Use of Mobile Phones by College Students and Its Effects on Their Academics - Report Example

Use of Mobile Phones by College and Its Effects on Their Academics Mazen Alqethamy The of Findlay Use of Mobile Phones by CollegeStudents and Its Effects on Their Academics Theoretical framework: Mobile phones have been known to play a crucial role in supporting social groups amongst many college students. It has become a vital component in their school items and an essential requirement for their daily activities. Use of phones by college students is a controversial issue and thus the aim here is to critically analyze the pros and cons of using mobile phones by college students and its effect on their academic performances. A study conducted by Yi-Fan & Katz (2008) showed that majority of college students use mobile phones to communicate with their loved ones. They used the phones to call and/or text their family and friends and to stay in touch. Three groups of college students participated in this research and these groups were further divided on gender basis. It was revealed that mobile phone was the primary method used by these students to establish direct contacts with their parents. It also showed that female students tend to contact their parents a lot more frequently than male students. Almost all participants felt it necessary to communicate with their parents at least once a day and some even liked to communicate with them more than once (Yi-Fan & Katz, 2008). Even though this study provides a number of different aspects of college students’ use of mobile phones, there were limitations that may have had an effect on the research results. The research groups were restricted to students from only one university which limited the sample pool. To enhance the scope of the study it is important that more students are included from different universities (Yi-Fan & Katz, 2008). Another aspect of using mobile phones by college students is to use them as a means of fashion statement. Katz and Sugiyama (2006) conducted a study in which the researchers explored the idea of mobile phones being used as fashion statements across United States and Japan. The study argues that contrary to the belief that the use of mobile phones is not just popular because of their function as a communication device, but also their role as fashionable tools. This study uses the domestication theory by Silverstone and Haddon (2003) which provides an understanding of how technological goods become symbolic in nature for their users. Results of the study showed that a large number of students thought fashion was relevant when it came to the adoption of a personal communication device. Using these devices students tend to perceive other students’ status and that the use of mobile technology is becoming a physical and symbolic part of these students. The study resulted in understanding the basis on which students make their decisions about the adaptation of a particular handheld device (Katz & Sugiyama, 2006). Conversely, use of mobile phones in certain places has been objected by many students. A research conducted by Lipscomb et al. (2005) tried to find out where students thought the use of mobile phones was considered inappropriate. It showed that generally, students thought that the use of mobile phones was unsuitable in places where a high level of concentration was required. These places included university class rooms, movie theaters, libraries and churches/places of worship (Lipscomb et al., 2005). Mention of these places suggested that the use of mobile phones in such places tends to have an effect on the concentration levels of students. The only place where the difference in opinion about the use of mobile phone came up was while driving. Majority of students from rural parts of United States seemed to be of the view that the use of mobile phone while driving was appropriate while students from urban areas deemed such an act as inappropriate. The author of the study attributed this disparity to the difference in traffic density of the two regions. Lipscomb et al. (2005)’s claim that the use of mobile phone is inappropriate to be used in places where high concentration was required is further explained by Shelton et al. (2009). These authors carried out four experiments where they studied the effect of ringtones in class rooms. One experiments tested the effect ringtones on students’ concentration levels. In this study, the students were exposed to various mobile phone ringtones during a lecture and then their performances were evaluated by a quiz which was based on the information related to the lecture that was conducted during ringing of the mobile phone. The results showed that students who were subjected to mobile phone ringtone during the lectures were affected not only by the sound of the ringtone but also by its type. The irrelevant sounds had a direct effect on the tasks that were being carried out by the participants of the experiment. . Empirical framework: Another popular use of mobile phones that has risen amongst students is their use to gain access to social networking websites in class rooms. This is commonly observed with students who own Smartphones (Suki, 2013). In recent years, available literature on the use of social networking websites and its effects on student’s academics has increased dramatically. A research conducted by Jomon et al. (2012) of how the time spent on online social networking websites affect academics of college students explains that the time spent by students on social networking websites had a negative impact on their academics. Students who spent a lot of time on social networking websites had a reduced attention span and were unable to concentrate on a particular task. Other factors that had effects on the attention spans of students were characteristic on their views on how others perceived online social networking and whether or not they were interested in online social networking (Paul et al., 2012). These results further implied that greater the time students spent on social networking websites, lesser the time they spent on their studies. Even though Paul et al. (2012) mention the fact that students are aware that online social networking can be used as a tool in aiding students in the field of academics, it fails to point out how it can be achieved. Kirkwood (2010) has put forward a learning support platform that aids students in their academics using characteristics and behaviors of social networking. The model makes use of a learning approach that is aided by a student’s friends and classmates. Literature regarding physical peer learning has emerged in recent times and work is being carried out to further understand its benefit (van der Meer & Scott, 2008). Online peer learning has been brought into the attention of many people after the introduction of Web 2.0 technology. The SNAP platform proposed in this paper can be accessed not only through a computer but also via one’s mobile phone (Kirkwood, 2010). The platform provides users an interactive environment which in turn helps them develop an interest in their studies. Learning environment integrated on an online platform also provides encouragement to students to actively participate in the process of learning (Kirkwood, 2010). Conceptual framework: From the literature cited above, a number of factors were brought forward which were related to use of mobile phone amongst college students and how it affected their academic performances. The author of the paper first investigated the use of mobile phones amongst students studying in universities. Majority of university students used mobile phones as a means of communication. Most frequently these students called upon their families for a number of reasons, varying from socializing with the family to asking them for favors. Mobile phone for these students acted as medium to keep in touch with their families back home. Another trend observed amongst college students was the use of mobile phones as a fashion statement. Students admitted that while adopting the use of a particular mobile phone, they seriously pondered over the symbolic nature of their mobile phones. These students felt that an aspect of fashion was associated with their mobile phone and used mobile phones as a tool to measure how fashionable their peers were and how fashionable their peers considered them. Use of cell phones is objected by students due to their disruptive nature in places where activities needed full concentration. This led to the discussion of how exactly the use of cell phone in such places affects the environment and the people working in that environment. The study deduced that cell phone ringtone greatly affected concentration level of a person and reduced their attention span. This reduction in attention span was noted in test results (conducted by researchers) and hence affected their academics in a real life scenario. Recently Smartphones have allowed students to access social networking websites on their phones. A significant relationship was noted between the two factors, i.e. students that spent a lot of time on online social networking had a smaller attention span whereas students that had greater attention span spent less time on online social networking. Attention span directly resulted in a student’s academic performance and hence students who spent more time on online social networking had a lower GPA than those who didn’t. Based on this information, following hypothesis were derived and would be tested in the present study: Hypothesis 1(H1): Students primarily used their mobile phones for communication purposes. Hypothesis 2 (H2): Mobile phones had a major negative impact on academic performances of students. Hypothesis 3 (H3): Online social networking on cell phones is mainly used to achieve improvement of academic performance of students. According to H1, primary use of mobile phones for students is communication. However, Smartphones have given them many features that increased the use of mobile phones into other fields such as social networking applications. Through their Smartphones, students have access to social networking websites from anywhere in the world. The changing paradigms in the use of mobile phones tend to change the behavior and other characteristics of its users. The second hypothesis, H2, evaluate the negative impact on academic performance of a student who extensively use mobile phones. It has been established that the use of mobile phones tends to distract the user by reducing their attention span which in turn tends to affect their academics. From the literature survey, two main reasons surfaced that were linked to mobile phones which contributed to the decline of students academic performances. One was the distraction due to ringing of a phone in an environment where concentration was of utmost importance and the other was the extensive use of cell phones to spend much time on online social networking. The third hypothesis (H3) addresses the issue of whether online social networking is being used for academic purposes. From the literature we know that college students are well aware of the concept of academic use of online social networking. There are a number of platforms that have emerged that allow online peer collaboration to help college students improve their academic performance. However, there is little or no literature that helps understand the actual popularity of the idea of online social networking for academic purposes. Within this context, the given three hypotheses would aid the present research in understanding the effect of mobile phones on the academic performances of college students, its favorable as well as adverse effects and how the use of phones can be used to the advantage of education. Reference List Haddon, L. (2003). Domestication and Mobile Telephony. Machines That Becomes Us , 43-55. Katz, J. E., & Sugiyama, S. (2006). Mobile phones as fashion statements: evidence from student surveys in US and Japan. new media & society , 321-337. Kirkwood, K. (2010). The SNAP Platform: social networking for academic purposes. Campus-Wide Information Systems , 118-126. Lipscomb, T. J., Totten, J. W., Cook, R. A., & Lesch, W. (2005). Cellular phone etiquette among college students. International Journal of Consumer Studies , 46-56. Paul, J. A., Baker, H. M., & Cochran, J. D. (2012). Effect of online social networking on student academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior , 2117-2127. Shelton, J. T., Elliott, E. M., Eaves, S. D., & Exner, A. L. (2009). The distracting effects of a ringing cell phone: An investigation. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 513-521. Suki, N. M. (2013). Students dependence on smart phones: The influence of social needs, social influences and convenience . Campus-Wide Information Systems , 124-134. van der Meer, J., & Scott, C. (2008). Shifting the balance in first-year learning support: from staff instruction to peer-learning primacy. Australasian Journal of Peer Learning , 70-79. Yi-Fan, C., & Katz, J. E. (2008). Extending family to school life:College students’ use of the mobile phone. Int. J.Human-ComputerStudies , 179-191. Following references are missing from the list. Silverstone & Haddon (2003)- is it same as the Haddon,L (2003)? Jomon et al (2012) Read More