Effect of Mobile Entertainment to Children - Essay Example

Journalism, Mass Media and Communication Effect of Mobile Entertainment to Children During the period of the late 20th Century, the use and importance of mobile phones began to capture the concentration of the majority of the world’s population. The usage of the mobile phones got later improved by the introduction of the so-called “candy bar” handset communication device. This technological advancement leads to a significant improvement in the capabilities of this particular handset, as well as the sophistication of various games, which got played on them by the mobile phones operators. The older games that got initially installed in the former cell phones got less popular as compared to those of consoles. The primary reason for this was due to their poor and less improved hardware exhibiting little screening, as well as small sound, pitched beeps. The usage of mobile phones is widespread among teenagers, Australian teenagers leading on this since the peer groups are fond of pressurizing those who don’t have to get one. In my essay paper, I am going to give an account the uses of mobile technology and its contribution to the entertainment industry. I will further narrow on playing games like one of the televisions received from their usage, particularly by children. The research will finally give an account on the advantages and disadvantages of mobile use by the children and finally give a critical thinking to the issues involved and carefully respond to them. The mobile technology got first discovered in the year 1970, and the first mobile voice call got made in the year 1973after which the world has adopted its use in many areas. In the recent 21st Century, a bigger proportion of the young people in secondary schools, students, have their individual mobile phone. With time, the mobile phone usage is growing and undergoing various dynamism due to the introduction of sequentially more improved and updated ones than the previously used or sold in the market. The newly introduced mobile phones have updated software and hardware enabling making them powerful thereby offering the same roles played by computers. The latest mobile phones are updated and can perform the following functions; • Getting access to the internet- they have as well as an exhibit the same similarities as to when using computers to get access to the internet (Goggin and Hjorth, 2009). The new generation, especially the youths, get in a position to access any site that they can browse through and accessible in the net. Some of these sites include Facebook, Twitter, Google, Wap trick, Opera Mini, Gmail, Yahoo and YouTube among other potentially age-inappropriate places, which are not suitable for the youth. • Capturing as well as sharing photos and other videos- the latest phones are installed with the fully functioning camera, which are updated and improved from the previous ones. They get in a position to take photos that have high levels of clarity and quality in general due to their improved megapixels concentration. The youths, therefore, find themselves in a position to capture photos and record other videos, sharing them among themselves at a higher rate, in very efficient way. These processes involved in sharing the photos and videos through texts are free, and they can as well get emailed or uploaded to the internet (Katz and Aakhus, 2002). • Chatting by sending and receiving instant messages and video the young generation, especially those who own the latest make of smartphones and androids, can get themselves involved in a personal chat with smartphone users through their handsets. • Sharing location- through technological advancements, there has gotten establishments of GPS, GPRS, which allow some mobile phones users to get in a position to detect other’s position. This gets only enabled in a situation whereby the person who want to locate the other, has a phone installed with the GPS and GPRS as well. By sharing these on social networking sites, among other Internet websites and applications, they get able to identify other users’ position in real time. • Playing games- young individuals find themselves in lots of pleasures, since they are capable of making use of their handset to play the different games, which one has an interest in. For those who own the latest Smartphone and Android, they have the opportunity to access the internet and download the new games, which at times is costly. • Getting more applications and purchasing new ones- applications are the programs or software that one can install to his or her handset, allowing him or her to undertake different tasks. Some of these tasks may include playing less complex internet games to find up-to-date training rooms. Some of these applications are freely available on the internet while others are costly, but vary in their cost. From the above-discussed functions of mobile phones, the demand for these communication handsets has risen for the last two decades, leading to the emergence of firms producing them. The high demand has as well resulted in the development of different tastes and preferences for the various types of handsets that can perform different functions; hence the emergence of most improved ones. The majority of the children in the current century have become addict to mobile users, some going with their handsets to school, and even using them to take class notes. These notes are those that get provided in softcopy by their course instructors or tutors. In the research, the researcher used the qualitative methods of data collection, and these were interviews, observations and focus groups (Gelman, 2004). He performed person to person interview, group interviews and focus groups. For the case of a person to person interview, the researcher approached some children in some estates in Boston and identified those who used mobile phones. He interviewed them individually on the extent to which they think mobile phones are useful to their lives, especially when it comes to playing games. Almost similar reactions got produced, and they were recorded down for the purposes of analysis and making inferences. Apart from children, the parents got reached on the same and got interviewed on their views concerning their children having mobile phones, yet they are still schooling and are at younger ages. Different parents gave different reactions to the same, and they got recorded. The third one to get interviewed on a person to person basis were the primary school teachers who interact with this child during the day when at school. Some of the teachers criticized the use of these communication handsets by children while others praised it. The church and religious leaders got also approached for the same to give out their view concerning the same matter, just like the other primary school teachers, the religious leaders gave different reactions to the same. Apart from the face to face interview, group interviews too, got conducted on the primary school teachers in their staff room, and they brought a debate on the same matter. The children themselves, parents and the religious teachers too, got reached for the purposes of performing group interviews to get their views on whether they think if this matter is right. During the process of conducting the interviews, the researcher got in a position to raise the questions in a manner that made these different correspondents believe that they got in places to talk freely. Even at times when the interviewer’s opinions seemed to get conflicting with those of the interviewee, the aspect of getting nonjudgmental found its way. In the process, skillful ways of interviewing got used, and they included; the process of videotaping the interviewer’s performance (Govaert, 2009). Others included trying to establish some of the experienced interviewers and role playing. By use of the skills and experience in research and statistics, the researcher got able to create a good rapport with the different communities living in Boston, thereby getting adequate results to facilitate conclusion. The other qualitative method of data collection used was focus groups (Sarantakos, 2007). In this strategy of data collection, the children got collected in homogeneous groups and interviewed together concerning specific topics. The different homogeneous groups used were; grouping the girls and boys differently and grouping the children of the same age together despite their sex. Also, the children got grouped according to their race and religion, where they got interviewed on particular topics, and their views recorded. The use of focus group emerged as an efficient method because the researcher got in a position to get information concerning several children in one session, on matters of them possessing phones. This method provided quality controls since the different groups interviewed got the room for consulting with one another whenever they doubted their answers. The groups setting gave the children the confidence and courage of getting interviewed since they could boost each other’s morale. By the children hearing what their colleagues were saying, they got stimulated to rethink on their personal views concerning their impacts of having cell phones. The third qualitative method used in collect the data was observation. A lot of time got spent in the process of observing the children when using these handsets at different places such as home, church, school and when playing in the field with their friends. Throughout the process of observation, field notes got taken, and they got focused on whatever emerged when the children were using the handsets. Apart of taking filed notes, the researcher made use of cameras in capturing the children during the observation period, and all this got useful during the process of data analysis. After analyzing and interpreting the data that go collected from the different source, the following were some of the advantageous issues associated with teenagers’ usage of mobile phones; 1. Networking. The usage, as well as possession of cell phones by the children, emerged as an essential communication and networking device for the growing young ones. The process children have their personal mobile phones uplifts their sense of belonging, as well as the existing connection between them and their family members, both nuclear and extended (Duncan, 2010). These handsets made the children get in touch with their colleagues, or whoever they want to, irrespective of time and place. 2. Safety. The act of a child owning a mobile phone means that they get in a position to contact their parents, guardians, teachers whenever they feel like doing so. This gives parents peace of mind and aids them in the process of keeping their young ones safe when happen to live without adult supervision. The research later realized the use of mobile phones by the children promotes their safety through: training the child on how to make voice calls or sending text messages in times when he or she is in danger. Making the child familiar with the speed dial function on their handset. Parents can enhance this by storing those digits that the child can dial whenever he or she is in danger (Goggin, 2008). 3. Skill Development. By children possessing a mobile phone, they get the opportunity to achieve as well as improve on the phone communication etiquette as well as media and other communication skills. Some of these skills include sending emails, Facebooking, browsing through some websites including the academic sites, and looking for relevant information on the internet among others. Disadvantages and What to Do About Them Parents can do away with some of the shortcomings and cons that come with their young ones using mobile phones. They can mitigate them by promoting safe and responsible phone behaviors by establishing some rules. These rules may include when it is necessary to chat or make voice calls when to put their phone on silent mode or completely switch them off. The parents can also come in and undertake an evaluation whether it is right for their children get allowed to have their handset in their rooms at night. The parent can also conduct their children’s school to find out the different policies they are having on the usage of mobile phones, and making their children abide by the policies. 1. Big Phone Bills- the process of children having mobile phones means that the parents will meet the big phone bills associated with mobile phone usage. They can avoid the big bills by conducting a discussion on the cost of the cell phone and arriving at a conclusion on the weekly budget. They can also avoid the large bills by doing away with the MMS messages since they are expensive (Harper, Palen and Taylor, 2005). 2. Accessing the Internet- since most of the phones have the ability to access the internet, the children can take this advantage and download and upload images, videos, and other immoral texts (Wong, Milrad and Specht, n.d.). The process of monitoring a child’s internet access on his or her phone is very tricky and at times impossible. 3. Mobile ‘addiction’- most of the teenagers operating their personal mobile phones develop a strong sense of attachment to the services they get from these handsets, hence becoming part of their behaviors (Bily, 2012). In case of phone loss, either through theft or misplacing, they get upset hindering them from undertaking their important activities such as learning and sleeping. Conclusion Technological advancements have led to growth in the different sectors of the economy, communication sector getting one of them through improved mobile phones. As from the above accounts research exploration, the use of mobile phones, mainly through playing of games, many young ones have realized the need for owning them. They have imposed some advantages as well as disadvantages as discussed above. I do agree with the idea that children should have their mobile phones, but the parents need to come in so as to help them do away with the emerging disadvantages. During the period of the late 20th Century, the use and importance of mobile phones began to capture the concentration of the majority of the world’s population. The usage of mobile phones is widespread among teenagers, Australian teenagers leading on this since the peer groups are fond of pressurizing those who don’t have to get one. In my essay paper, I am going to give an account the uses of mobile technology and its contribution to the entertainment industry. From the above-discussed functions of mobile phones, the demand for these communication handsets has risen for the last two decades, leading to the emergence of firms producing them. The church and religious leaders got also approached for the same to give out their view concerning the same matter, just like the other primary school teachers, the religious leaders gave different reactions to the same. Bibliography Bily, C. (2012). The Internet. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press. Duncan, K. (2010). Kenisha Duncans sexting 101. [S.l.: s.n.]. Gelman, A. (2004). Bayesian data analysis. Boca Raton, Fla.: Chapman & Hall/CRC. Goggin, G. (2008). Mobile technologies. London: Routledge. Goggin, G. and Hjorth, L. (2009). Mobile technologies. New York: Routledge. Govaert, G. (2009). Data analysis. London: ISTE. Harper, R., Palen, L. and Taylor, A. (2005). The inside text. Dordrecht: Springer Katz, J. and Aakhus, M. (2002). Perpetual contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sarantakos, S. (2007). Data analysis. Los Angeles: SAGE. Wong, L., Milrad, M. and Specht, M. (n.d.). Seamless Learning in the Age of Mobile Connectivity. Read More