Edwards 1 Lyle Edwards Ron Bohannon MA ENG 1010 31 July 2013 Social impact of cell phones Social Change

refers to the transformation of culture and social institutions throughout time, which is usually brought about by collective behavior (Kendall, 2004). The adoption of the cell phone as a communication and entertainment device has revolutionized society, redefining patterns of social contact and relationships among individuals. The cell phone has completely changed the daily life of individuals to such an extent that it can be thought of as an agent of social change. It has provided individuals with more personal freedom. Conversely, it has also blurred the boundary between personal and public life. Together with everyday uses of the cell phone as a communication device it has become a fashion tool, a device to shape individuals identity and prestige creating a new subculture around the cell phones themselves. By reviewing studies conducted in different parts of the world, this paper argues that the cell phone is not only essential for maintaining contact, but also a device that has broad social impact on family relations, peer relations, socialization, and identity formation. Before the cell phone was introduced we use to have to wait and home and wait for phone calls to come. When they did come we would be tied to a specific room talking, unable to really move around and do other things. I think with the way the world has become such a fast paced world we were almost demanding something to make it so we wouldnt have to be stuck in one place waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with us. Eventually the cell phone was developed and gave us the opportunity to be working anywhere we wanted and still be able to be

Edwards 2 in contact with work, family, and friends. The mobile phone device is a very important communication tool as it was built to enhance social contacts and network while enhancing business productivity. With our mobile phones, we are able to update ourselves on where our families and friends are. We are able to know what is happening around us. The mobile phone enables us to be on time during appointments. It also helps in verifying the degree of temperature to enable us chose appropriate dress code for the day. It keeps us informed on current events because of its connectivity to the internet. It relaxes us also when we play games with it or listen to music through it (Bemah 2013). The number of things we are able to do on a cell phone seems to change almost daily. With the ability of adding apps to cell phones it has changed the way we all use them. Being able to download and create apps for almost anything we might want to do is absolutely amazing. Were no longer held to the fact of waiting for the people who released the cell phone to come up with new software, we can just do it ourselves. Because of these apps that people have created we have such things as Facebook, or Twitter, which have greatly increased our social circles. We are able to get news about things happening in real time rather than waiting for the news to cover them. We are also able to keep contact with things our friends are doing in ways we have never been able to do before. Cell phones have also created their own subculture with making new cell phones the new cool thing to do. People need to have the coolest phones and coolest accessories for their phones all the time no matter the cost. Cell phone usage can be defined as any application of the cell phone as a tool, including talking, text messaging, game playing or the sheer accessibility of the instrument. Originally the cell phone served as a tool for business management. Now, cell phones serve as a tool for social connection, in other words, managing social relationships. Across qualitative and quantitative studies, users of the cell phone all report using their phone for social purposes. However,

Edwards 3 scholars have argued the cell phone might actually serve as a tool for social isolation. (Banjo, Hu, Sundar, 2008) One of the biggest complaints some have about the cell phone is how some people use it to isolate themselves, whether it be because they are bored, or in order to separate themselves from an awkward conversation. A common concern to cellphones is that they make their users antisocial. It is common to see people at restaurants, movies and sporting events playing on their phones instead of enjoying the surroundings. People who have friends who are addicted to playing on their cellphones may become tired with them because of their antisocial tendencies. Eventually, the cellphone-addicted person may begin losing friends because his friends are annoyed with his habit of using his phone. (Mccoy, 2012) Part of the frustration people have with people using their cell phones is people try and get their friends to go and hang out and socialize with them but it can sometimes be hard to get people to actually have deep meaningful conversations with people, but people tend to get so distracted with the multiple things going on in their cell phone. My personal experience with this is going out to eat with friends or family and while sitting at the table people have the faces buried into their cell phones not even talking to each other. Its not uncommon to go to a restraint see a group of 3-4 people and no one is interacting with each other at all, they all have their cell phones up and are texting, checking Facebook, or playing games. Przybylski & Weinstein (2012) conducted a study on how cell phones can affect the quality of conversations. Przybylski and Weinstein (2012) asked pairs of strangers to discuss a moderately intimate topic (an interesting event that had occurred to them within the last month) for 10 minutes. The strangers left their own belongings in a waiting area and proceeded to a private booth. Within the booth, they found two chairs facing each other and, a few feet away, out of their direct line of vision, there was a desk that held a book and one other item. Unbeknownst to the pair, the key difference in their interactions would be the second item

Edwards 4 on the desk. Some pairs engaged in their discussion with a nondescript cell phone nearby, whereas other pairs conversed while a pocket notebook lay nearby. After they finished the discussion, each of the strangers completed questionnaires about the relationship quality (connectedness) and feelings of closeness they had experienced. The pairs who chatted in the presence of the cell phone reported lower relationship quality and less closeness. While cell phones have definitely improved certain aspects of the way we live this freedom has definitely come at a cost to direct face to face social interaction. Part of the problem some people face is they already tend to be nonsocial person to begin with, then adding a cell phone to the mixture almost enables them continue on in their ways of avoiding face to face contact with others and makes it almost impossible for them to confront their fears. Although the Cell phone has impacted people of all ages, studies have shown that adolescents have been the most avid user group in all countries (Grinter and Eldridge, 2001). Children have quickly become the most avid user base of cell phones lately, they use them to keep in contact with their friends at all times. When growing up before the age of cell phones for most children the only time they use to see some of their friends were through daily interactions in school, or hanging out after school. By adding cell phones into the mix it has come to the point they are always connected, always talking to their friends and its almost impossible to sever that connection. Parents have also become big supporters of children having cell phones. The pattern of interaction between youth and parents is reflected as a digital Leash (Haddon, 2002, p.119). Parents feel safer knowing their children will always have a cell phone on them at all times and are able to keep on contact with their children throughout the day while they are working or running errands, they can keep tabs on everything going on with their children.

Edwards 5 In this paper we have learned the many things that cell phones have improved in our lives (Bemah, 2013). We also learned how some of the benefits also bring along some aspects that people dont always enjoy, but most people seem to be willing to put up with in order to gain the benefits (Banjo, Hu, Sundar, 2008). Weve also seen studies that prove how cell phones can affect the quality of conversations people have even when they arent physically using the cell phones at the time, but just by having a cell phone in the room with them at the same time (Pryzbylski, Weinstein 2012). Overall I feel that cell phones have become such a large part of our social interactions with people that it has forced people to adopt the cell phone. Its not very often something comes along and can become such a dominant item in our everyday lives, but its safe to say most people wouldnt be able to argue otherwise.

Edwards 6 Works Cited: Abena Bemah (2013) Social impact of the mobile Phone device http://afroeuro.org http://afroeuro.org/magazine/?p=4722 Andrew K. Przybylski & Netta Weinstein (2012) Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality. University of Essex, UK Grinter, R. E., & Eldrigde, M. A. (2001). Y do tngrs luv 2 txt msg? Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Haddon, L.G. (2002) Youth and mobiles: The british case and further questions. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/ubiquitous/Papers/Youth_and_Mobile_2002.pdf Kendall, D. (2004) Sociology in our times: the essentials (4th ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thompson Omotayo Banjo, Yifeng Hu, and S. Shyam Sundar (2008) Cell phone usage and social interaction with Proximate Others: Ringing in a Theoretical Model Pennsylvania State University, PA William McCoy (2012) Cellphones & Social skills. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/cellphonessocial-skills-28929.html