Cell Phones: How They Changed Us Socially - Research Paper Example

? | Word Limit 22 APRIL Assignment Topic: Cell Phones: How they changed us socially Candi ment I hereby declare that this assignment is my own work and any use of materials from other sources has been referenced accordingly. Candidate Signature: Date: Tutor Statement I hereby confirm that this assignment, to the best of my knowledge, is the candidates own work and they have not collaborated in the production of this assignment with any other person. I also confirm that I have a record of this candidate’s progress tutorial/s. Tutor Signature: Date: Contents Contents 3 Introduction 4 What is Communication? 4 Communication Theories and Concept 4 Wireless technology and Communication 6 There has been a significant growth in wireless communications over the previous ten years. The numbers of wireless devices are increasing rapidly every year (Dowla 229). Cell Phones: Transforming the Society 7 Introduction of new forms of communication 8 Societal Impact of Cell Phones 9 Conclusions 10 References 11 Introduction Communication is one of the factors which played a vital role in the development of the human beings. It is an important aspect of human life and for which they use a different kind of methods and system. In the modern society, mobile phones are seen as the most important instrument which is used by the people around the world to communicate with others. Just like Television in 1950s and Internet in 1990s, mobile are getting famous and emerged as one of the most prominent communication technology. Number of mobile phones users is increasing day by day in every part of the world. With such worldwide adoption, mobile phone not only changed the communication technology but is also having the impact on the human society. This paper will discuss the impact of the mobile phones on the society. What is Communication? As we all aware that communication is a process of sharing information, thoughts, ideas, feelings, questions, concepts and messages between two or more people. There are various ways through which this process can be taken place for instance, Person to person, person to group, Telephone, video, letter, email, and chat-room. Above mentioned diagram clearly depicts the process of communication. The most important aspect of communication is that it is a two way process. There should be a sender/source who encodes the message before sending it through the most suitable channel and receiver who decodes the message and gives feedback. There are many barriers that come across while sending the message to the receiver. One of the most important barriers which need to be taken into consideration is a selection of inappropriate channel. Hence, selection of an appropriate channel plays a profound role in sending the message correctly to receiver. In the current scenario, an effective communication is an integral part of our personal and professional life. An effective communication has become a prerequisite of success (Madelyn 334). Communication Theories and Concept As stated by Fred S. Siebert, There are basically four theories of mass communication: 1. The Authoritarian Theory- This theory is assumed as oldest theory of mass communication. This theory was developed in 16th and 17th century by England. This theory came soon after printing came into existence. As name depicts, it came into light in the authoritarian environment. The prime motive of this media was to support and advance the policies of the government. Hence, press functioned as per the direction of top level. It was used mainly to disseminate the message to the audience which were formulated by rulers and other top level authority. That time publishers were obligated to support top level authority and the press was used as an instrument of top level. This theory was widely adopted and still prevailing in some places. 2. Libertarian Theory- This is one of the most important theory of mass communication. It was adopted by England after 1688. In this theory print, media is not considered as an instrument of top level authority. It is considered as a partner in search of truth. In this theory, minority as well as the majority are taken into consideration. People are now more attentive towards facts and evidences. The main purpose of this theory is to entertain people, selling products, check on government and to help discover the truth. 3. The Social Responsibility Theory- Another important theory of mass communication that requires great attention is social responsibility theory. This theory developed in U.S. in the 20th Century. In this theory, media are controlled by community opinion, consumer action and professional ethics. This time anyone who has to say something can use the media. The main purpose of this mass communication is to entertain, sell and to raise disagreement to the plan of discussion. 4. The Soviet Communist Theory- This theory developed in Soviet-Union. The prime motive of adoption of mass communication is to give a contribution to the success and continuance of the Soviet socialist system. Only loyal and orthodox members of the party have the right to use the media. The measure difference of this theory from others is that in this media is state owned and closely controlled. Above mentioned theories clearly define the evolution of mass communication, their main purpose and how this medium is controlled and managed. There are various means, which we use in our daily life to communicate with others. For example, - Cell phone, computer, television etc. Each communication medium has its own advantages in life of people. Cell phone has become an inseparable part of our life. People can connect all over the world whenever they want. Moreover, it can be used as camera, surfing the internet and accessing and transmitting money from one part of the country to another. In recent years, it has become an important tool of social networking (Robert 415). Another important invention that completely revolutionized the world is computer. It has a great impact on society and their lifestyle. It has touched every aspect of society for example, business, social networking, shopping, entertainment and education. It has thoroughly changed the way of doing work. Now people easily interact to each other through video conferencing and chatting. (Logan 332). Television has also a huge impact on society in terms of creating awareness, entertainment, selling product and many more things. It is a very useful tool to disseminate the information to a large group of audience. Wireless technology and Communication Wireless technology is all about adoption of a technology like cell phones, Laptops that uses radio waves to transmit data from one place to another. Wireless communications work without a restricted media like wires or fibre optic cable. In today’s world, wireless technology has become an important part of our day to day life. It is the most convenient and cost effective way of communication. It has simplified the day to day work of human life and brought significant changes in the way, the work used to be done earlier (Chen and Skelton 667). Now talking about the various types of wireless communication, the most commonly used technologies are wireless PBX/LANS, Fixed satellite, Mobile satellite, direct broadcast satellite, Military mobile communications, Noncellular telephony, wireless emergency/police, industrial wireless products and Radio & Television transmission networks. The appliances, which are used for these technologies are: Personal computers, Non consumer earth-based and satellite-based devices, Commercial and governmental systems, Commercial devices, Consumer, and Non consumer devices (Rogers 56). Based on coverage area, we can classify wireless network technology in four ways: 1. Personal-area network- It is also referred as PAN, it generally covers a personal workspace of a person. 2. Local-area network- It is generally known by its abbreviated form LAN it is mostly used by various commercial organizations to integrate and manage all its operations. 3. Metropolitan-area network- Metropolitan-area networks or MANs are used for connectivity across urban areas. 4. Wide-area network- It is also known as WAN, it is comparatively slower than others three but gives maximum coverage. There has been a significant growth in wireless communications over the previous ten years. The numbers of wireless devices are increasing rapidly every year (Dowla 229). Cell Phones: Transforming the Society In the recent decades, the World has experienced a great change in the use of the communication system and use of the medium for the purpose. Traditionally the society was based on the mass communication system, but with the evolution and introduction of the new techniques and gadgets, society is transformed. Now communication took place within the society in more personalized network environment. Mobile telephony is considered as a major factor which played a vital role in this transition. This statement can be supported by measuring the penetration level of the mobile phones in the society. Data from the different parts of the world proves that the diffusion of the mobile telephony is even higher than the Internet which considered being the most successful technology innovation of the modern world. This high level adoption of the mobile telephony has resulted in the emergence of the new “personalized communication society”. Some of the key areas of social changes which show the impact of the mobile on the society are: Mobile as a part of personality Unlike the other communication and interactive media, mobile phones are unique as they can be worn on the body. This property of the mobile phones has challenged the traditional conceptualizations of the relationships of the communication medium or technology and the body. In 2005, Vincent suggested in his report that users has more emotional attachment with the mobile handsets and they seen it as part of their personality. The major reason behind this he mentioned is that use of mobile involves simultaneous use of different senses by the user to communicate with the other members of members of the society and his/her closed ones in comparison to the other communication channel (Campbell and Park 387). As user, especially youth seen the mobile handsets as the extension of self, they give more focus on the brand, size, colour and other feature of the handsets. They use the mobile phones as a symbolic expression, that’s why they give more emphasis on the physical aspects of the handset. This shows that mobile handsets are not only used for the verbal communication by the users, but it is also used as a medium to represent social status and group affiliation. In different theories it is said that human beings shares a universal orientation towards the adoption and use of communication medium. On the basis of the such theories it can be argued that mobile phones is also used by the people as part of their non-verbal communication and through which they try portray themselves and define their status in the society. Introduction of new forms of communication Apart from the introducing the style factor in the communication, mobile communication also introduced some new methods of communicating. The use of mobile phones can be divided into two different categories- micro coordination and hyper-coordination. The micro-coordination refers to the instrumental use of the mobile phones like different applications and functions, whereas the hyper-coordination refers to the expressive and relational perspective of the use of mobile phones. Different functions provided in the mobile phones enable the person to perform different kind of activities at any place and time. This property of the mobile phones overcomes the place and time limitation of the traditional communication. Mobile phone made it more personalized for the users and allows them to communicate or coordinate the things without any limitations of the place and time. Introduction of the mobile phones also equipped the users with new methods of communication along with the traditional methods. Just like the landline phones, users can talk and communicate with others through the mobile. But mobile phones also provided an option of text messaging to the user through which they can communicate with the people in more personalize manner. Mobile phones not only provide the facility of the text messaging but the user can also send different symbolical content with different expressions. Thus it can be said that mobile phones transforming the society into more personalized communication society (Ling 69). Another change that mobile phone bring in the society which resulted in the emergence of the personalized communication society is the use of the public places for the personal communication purposes. Now people can remain in contact and maintain social contacts in public settings. There are different kinds of the social norms related to the phone conversations in public settings. So the use of mobile in public settings is facing many challenges yet it is getting famous and creating a new type of society. Societal Impact of Cell Phones Impact on Adults Impact of mobile phones on the society can also be assessed by observing its usage pattern by different sections of the society. Youth is considered as a major component of any society and a major determinant of the future of that society. Mobile phones have a huge impact on the lifestyle of the adults around the world. This phase of life required good communication among the peers, as during this period a person went through a different kind of changes. Thus communication amongst the peer group members is essential for the growth of the individual personality. It is observed that youth are using mobile phones more frequently as it allows them to contact their peer group member directly with more flexibility and spontaneity. With such kind of communication they can manage their lives more easily, in the end which leads to the development of the culture of information social interaction (Campbell 14). Above was the example of the functional impact of the mobile phones, but more importantly it play a major role in developing and strengthening of the relationship among the people and their peer group. With the no limitations of time and place, people can interact and communicate with their peer groups whenever they require in a different format and remain engage. However, with these positive impacts, mobile phones also do have a negative impact on the social life of the adults. For example, different studies shows that most of the young people now days prefer to text rather to talk to discuss some emotional or other difficulties. Researchers say that this will impact negatively on their capacity to interact with each other. It is also observed that people with no mobile are more vulnerable for the social exclusion. In different surveys it is concluded that young people with no mobile feel socially excluded and also have to face pressure from their friends to get one. But studies also says that mobile owners do not deliberately leaving non-mobile holders, but it that so because they cannot be contacted easily (Campbell and Park 371). Impact on Families Most of the parents believe that their children should carry mobile phones themselves. Studies show that a major reason behind this perception is the safety and security concern of their children. With the help of the mobile parents can contact with the child when he/she is out of the family boundary or children can contact in the case of any emergency. So it making easier for the different components of the society to communicate with each other more easily and flexibly. Conclusions On the basis of the above discussions it can be concluded that mobile phones have greatly influenced the communication process of the modern society. Previously in the traditional communication system places and time were the main constraints, and people use them according to the requirement and availability. But with the introduction of the mobile phones there is no limitation and people are free to use and communicate with the other members of the society whenever they want. Mobile phones provided a different kind of new features that helps the person to improve the communication process. It is helping the growth of adolescents and young people by enabling them to communicate with their peer groups more conveniently in a different manner. Mobile phones also helping in ensuring the safety of the children as they can remain in contact with their parents when they go out. On the basis of the overall discussion it the end it can be said that mobile phones shifted the communication process of the society and given rise to the new personalized communication society. 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