Mobile phone use amongst students in a university in Malaysia: its correlates and relationship to psychological health

The study explored the extent of mobile phone use amongst students of Universiti Putra Malaysia. Additionally, the study determined personal and family factors related to the mobile phone use and, the relationship between problem mobile phone use and psychological health of the students. The multi-stage cluster sampling was employed to identify the students (N=386) who completed a self-administered questionnaire. The students were found to spend on average 6 hours daily and USD18.70 monthly on their mobiles. Text message was the most used feature and peers were the most frequently contacted person. Older students used more voice calls while females text message more frequently. Male and younger students were more interested with other features (MMS and GPRS) of the mobiles. Students from higher income families spent more time and money on their mobile phone. Additional analyses showed that students with lower self-esteem and spent more time on the phone were more likely to be problem phone users. Adolescents who spend more time on their mobile phone were also more vulnerable to psychological disturbances. There is a need to further uncover underlying factors that influence students' mobile phone behavior, and the consequences of intense mobile phone use on their psychological well-being

Associations between social anxiety disorders and the social aspects of young people's internet and mobile phone use

This thesis investigates young people's use of the Internet and mobile phones, and focuses especially on associations between use of these technologies for communication purposes and social anxiety. First, two surveys are reported which examine the broad characteristics of young people’s Internet and mobile phone use. The first of these was conducted on paper and provides a general description of these activities amongst young people in the Teesside area of England. The second survey was conducted online with a population from a wider area and supports the paper survey. Together, the surveys indicate that there may be a small bias towards male use of and competence with the Internet. There may also be a small bias towards female use of mobile phones. Results concerning non-use of the Internet and mobile phones are also discussed. Reports of the surveys are followed by descriptions of a questionnaire study, also conducted in the Teesside area of England, which indicates that associations between the psychological conditions social anxiety and social phobia and use of the Internet and mobile phones, generally, and for communication purposes, are minimal. (However, small but significant associations are discussed). Finally, was conducted using Grounded Theory, is described. This reveals that that control over social interactions, sometimes in relation to transient, or situational, social anxiety, might be one important reason why young people like to use text-based Internet and mobile phone communication media to interact. It is concluded that whilst social anxiety as a psychological characteristic or trait may not be strongly related to young people s use of the Internet and mobile phones for communication purposes, young people may nevertheless sometimes use these technologies to manage situational social anxiety

Going mobile: the domestication of the cell phone by teens in a rural east Texas town

This thesis explores the use of the cell phone among US teens. The research was conducted in a rural east Texas town, with two student groups, 13-14 year-olds (middle school) and 18-20 year-olds (university), between 2007 and 2008, at a time when 2G cell phones were the norm. The analysis adopts and applies the domestication framework developed by Silverstone and Hirsch (1992) within work on the social shaping of technology (Haddon, 2004; Berker, 2006; Selwyn, 2012), and points to some limitations and areas for further development within this approach. The thesis explores the extent to which teens use of the cell phone serves as a vehicle for self-expression and collective identity. It considers their emotional investment and connection with the cell phone as an extension of the self ; as well as its role as a focus for, and a means of, regulation of young people both by adults and by peers. The analysis suggests that, far from being a matter of free choice and autonomy, teens use of cell phones may be restricted by cost (of texting, calling plan), features (of particular phones), and by parental or institutional rules about how, where and when cell phones may be used. Use may also be regulated by peers in terms of when and with whom to talk or text, enabling peer groups to exclude others. Through the lens of the domestication framework this thesis concludes that teens in this context are not an homogenous group: the ways they incorporate the cell phone into their everyday lives may differ to a degree, not least as a result of parental and institutional regulation. The research does, however, identify broad areas of consensus among teens, partly linked to the geographical and socio-economic context of the participants, which provides a useful comparison with research undertaken on teens elsewhere in the world

Social connectivity and HIV risk behavior: mobile phones and sexuality in Yaoundé youth culture

This study is about changing culture. It deals with the acquisition of a mobile phone by young people in Yaoundé (Cameroon), its level of usage or of social connectivity, and the role it might have in HIV transmission. I examine how the use of a mobile phone impacts courtship, and how it creates and facilitates not only flirtatious behavior, but also unwanted sexual solicitations. Data results prove that young people embark on social connectivity to attain three social goals, (1) to increase longer-term life chances, (2) to increase means to gain material support and (3) to increase means to maintain self-status in the eyes of peers. They use mobile phones to create social ties that might result in sexual relations where barriers to condom use are involved, and as such it might lead to unsafe sexual encounters. Due to the economic and socio-cultural factors that obstruct the communication for safer sex between young people and their sexual partners – especially sugar daddies/mummies or mbomas – the power to enforce condom use is rarely equal. Data results prove that in Yaoundé, young people’s risky sexual practices are exacerbated by the mboma syndrome. Through a cross-cultural conceptual approach, I compare sexual risk behaviors related to the use of mobile phone among young people of Yaoundé with those of Ghent (Belgium), enabling me to assess distinctive sexual values that exist in different cultural backgrounds

Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality

Building upon a process-and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality -- primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies -- reveals patterns in youth's information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure

A case study of adolescent girls’ use of social media and its influence on identity and belonging

This research aimed to investigate social constructions of gender identity among girls aged 14-16 years in a state secondary school within the broader framework of social network media use. The research explored the proposition that social network media (SNM) use had a negative impact on the wellbeing of some female students. Given that communication technologies were an integral part of the lives of young people that they took for granted, the researcher argued it was important that educators, parents/carers and policy makers understood the implications of this new context on their development, in order that ways of supporting young people could be established. A case study approach was used to gain a picture of the lived experiences of the respondents, and from a range of data collection methods, the views, perceptions and experiences relating to the case were established. Consequently, the following four key issues were drawn from the data relating to the impact of SNM on the development of gender identity:1.the data showed respondents were using SNM to reinforce existing relationships, keep in touch with peers from offline lives, organize themselves into social groups and support each other2.case study was a successful choice of methodology because it allowed the researcher to uncover details of the lived experiences of those in the sample and extrapolate material from the data to make informed recommendations 3.some respondents indicated SNM could be reinforcing peer relationships at the expense of those with parents4.SNM was perceived as a distracting influence on respondents at school The research concluded that SNM impacted on the development of gender identity and this was evident in the way individuals gained information about social group norms as they co-constructed their identity. Social constructivism usefully framed this process as bonding social capital, and the research showed this was a key element in building, maintaining and reinforcing relationships. Because of SNM use, online and offline worlds were becoming increasingly merged and this was not always understood or acknowledged by parents, educators and policy makers

Identitiy and Belonging: Urban Nature and adolescent development in the City of Cape Town

This study was undertaken in response to two concerns: firstly, that the notion of nature and experiential, aesthetic ways of engaging with nature had declined markedly in environmental education research and practice in South Africa. Secondly, I was concerned that relatively few environmental education centres in Cape Town offered programmes for teenagers. I therefore decided to enquire into the value of nature-based education and awareness programmes to adolescents in Cape Town, particularly in relation to: their understanding of and sense of belonging to the natural order, and the process of identity development. The study drew on Eriksonâs (1968) theory of psycho-social development, and Archerâs (2000, 2003) critical realist theory of identity development as an embodied process of reflexivity. The phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty (1962, 1968) provided an alternative to dualistic views of the human-nature relationship. Authors who have worked with Merleau-Pontyâs theories helped me clarify my understanding of the need to retrieve nature and embodied practices in education. The study used mixed methods, integrating multiple case studies of nature-based programmes, and surveys of teenagers in Cape Town. Numerical data were displayed graphically, and narrative data were presented as quotations or compiled into poems. A matrix was developed that mapped the various nature-based programmes according to the two main concerns of the study: namely how programmes represented the human-nature relationship, and how they supported the process of youth identity development. I applied Archerâs notion of embodied reflexivity and Merleau-Pontyâs ideas of inter-subjectivity methodologically, undertaking a series of short hikes during which I reflected upon the literature and research findings, and drew on insights from my surroundings to compile the final discussion and conclusion of this dissertation. This study demonstrated that assumptions that teenagers in Cape Town are generally alienated from nature are unfounded; in fact the great majority of youth from all socio-economic groups related positively to nature. It found that nature provides teenagers with a positive context in which to reflexively develop their identities. The conservation community could do much to support adolescents but many education officers felt ill equipped to engage with the senior science curriculum. A variety of alternative approaches to working with youth are therefore suggested

The stuff that dreams are made of...Narratives on educational decision-making among young adults in Cape Town

This paper examines the narratives of eight young, Black South Africans on their decisions around education. Analysis focuses on these young adults' value of education on the one hand, and the parallels or breaches between that value and education-related choices or actions on the other. It shows that educational decision-making should be regarded as part of a larger process of identity-formation. I argue that the young people in my sample choose different strategies in attempts to create their identity. One such strategy implies a long-term oriented focus on success; choosing in favour of education is an intrinsic part thereof. Another one rests on a more short-term oriented wish for the same type of success, however with little or no concrete plans on how to reach that. The importance of education is not openly rejected by young adults adapting this second strategy, yet it is not a central factor in it either. Strategies such as these are, however, not static, and the distinction between them not as unambiguous as may seem. Shifting factors in a context of 'fragility' may lead young adults to rethink their choices and plans; many move between different strategies, or create 'in-between' versions that leave room for adaptation when necessary

The Promises and Pitfalls of Modernity: An Ethnography of Young Catholic Women’s Media Practices for Claiming Cultural Citizenship in Urban India

This dissertation is an ethnography of the media practices of young Catholic women in Mumbai, India. Media practices are conceptualized as cultural practices via which the participants in this study claimed cultural citizenship in order to challenge discourses that yoke national identity with Hindu culture and construct Catholicism as “foreign” and Catholic women as morally bankrupt and hypersexual. Media practices examined included practices related to photography, privacy, and safety using mobile phones and the consumption of television programs and movies. Through these practices, participants attempted to displace the link between Indianness and Hindu culture and show that Catholic culture can also reflect Indianness, when Indianness is defined in terms of being modern Indian woman because the discourse of modern Indian womanhood aligns with how middle-class Catholic culture is practiced in India. Indian modernity emphasizes cosmopolitanism and consumption (similar to Western modernity) but is also marked by an ongoing emphasis on valuing community building, particularly in the context of family. It is also gendered in that modern Indian women are expected to practice sexual sobriety. Through photography practices, participants showcased the various dimensions of Indian modernity. By using the mobile phone to ensure safety and privacy, participants navigated the gendered and classed dimensions of Indian modernity. Finally, media consumption patterns revealed how participants learned about and enacted Indian modernity. Thus, by expressing Indian modernity through their media practices, Catholic women claimed cultural citizenship