Use of Cell phones has become part and parcel of today’s live. Most people have considered it so important that they cannot live without it. It has become the last thing we use before we sleep and the first thing we see in the morning. Cell phones lifestyle is considered to ease up our lives and very little considerations are put on our overall ability to function as a society as well as our general being. There has been a mind-blowing success of cell phone usage in the U.S. In fact, it is reported that globally, the U.S’s telecommunication market is the largest (Cooper, 2012).
Children right from the age of 12 years can easily access cell phones. The cell phone technology has made the world to be a global village where great convenience in communication sector is achieved just by the press of a button. Currently, a variety of features such as games, internet access, and e-mails among other social media like music, Instagram, facebook as well as radio has been added. This has made it a resort for loneliness for many mobile phones users around the world. Many cell phone users lie in between the age of 16 to 22 years. These young adults use phones for sending messages, playing games, and even during class time. Cell phone usage has got advantages as well as disadvantages. When used excessively it may lead to addiction or even reduced face to face communication. More often, it is observed that people are talking to others while sending text messages. It is also often observed that even the visitors, guests are kept waiting till the cell phone use is finished. The gender may also play some role in high cell phone use. This study aims to investigate just how often young adults from the ages of 16-22 are reaching for their cell phones. This study will be done on an observational basis.
Introduction
This observational research has two intentions. Firstly is to identify mobile phone users within youthful grown-ups as far as their inherent inspirations toward phone use are concerned. The hypothesis of the study will be that many cell phone users are often young adults from the ages of 16-22 who are reaching for their cell more often than engaging in conversation with the group that they were with. Understanding the users' inborn inspirations encourages us to decode the motivation behind why the phone use is embraced by a specific age group.
Secondly, this is observational research intends to analyze different characteristics in behaviors, for example, the average number of calls, their length, and places and instances where phones are commonly used. This will assist to decide connections between social qualities and inherent inspirations and sentiments about phone usage.
Understanding the connections between behavioral characteristics and inherent inspirations encourages us to see how the motivation for reception influences the real utilization of mobile phones.
Literature Review
It was until a few years that mobile phones turned into an indispensable piece of human life. In the same way as other different advances that support the predominance of societal position, the little gadgets started as a class image of the chosen couple of (rich specifically). One can envision what number of individuals could manage the cost of that. At that point someplace all of a sudden, the saved well-to-do benefit changed when the gadgets turned out to be sensibly priced and open to everybody. Even better; the headway in innovation likewise observed the gadgets move from radios to global inclusion towers. Individuals are presently discussing the to a great degree progressed 3G technology
The current society relies upon phones in the present culture for various reasons. Basically, the devices give solid focal points couple of drawbacks. Never in mankind's history, has a gadget transformed and influenced the methods for correspondence as observed today. Mobile phones have definitely interlaced into the human every day for valid justifications. The mobile phone innovation has encouraged fast communication and has allowed conceivable to speak with everybody from anyplace. Aside from the sound correspondence, the innovation has additionally empowered its users to send the various instant text to many individuals each and every day on the off chance that they so wish
Previous studies
Research on the social effects of the cell had been rare until two or three years back. Past studies on cells analyzed policy aspects and engineering of the innovation. However, in recent years, a few analysts began to direct concentration toward social aspects of mobile phone dispersion and their effects had on individuals' everyday lives and connections. A noticeable US analyst investigating the social aspects of cell phone correspondence investigated in 1997 the conceivable impacts of remote correspondence upon the lives of people (Katz, 2017). In looking at the point, he mentioned several impacts of such a technology: to be specific ''first- impacts,'' coordinate impacts that are quickly seen by users; ''second impacts,'' aberrant impacts that are ''encounters or sentiments that individuals may see in others'' and ''third level impacts,'' the slightest direct impacts seen by outside eyewitnesses who contemplate the impacts of the innovation on the community. He recorded vulnerability decrease, individual security, and individual proficiency, as the principal arrange impacts of remote communication on close to home lives; more tightly coupling of residential generation, data instantaneousness, and contact ability as the second level impacts; and social control, collaboration, and imaginative.
Palen noted that there is a distinction between the underlying expectation and the real idea of phone utilize. They concluded that individuals at first by cells for 'business'' or employment-related reasons (Palen, Salzman, " Youngs, 2010). Ling and Yttri (1999), researching especially high school subscribers through a progression of center gathering questionnaires, showed the appropriation of PDAs brought about new types of the collaboration called ''miniaturized scale coordination and hyper-coordination.''
The gap from previous research
The past researchers have examined the impacts of cell use with their main focus being uses of the technology and have paid little or no intention to the fact that the cells are establishing a certain behavioral characteristic among youths in various regions in the world
Data collection and recording
I got off one evening and drove to First Colony Mall. I sat in the food court for about 45 minutes watching and observing the youth. This was a Friday evening and the mall was full of people. There were many youth and young adults, so I picked the perfect evening to do my observation. There was the youth in their own separate little cliques and they all dressed differently, acted differently and had their own unique styles. Some were well mannered, while some were loud and obnoxious. You could tell those children that were well mannered and properly disciplined versus those that seemed hopeless. Some were walking around talking on cell phones, some had on earplugs, some were meeting with their other friends, some were on dates, some were actually shopping and some seemed to be there just to be there. Everyone had their own agenda and own reasons for being at the mall that night. Some of the youth were dressed well, some were dressed as though they were going to a nightclub and some just fit in with the crowd. I could pick up on how some of these kids were trying so hard to just fit in. I saw a very few that were actually there with their parents. I counted and recorded the number of young adults who were reaching out for their cell phones more often than engaging in conversation with the group that they were with. The mall seemed like the hangout spot for all of the youth and young adult. After sitting in the food court for a while I got up and just walked up and down the mall for about 30 minutes. I also counted and recorded the number of young adults who were reaching out for their cell phones more often than engaging in conversation with the group that they were with. It was then that I realized that just like when I was younger most of these kids were frequently reaching for their cell while the older generation was more frequently picking up on conversations to be in the clique and fit in with one another.
Data analysis
From the above pie chart, it is observed that the majority of the cell phone users during a conversation lie between the ages of 16-18 years followed by age 18-20 years. Very few adults above the age of 22 were engaging on the phone while in a conversation.
Results and findings
The results of the study revealed that the younger generation was reaching for technology more often than engaging in conversation with the group that they were with. My study supports the hypothesis that many cell phone users are often young adults from the ages of 16-22 who are reaching for their cell more often than engaging in conversation with the group that they were with
According to my observation, dependency is created when the cell phone users use it regularly making it become their close companion that they cannot live without it. This is more prominent in younger generation was as they were seen to be reaching for technology more often than engaging in conversation with the group that they were with.
From the observation, peer pressure to maintain a good image is also an issue with the young adults as there was many of them walking around talking on cell phones, some had on earplugs, some were meeting with their other friends, some were on dates, some were actually shopping and some seemed to be there just to be there
It is also an informed guess to conclude that several participants use their cell phones to maintain their privacy. For certain business transactions, they cleverly use the landline numbers while keeping the personal phone numbers to those who are close to them.
Conclusion and recommendation for research
Just like any other thing in the world cell phones is a good but excessive use of it leads to weakening of the human social communication as it is seen how younger generation was busy reaching for technology more often than engaging in conversation with the group that they were with. Young adults should rethink how often they use their phone as well as the impact it might be causing to society. Lastly, further studies should be conducted in the areas of behavioral characteristics to provide insights into feelings, emotions and personal experience on cell phone usage as well as other issues of social use.
Work cited
Cooper, G. (2012). The mutable mobile: social theory in the wireless world. In Wireless world (pp. 19-31). Springer, London.
Katz, J. E. (2017). Social and organizational consequences of wireless communications: a selective analysis of residential and business sectors in the United States. Telematics and informatics, 14(3), 233-256.
Ling, R., " Yttri, B. (1999). Nobody sits at home and waits for the telephone to ring: Micro and hyper-coordination through the use of the mobile telephone. Telenor Forskning og Utvikling, FoU Rapport, 30(99).
Palen, L., Salzman, M., " Youngs, E. (2010, December). Going wireless: behavior " practice of new mobile phone users. In Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work (pp. 201-210). ACM.
