my working garage. But through my mobile contact
number, I get easily access to the customer at their very needy service situation. ‘
‐ Automobile garage worker.
‘In early days I had to bring all my shop stuff by my own but now because of mobile, it just
only cost me few calls to deal with dealers, thus giving me a big advantage of saving my
time . ’
‐ Galla wala.
Type of mobiles preferred:
“Types of mobiles preferred” directly refers to the use a person have of mobile’s features or
functionality and secondly, the economic status and knowledge of technology up to some
42%
35%
23%
Use Of Mobile Phones (for ones who own)
Professional Use
Family Use
Both(Professional + Family)
32
extent. From surveys done, it is inferred that 39% people preferred to buy smart phones of
even branded companies with low‐level companies, whereas 61% people preferred to keypad
mobile phones (in fig. 5). The reasons behind the above situation are, for smart phones, that
they are keener to the use of new technology, status, etc., while for keypad is just contrast of
the previous one. The statistical result is irrespective of the point that whether the users know
to operate the technology or not.
Taking considerations of the range of the mobiles preferred, they highly preferred ones in
between range 1000‐3000.
Technological knowledge:
The term “Technological knowledge” refers to how much they know to operate the features
and functions provided in their mobile phone. The outcomes of the survey say that 56%
people know and can operate their phones easily, or in other words, associated comfortably
with the technology, while 44% don’t know to operate the mobile phones’ technology. The
situation behind this 44% people is mainly due to that they show no interest in knowing it and
calling it unworthy to know, and if have any interests, they aren’t accessible to it.
39%
61%
Types Of Mobiles
Smart Phones
Keypad Phones
33
Other uses:
Mobile phones have proved to be a boon under this sector, as they have brought about a
sense of social security, connectivity and safety among the people. After surveying, it is
analysed that the larger part of people don’t use mobile phones for uses other than their
professional one and family and relatives’ contact one. These people constitute 66% in the
total of them, while rest 34% use it for gaming, listening songs, internet, etc., which help them
in their leisure time to keep away from boring‐ness.
44%
56%
Know To Use Technology
YES
NO
32%
68%
Use in Leisure
YES
NO
34
The other point to be noted is how frequently one uses his/her mobile phones. The outcomes
actually depends upon the person and his type of profession and relatives’ contacts,
knowledge of technology, etc. statistically surveys result out to conclusion that 37% people
use it more frequently, 41% people don’t use frequently, while 22% of people’s use depends
making it maybe frequent use.
Life without mobile:
We expected to get more “YESes” for the point to own a mobile phone individually, but it
turned out to be more than expectation in this sector. The outcome through the survey has
made up to a quality number of NOs, constituting 66% of total people surveyed, meant to
conclude the role of mobile and technology playing in their lives, just like calling mobile
phones a “part and parcel of life”, while rest 34% of total people constitute YESes, just like
calling mobile phones a “wastage of time and money” and saying like “we were comfortable
without mobile before too, so it doesn’t make sense a big question”.
37%
41%
22%
Frequent Use
High
Rare
Depends
35
3.7 Elderly People
One of the great aspects of modern technology is how much it allows us to stay in contact
with each other. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter allows us to know what’s
happening in other’s lives easily and quickly. Moreover there are also other features that
allows us to do the same – e‐mails, video call, instant messaging.
But there’s also one problem related to this – the elderly people. Most of the cell phone
that are available right now in the market are mainly targeting young generation and
professionals. They haven’t been able to provide the elderly with the same features and
functionalities that others enjoy. This also has become one of the factors that it has become
hard to stay in touch with older friends and relatives. The technology that keeps us alive is
also the same that the elderly people are found to be avoiding.
But a gadget like a cell phone could be of a great benefit to elderly people. It can help them
to reduce their loneliness and allow them to communicate with friends and families.
Moreover, it can also help them remove their sense of isolation.
iBall Aasaan:
One of the reasons of why cell phone companies aren’t targeting elderly people is their
falling eyesight and hearing problems. Also they aren’t comfortable using the latest touch –
technologies as they think they are much complicated to use.
34%
66%
Life Without Mobile
Possible
Not Possible
36
iBall designed Aasaan keeping in mind the needs of the elderly. In fact, iBall is among the
first few companies in India that have come up with dedicated mobile phones for senior
citizens.
This cell phone comes with an SOS feature. This emergency feature allows the user to send a
pre‐recorded emergency message to five pre‐set numbers at the touch of a button. After
that the phone calls the numbers one after another until a call is answered, if not the phone
repeats the loop three times. Also the keys are big enough for them to use it comfortably. .
It also comes with a torch and an FM radio which the elderly do utilize to pass their time.
Possession of Cell Phone:
Yes60%
No40%
Did they possess a cell phone?
37
The survey showed that the elderly people were not much interested in purchasing cell
phones. The ones that did not have a cell phone said that they didn’t need it much and if
they did, they could use it of some of their friends or relatives and so there was no point in
spending money in them. Some also said that the cell phones are boring and they were a
waste of time. Some also said that there was no need in purchasing a cell phone because if
they didn’t have one, it won’t affect much just they would come across the news a few days
later.
The above graph indicates that among the ones possessing a cell phone, those going for
smartphones are only about 4% with majority (about 96%) going for basic phones. Some of
the elderly people possessing a cell phone said that there was no need wasting money on
smartphones and the phone should be such that it allows them to do the basic things like
calling and listening to music and radio.
Usage of Cell Phone:
Smartphone 4%
Basic96%
Cell phone Type
Calls only54%Calls and Music
only31%
Much more tech use15%
Usage of Cell Phone
38
On asking the elderly people, it was found that majority of them just used it for calling
purposes (about 54%). These were also the ones that went for basic phones or not
purchasing the phones at all as they has access to friends or relatives cell phone. Also, about
31% of the elderly people were found making use of radio and music features of their
phones. They said that it helped them spending time. Only about 15% of the elderly were
found to be knowing the technological use of cell phones – calls, apps, music, and internet.
Almost all of them used the phones to communicate with either friends or relatives and only
a few were the ones who used it for professional purposes.
Can they spend their day without it?
Survey analysis showed that about 60% of the elderly people were able to spend their day
without a cell phone while about 40% needed one to pass their day. The elderly people who
weren’t able to spend their day without a phone said that they use it for calls, internet,
listening to music. Some also said that they needed it for professional purpose. Rest of 40%
of elderly people said that they did use cell phone for only calling purpose but not having a
cell phone won’t make much of a difference.
Yes60%
No40%
Can they spend their day without cell phone?
39
4. Cell Phones and Rural Areas
While studying the relation between cell phones and society, it is important to consider the
rural areas as rural population forms a major portion of the total population. It is important
to study how the mobile usage has penetrated the rural areas. People in these areas face
several developmental challenges, such as low literacy, poor healthcare facilities, low per
capita income, a high degree of poverty and poor infrastructure.2 The mobile phone has
emerged as an important development tool. It is seen as a device that has the potential to
break the rural–urban developmental gap by delivering information on a variety of
economic and social issues.
We did a field survey in rural areas near Gandhinagar namely Koba, Kudasan, Tarapur and
Sargasan, for which a structured questionnaire was prepared to study the impact of cell
phones on rural people.
What kind of cell phone do they possess?
2 Balwant Singh Mehta. Capabilities, costs, networks and innovations: impact of mobile phones in rural India
http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/pdf/outputs/TradePolicy/ctg-wp-2013-29.pdf
65%
22%
13%
Possession of type of cell phone
Simple
Smartphone
No phone
40
Statistics shows that nearly 90% of people possessed cell phone which means that the cell
phones have penetrated in rural areas at a very good pace.
Most of the people in rural areas possessed simple cell phones such as Symbian versions of
Nokia etc. These were possessed mostly by the people in age group of 30‐45 years which
had their own small businesses, or were small producers. People possessing smartphones
contribute nearly 20% of the rural people. These were the people in age group of 16‐30
years. People not possessing cell phones include women and children below age of 15 years.
It was also observed that even if women in the family do have a cell phone, it was only used
for receiving calls. Their cell phones didn’t have sufficient balance to make calls.
Another interesting thing which was observed was the use of “missed call” which was very
common among migrant family members/friends, serving as an indication for them to
return the call. Women and senior citizens in particular benefited from this practice. It was
observed that women who had cell phone had only enough balance so as to make a missed
call.
An innovative ownership model was also observed in rural areas. The people that didn’t
possess cell phone had also access to cell phone through this ownership model. A mobile
phone nominally belongs to a single person; however it is often informally shared between
several people in the community, due to a strong culture of sharing communication tools.
This gives way to a multiplier effect, as the impact of a single phone is spread out across
several individuals, or even an entire community.3
Is the cell phone technology affordable to them?
The answer to this question lies in the provision of prepaid plan by the service providers.
Nearly all the cell phone possessors used prepaid plans for their cell phones. Prepaid plans
allow exact monitoring of use, which is something very difficult to manage with fixed‐line
phones. Prepaid service is viewed as the most important form of appropriation that caters
to the needs of those with lower income.
The prepaid service has resulted into a new kind of payment model in the rural areas. People who didn’t possess a cell phone usually possessed a prepaid sim card with them, which they used in handset belonging to someone else. This arrangement allows the user to place a call using someone else’s hardware and battery power, but with their respective pre‐paid mobile phone card. Pre‐paid contracts and reselling of services is another, often more sophisticated model of payment.
3 Chaitali Sinha. Effect of Mobile Telephony on Empowering Rural Communities in Developing Countries http://irfd.org/events/wf2005/papers/sinha_chaitali.pdf
41
Below is the amount of recharge done by rural people on a monthly basis.
Above figures suggests that 85% of the rural people have their controlled expenditure on
cell phone recharge. The statistics shown clearly suggests that the usage of cell phone in
rural areas is only need based.
Preference of basic phone over smart phone
When rural people are asked about their new cell phone requirements, mostly all people
preferred simple phones with long battery backup. Very few people preferred smartphones
over simple phones.
The reason that they gave for it was that they didn't knew how to use the technology. Many
of them feared to use the new technology. Many people gave the reason that the simple
phones are sturdier than the smartphones.
What is the usage of cell phone in rural areas?
The usage of cell phone in rural areas near Gandhinagar was mainly for economic purposes
like marketing of small products etc. This mainly involves usage of cell phone for calling
purposes. The next important usage of cell phone in rural areas was for social connectivity
of the rural people with their friends and relatives. Very few people in the rural areas used
their cell phone for other purposes like entertainment which includes playing games,
internet purpose etc. Below is the statistics of usage of cell phone in villages near
Gandhinagar.
40%
45%
10% 5%
Monthly Cell phone recharge
Rs.100 and less
Rs.101-Rs.200
Rs.201-Rs.300
more than Rs.300
42
The benefits that are gained by rural people due to cell phone technology are as follows:
Cell phones provide a direct global communication channel to rural communities.
Many small producers and small shop holders in the rural areas updated themselves
with the latest prices of products through their cell phone which prevented
themselves to incur losses.
Cell phone technology is a reliable and timely communication channel in the context
of markets, extension, advice, monitoring, finances, health, etc.
It gives speed of communication for time‐sensitive information (e.g. disease
outbreaks).
These benefits are amplified by the fact that the spread of mobile technology in some rural
regions has occurred much faster than with other information and communication
technologies (ICTs).
Limitations of the technology:
Though mobile telephones have lot of advantages but like all technologies it has some
limitations too. These limitations are:
Costs are generally high for the new generation cell phones which had advanced
features.
Limited network coverage and low bandwidth in rural areas do not allow rural
people to take full benefit of this technology.
Limited capability of rural people to use the technology, particularly for more
complicated applications which are present in smartphones like images, GPS data,
etc.
Low awareness of the technology for educational purposes.
The lack of available non‐Roman scripts. This prevents rural people from using the
technology as most of them do not know English language.
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
economicpurpose
socialconnectivity
other
Usage of cell phone in rural areas
% of rural people
43
5. Ethical Issues
With technology advancing, ethical issues of cell phone use have been questioned. Good
and bad things have come with the advancement of cell phone technology. Cell phones
improve the efficiency of our lives, come in handy in emergencies, and keep us in close
contact with our families and friends, but there are also ethical dilemmas that arise from the
use of cell phones. Cell phones distract us when we are driving, they may have a detrimental
effect on our health, and they bring issues of privacy to a forefront.
Does cell phone acts as a communication barrier by reducing face‐to‐face
communication or as a communication bridge that helps you communicate even
more?
When surveyed in urban areas of Gandhinagar, there was mixed response. The conclusion
that can be drawn is that with advancement in cell phone technology, cell has emerged as a
communication bridge by connecting people living at far off places, where it is not feasible
to have face‐to‐face communication. But at the same time, it also acts a communication
barrier by reducing face‐to‐face communication between people who stay close each other.
It has made people to rely on indirect communication rather than direct communication.
People send their condolences about a bad event through mobile rather than meeting the
person to share his grief. This has resulted in the reduction of interpersonal communication.
Because of the increasing use of cell phones especially smartphones among college
students, a general scenario is seen that in a social gathering, people are involved in their
cell phones chatting with someone or surfing the internet rather than communicating with
the people around them. This has resulted in lack of interpersonal communication.
Talking while driving
The distraction of cell phone usage while operating a moving vehicle has been a major ethical concern. Every year nearly 1.4 million people have been killed because of they are wireless customers and their over‐bearing cell phones. While in India, an estimated 1.35 lakhs person died due to road accident in 2010, which is approximately 10% of road accident fatalities worldwide and these figures are the highest in the world.4 Studies show that the
4 Mobile Phone Accidents – Experience of India, by H. Abdul Shabeer, Wahida Banu
44
reaction time of cell phone users slows drastically. This includes their reaction time after hitting the brake and getting back in the flow of traffic.
There are two primary ways to address the ethical use of cell phones while driving. Cell phone users can take responsibility for their actions and self‐police and/or legal measures can be put in place to enforce specific behaviour. Cell phone users can take steps to reduce accidents and deaths caused by cell phone distraction while driving. Instead of taking a phone call while driving they can find a safe spot to pull over and effectively eliminate the risk of distraction. If a call must be taken the best possible solution would be a hands free device that allows greater control of the vehicle. As studies show increased distraction during text messaging, it would be beneficial to completely avoid this type of cell phone use while driving. The Government of individual States and/or the nation as a whole can also take steps to prevent certain activities by imposing stricter cell phone use regulations and penalties.
The following is the percentage of people, based on our survey, that use their cell phones while driving:
The people that use their cell phone also include all those people who use their cell phone rarely, frequently, very frequently and always. The survey also shows that 46% of people never used their cell phone while driving. But still there are more than 50% on the other side which suggests that they are on the high risk of accidents. Usage of cell phone while driving is a major ethical concern.
54%
46%
People Using Cell Phone While Driving
Use cell phone
Do not use cell phone
45
Health Risks
The medical risks of cell phone use present another ethical issue. The most common concern is the effect of radiofrequency (RF) energy waves produced by phones when held close to the head.
While these RF waves have been blamed for causing health problems from cancer to the boogie‐woogie flu, although there is no scientific evidence that has been published demonstrating harm from short‐ term exposures to low levels of RF energy.
Recent research has shown that health risks are greater for cell phone users that live and work where base stations are farther away or fewer in numbers because the farther a cell phone is from a base station, the more radiation it requires to send a signal and make a connection. Other studies have indicated using a cell phone an hour a day for ten years or more can drastically increase the risk of a brain tumour. For many the uncertainties about the health risks associated with cell phone use are enough to create concern. So what can be done to minimize the ethical consideration of medical risks involved with cell phone usage? People should talk on cell phones only when necessary, as well as use hands free devices whenever possible. Parents should minimize their children’s cell phone use, providing a cell phone to a child only in the case of an emergency. Until governing bodies impose stricter regulations and are able to more accurately report on the specific hazards associated with cell phone use, individuals will have to take some simple measures.
Privacy Issues
Privacy is another ethical issue with mobile phone technology. Privacy is not only an ethical issue for the cell phone user, but for the people within hearing distant of the user. For the cell phone user, the cell phone has stripped many from their privacy. Many people are reachable before, during, and after business hours thanks to cell phones; for some the work day never ends. Cell phones are to be considered a private means of contact, but more and more telecommuting companies are recruiting cell phone numbers as well. Privacy and comfort of individuals near cell phones users is also often compromised. People on cell phones tend to talk louder and project the intimate details of their conversation to anyone within earshot. Privacy issues become a great concern as cell phone use becomes more and more widespread. There are currently only a few places that prohibit cell phone use entirely, for safety reasons, such as medical facilities and airplanes. As cell phone use and coverage becomes more pervasive and readily available, it will be up to the individual users to exercise courtesy and restraint.
Has the use of texting ruined the English language per se?
Texting is a tightly circumscribed short message service (SMS) range‐bound to 160
characters, including spaces.
Texting has long been bemoaned as the downfall of the written word, “penmanship for
46
illiterates” (as called by John Sutherland)5. Abbreviation is the essence of texting. Texting
properly isn’t writing at all — it’s actually more akin to spoken language. And it’s a “spoken”
language that is getting richer and more complex by the year. As time has passed and the
texting has become ever more prevalent, “texters” have saved time by creating a new form
of shorthand often called chat‐speak. Students now text every day and have gotten so used
to this form of writing that they are starting to incorporate it in school related projects and
real world situations. Texting is developing its own kind of grammar and conventions.
A common belief is that the abbreviations used in text messaging are giving a battering to
written English. Increasingly, school teachers in countries where English is the first language
report that work is being written using poor punctuation, bad grammar and inappropriate
abbreviations. It’s claimed that students sometimes don’t even realize they are using text
lingo in their academic work.
Following is the analysis of our survey of percentage of students who think that texting has ruined English language:
Hence, the increasing use of texting as a mode of communication has resulted in ruining of English language. Most college students, as per our survey, have admitted that they use “texting” language subconsciously in their work. The inculcation of this habit at this age would create problem at later stage when these students are required to do official work, where it would give a wrong impression.
5 http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/is‐texting‐killing‐the‐english‐language/
66%
34%
Does texting ruin English language?
yes
no
47
Sexting
Most college students can and do send “sexts,” sexually explicit text messages that can contain naked or partially nude photos, according to studies by researchers.
Transmission of sexually explicit images of individuals under age 18 is also a serious breach of legal guidelines, and may subject offenders to child pornography charges. All create a “delicate situation” for impressionable teens and twenty‐something according to researchers, who emphasize the importance of educating college students as to the potential dangers of inappropriate technology usage.
Social and professional ramifications of sharing compromising photos are considerable, as images can potentially wind up in anyone’s hands or live forever online, where they’re visible to prospective schools, significant others and employers. While current sample sizes and populations may not be representative of all college students at large, they do point to a disturbing truth. Unbeknownst to parents, hundreds of thousands of kids may unsuspectingly be opening themselves up to not only ridicule, but also the threat of being labelled a sex offender.
Is mobile phone a “disturbance” for people or are people taking it as
“disturbance”?
One cannot vote it both the ways, although it’s not that always that going for either of the
sides, can ignore the unchosen side. Taking the response to first outcome of the question, it
is inferred that in one way with the emergence and invention of newer technologies for
mobile phones, it has become a centre of attraction for the people to look, experience and
review the innovative ideas, which in terms lead to distraction of one’s mind from his routine
and thus acting as a “disturbance” for people. Here, the cases from survey are like of new
games, applications, features, or any other entertainment things, etc., which attract people
and people be the victims of technology and then spend their valuable time for it, thus
creating a negative role as a disturbing element. The second way is that there could be
sometimes unnecessary or unimportant calls, which can act as a disturbance at the same time
when one is attending any important meeting (cause disturbance), or when one is sleeping
(disturbs the needed sleep), or while one is driving (disturbs driver, which further leads to
accidents, which is serious ethical case), or in the case when one wants to ignore the caller
(especially the promoting calls from the mobile barrier companies (senseless calls in any
mobile user’s view)). The third way is that the special cause of “privacy”, means that it is
obvious that one do have private information in the mobile, so in order to avoid it from getting
it into others’ hands, one feels disturbed from his mobile phone to be secured. The fourth
way could be that. The other way is that the technology turned out to be addiction for one,
in the sense that the technology is like an attachment chain, i.e., People over utilize mobile
phones. They are always texting and are always hooked up on social networking sites, which
is not necessary activity but the users indulge themselves for their own pleasure and assume
it as one of the necessary part to do in a day, just like they have thinking like they must do
them, or else they aren’t in “latest updated” status, highly described as “over‐socialization”.
48
Thus they turn cell phones into an element of disturbance although it can be avoided.
Statistically, from the survey, shown in figure below.
Cell phone harassment
As the Cell phone has reached out at everyone’s pocket its black side also growing with
same pace. It has become a serious problem among adolescents and teens. It is one of the
easiest medium to annoy, harass or threaten people by the known or unknown persons. It is
the very common form of cyber‐bullying. Cell phone harassment takes place in many forms
like ‐
unwanted telephone calls or text message, photos, video message, or voicemail
which cause you upset, grief, harassed, tormented, threatened, humiliated,
embarrassed or otherwise victimized
Lewd, obscene or indecent comments, suggestions or requests over the Cell phone.
Other than these in the general life we see the case like repeated calls where the caller does
not identify himself, Cell phone rings incessantly in the middle of the night, a dozen calls
71%
22%
7%
Is Mobile Phone A Disturbing Element?
YES
NO
SOMETIMES
49
reach to your cell phone that are instantly cut down the minute you answer. And sometimes
your known person try to stalk you by mobile phone even you don’t want to think about
him.
In textual harassment one method is simply involves sending hundreds of messages a day,
sometimes with the assistance of settings that can schedule texts to be delivered at a very
high rate. Other harassers may opt to send occasional abusive messages. Harassers can
include sending messages at odd hours or timing the delivery of texts for a time when the
harasser knows that the victim cannot afford to be distracted.
Actress Gul Panag on twitter “So I have finally joined the club of those being stalked. And it's
not fun. Calls, SMSs the works!! Harassment trauma. And I am missing calls from friends,
family, colleagues on account of phone being silent thanks to my stalker friend.”
“A 22‐year‐old TY B.Com student, her phone became a nightmare after she received more
than 150 calls a day from a single person. And to make matters worse, the accused used 64
different phone numbers so that she couldn't identify him”6
Our survey “when people usually give prank calls to others, or when they send (text) explicit
images to others to ruin image of a person who doesn't want to keep any contact with the
sender anymore. To be precise, it can become a mode of Cyber‐bulling. It can also act as a
medium of denigration.”
Reasons
One of the main reason behind this type of harassment is making a threat full phone call
more tempting than a face‐to‐face confrontation. You would not able to reach down to the
person and teach him a lesson. The victim of this type of offences are mainly girls which are
more unwilling to share this thing with others than boys. The communication over mobile
phone is very private so it is particularly difficult to escape from harassment when it
happens over your cell phone. It can happen any times in a day, any place even if you go
home, which could be assume a much safer place than others, so it can feel inescapable.
This type of harassment are often much meaner because they don't have to see their
victims. Many mobile phones can be bought which do not require identity proof, nor is any
record kept of the new owner. Calls made from these types of mobile phone are difficult to
trace. In the textual harassment it is difficult to block text particular number’s messages, If
you do so you have to block all the incoming messages but then you have to compromise
with all other important messages.
In today’s time a caller can easily take steps to your cell phone by remaining anonymous.
Many times boys make spam calls to girls just to trouble girls just because of love,
ignorance, insult, fun and all other matters. Somehow one manages to get your number, he
can view your pictures on Whatsapp (if you use it), use it for unfair means out of your
knowledge. He can make crank calls and even track your location. It creates a mental
6 http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/man‐harassed‐22‐year‐old‐using‐64‐mobile‐numbers‐331259
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harassment to them like depression, anxiety, social withdrawal and sometimes more worst
consequences than we can think.
Psychological effects of cell phone
On asking psychologists about the physiological effects that cell phone had on people’s
mind, following were the conclusions.
How cell phone affects people’s mind and behaviour?
Cell phones have turned out to be an obsession rather than a necessity among adolescents.
It has also become a status symbol in certain social strata. It is hindering social behaviour as
most social interactions occur via cell phone. It helps in connecting people but takes away
from them face‐to‐face interactions. This causes alienation from social circles.
Are cell phones a reason behind serious consequences like suicide?
Cell phones do not directly cause suicidal behaviour, however it can be used to abet suicide.
When one relies a lot on cell phones for social it can cause aggressive tendencies, loneliness
etc., which could cause depression and thereby suicide.
How does cell phone affect social interaction?
The use of cell phone has a huge impact on social interaction, in both positive as well as
negative way. It has brought the world closer, the networking has helped people in staying
in touch on more regular basis and the communication has become extremely easy,
especially in long distance interactions. A lot of professional and personal communication is
done through messages and chats and it is faster, cheaper and easier to communicate now.
But the drawback is that, like all other addictions, cell phones have turned out to be an
obsession and addiction and a full time occupation for many, taking away the space for
prioritizing what may be the need of an hour for them. Overuse of cell phone and misuse of
it has turned into a huge threat to social behaviour and interactions, and if the judicial use
of it is not implemented, then the already heavy dependence on it for social interaction may
rob the society of the personal interactions that are the basic needs of humans.
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6. Conclusion
After the extensive amount of survey conducted in rural as well as urban areas of
Gandhinagar, it can be concluded that there is a two way relationship between cell phone
and society. The above analysis clearly shows that cell has impacted all sections and all age
groups of the society, may it be school children, college students, working class people,
women or rural people.
But, this evolution of cell phone from simple device able to generate only phone calls to a
device that serve as medium to do all our daily tasks is not only due to the advancement of
technology or due to innovative ideas of the scientists, it is driven by the demands and
needs of the society. The need of human beings to do all their tasks in an easy and
comfortable manner from any place has led to emergence of smartphones that provides
variety of features.
From our survey, it can be concluded that the college students are the only sections of the
society that utilize all the features provided by the smartphones. This can be concluded by
examining the usage statistics of all the sections of the society. College students utilize the
features provided by the smartphones in equal proportions while other sections of the
society including professionals and working class people(age 25‐60), women, elderly people,
rural people mainly uses cell phone(or smartphones) for calling purpose in their work. The
new cell phone requirements of the college students (graph) clearly conclude that college
students demand maximum features in their cell phones at minimum price. Nearly 70%
students give preference to features and price of the cell phone. Hence, it is clear that the
cell phone manufacturers mainly target college students for their sales as now‐a‐days, most
of the cell phones that are manufactured are smartphones with a reasonable price.
The survey also raises some critical questions that need to be answered:
Is cell phone acting as a status symbol?
Based on our survey it can be concluded that school students that is the age group of below
18 years consider it as a status symbol as well as need. As we go higher in age groups, the
image of cell phone as a status symbol decreases, rather it is seen as a need by people.
Thus, it can be concluded that as people become mature, they tend to see cell phone as a
need rather than status symbol. For elderly people it is only a need while only a few middle
aged people see cell phone as status symbol.
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Are cell phones bridging the digital divide or deepening it?
The main reason for digital divide is the affordability of the cell phones. With the advent of
smartphones at an affordable price, cell phones in a way try to bridge the digital divide
between the rural and urban areas. But this digital divide has not been bridged completely
due to the hesitance of rural people in upgrading their cell phones to smartphones. They are
still not thorough with smartphone technology due to fear and lack of assistance and
guidance of how to operate with these kinds of phones. Hence, it can be concluded that cell
phones are not trying to divide the society into classes or strata. Moreover, it can be used to
bridge the digital divide with some assistance to the rural people.
In reality, people in urban areas are possessing smartphones whereas the rural people are
still using the simple phones that only basic features. So, even with the cell phone trying to
bridge the digital divide, the digital divide is actually deepening because of the increasing
use of smartphones in the urban areas.
Is cell phone really inevitability or just an overhyped technological boon?
When questioning the importance of cell phones in our lives we feel that the cell phone per
se is inevitability. But when it comes to smartphones we feel that it definitely is a need
especially for the college students as they entirely utilize all the features of a smartphone
but is not inevitability. But the desire of certain sections of society to go for costly and high‐
end cell phones is just a result of the hype created by the mobile manufacturers although
they perform all the same tasks and consists of mostly all the features one would find in any
economical cell‐phone. Even in the case of elderly people there is definitely a requirement
to have a cell‐phone. Thus, it forms an integral part of almost all the age groups. The
portability feature of the smartphones makes it rather a need than inevitability. So, cell
phone, in general, is inevitability but the emergence of the high end smartphones is just
overhyped.
Is cell phone leading to gender inequality?
The landline phones, undoubtedly privileged women over men as women had to stay in
home more than men. But, when examining women’s use of cell phones in rural areas, it
shows that cell phones lead to gender inequality. It was recognized, in rural areas, that male
heads of the house distributed the resources in such a way that it disadvantaged women in
the house. For example, in the survey conducted around the villages near Gandhinagar, the
common practice seen was that women in the family had cell phone but it had minimal
balance so as to make a missed call. The cell phone was there only to receive calls. Male in
the family are free to make calls to friends and relatives but this privilege was not enjoyed
by the female in rural areas.
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7. Bibliography
Debabrata Das. “Growth of mobile phone subscribers in India”
http://www.researchfindr.com/growth‐mobile‐phone‐subscribers‐india
Kas Kalba. “The Adoption of Mobile Phones in Emerging Markets: Global Diffusion and the
Rural Challenge” http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/216/179..
Excessive Mobile Phone Use Affects Sleep In Teens http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080609071402.htm
http://ethicsandtechnology.weebly.com/cell‐phones.html
Mobile‐phone addiction in teenagers may cause severe psychological disorders http://www.news‐medical.net/news/2007/02/27/22245.aspx
Analysis of College Students' Dependence on Cell Phones http://shefali1130.blogspot.in/2010/10/analysis‐of‐college‐students‐dependence.html
http://www.teachthemenglish.com/tag/contrasting‐views‐on‐the‐effects‐of‐text‐messaging‐on‐
english‐grammar/
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/blogs/gear‐up/hot‐stuff‐most‐college‐students‐into‐
sexting‐dirty‐messages‐20110721