Nowadays, it is rare to see someone without a mobile phone as many consider it an important item not to be parted with one’s reach. Mobile phones could be considered the new age of communication as it enables users to contact and connect with their love ones, friends, colleagues or to anyone. At first, these mobile phones are only capable of doing calls while within a network. However, as technology progressed, these mobile phones became capable of sending text messages and eventually became the primary connection to social networking. One may find it difficult to comprehend if there are still people who do not possess a phone in the age of the internet and socialization. It is with cellphones that opened new opportunities for people to socialize while in the comfort of their homes or any place they find relaxing, making socialization a vital right that everyone is entitled to in this day and age.
Telephones were already a common accessory or need in most households since the 18th century. However, many opted to complain that the phone is cumbersome especially when one needs to receive and answer calls as they would have to wait beside the phone or wait for it to ring before speaking to someone. However, in recent years, technologies had slowly shaped the mechanics of phones and developed cellular phones. The first handheld phone was developed in Sweden in 1956, but it was not as popular as today’s phones due to its weight of over 90 pounds and many likened it to a usual landline. However, upon the introduction of Bell Labs and Motorola’s cellular network in 1978-1982, it enabled companies to create a phone that would enable people to make the call wherever they went. Eventually, cell phones became smaller and compact and became an item of luxury to an item of everyday necessity. Cellphones can also send messages through calls or short message services. Several studies have noted that the current global cellular market is now at 1.8 billion subscribers, which may triple as year’s progress. While many note that they use their phones for various purposes, it is undeniable that many use it for their social interactions and communication.
As noted by cellphone companies on their advertisements, cellphones could be used to provide the following: ease of convenience without the need to use letters or random social safety as it could be used anywhere by users while in the comfort of their homes without the risk of the message being tampered or delayed; and a means to get in-touch faster. People were first skeptic to cellphone’s capacity to send messages to their love-ones or friends; considering that there are also fast ways to communicate and socialize such as attending parties, social games or conventions and even through pen-pals. Nonetheless, many users would note that cellphones enables people to stay connected with their friends, love ones and colleagues whenever they need it. In a study done by Pew Internet, cellphone users often assert that they prefer cellphones because it allows them to keep in touch no matter where they are located. While some would find cellphones an icon of freedom or independence, many use their cellphones to stay connected to their love ones especially when there is an emergency. Parents also find cellphones a highly convenient tool to open communications with their children, even if some children would see it as a means to monitor their movements wherever they go. Nonetheless, cellphones fosters parent-child interaction especially in a world wherein time is often restricted for many to stay at home or socialize.
Cellphones also provide an easier way for users to talk to their friends, family and colleagues in the manner they could be free to express themselves: by call or text. Studies have noted that texting enables a person to become informal with the recipient and include parts regarding their daily lives. Texting also enables users to express sentiments that would usually make a person awkward or uncomfortable. Teenagers would be able to use texting whenever they broke a rule or have an uncomfortable request. Texting also fosters patience, especially if the user would like to know their friend well or even the potential suitor. Others would also find texting easier to understand as there are instances wherein voice conversations tend to become awkward once a person no longer knows what to say next. It provides clarity to users, enabling them to socialize better with their friends. Nonetheless, some users would prefer calls to input emotions to messages or discussions and even utilize it for people who could not use text, such as parents who are not familiar with their service, adults, and even people with disabilities. Calling also enables users to talk with their family and friends whenever the situation calls for them to be serious or if it has some importance. Studies have also indicated that cellphone calls foster social cues which text messages cannot provide.
Some users have found mobile phones an excellent medium to expand their relationships and circle of friends. In some cases, some users would randomly create a phone number and send messages to the phone’s user. While some would hate receiving messages from other people they do not know, others find it as a means to know other people from various parts of the country. In the Philippines, hailed as the texting capital of the world, Filipinos would try making friends through their cellphone’s texting service to find new peers or even the people they would wish to court. In several studies, Filipinos would mostly expand their networks through texting for fun while others would want to create intimate relationships with these people they talk with on their cellphones. Nonetheless, the consensus of Filipino cellphone users over their virtual friends often notes that they discuss almost everything under the sun, from love life to social problems. Many would try to meet their virtual friends, whom in turn would become real friends or even the person they would marry. This trend is also similar to other nations as many cellphone users would use their mobile phones to locate virtual friends to foster new relationships with people within their communities or their country. In the US, African-American teenagers would use their cellphones to create social and personal chats given the fact that there is still discrimination and stereotypes regarding their ethnicity. Some users with the lacking self-esteem also use their cellphones to try and establish social networks and relationships without feeling pressures from face-to-face discussions and interactions. Research indicates that individuals with low self-esteem frequently use their phones to seek new relationships and also foster some control in their social networks.
Mobile phones have also changed how people would coordinate with one another, especially when creating schedules, meetings and rendezvous. Teenagers often find their cellphones the key to contact their friends on how they could meet up for an activity or just hang out without the need to wait for a reply or plan the event months in advance. Having cellphones also reduces the possibilities of teenagers to be stuck at home, waiting for the landline phone to ring before they could plan their social lives, making cellphones an instant connection with their peers. Should an accident or disruption happen unexpectedly, cellphone users could easily call or text their friends or love-ones for an alternative location and adjust their plans. In this way, users would still be able to address whatever activity they would need to tend to first and coordinate with their friends once they are done through cellphones. Many users also find this benefit of cellphones to promote flexibility and even the skill of planning an event. Some would even note that for group meetings and meet ups, cellphones could easily send messages to the entire group regarding the plan without speaking to each person one by one.
In recent years, cellphones are now equipped with technologies that would now foster internet use and additional social networking capacities, which opens more doors to users to know other users from various parts of the globe. This then fosters face-to-face meetings to enable social interaction between users. Tools such as social messaging platforms like Skype, AIM, Yahoo; and specialized apps like FaceTime help users to meet up with their friends even if they are in the other side of the world. Cellphones is also capable of sending pictures and videos to many people to bridge the divide on locations. There are also a few users who would use their cellphones to connect to the internet as it is their only means to connect with their friends or with other people online. Most of these users come from less-fortunate families.
Given the nature of cellphones to provide new means to communicate with others, it is also notable that it changes how individuals would need to interact in the present time. Through text and calls, individuals no longer need to interact socially with others through the face-to-face manner as messaging and calls could replace this. It is also noted that even though these new forms of communication is convenient now that many would be no longer be able to meet up outside their schedules, cellphones have already changed the way how individuals act and react through others in a social setting, which also showcase how they balance and build relationships. Many are also accepting that nowadays, a person could only be half-present in discussions or anywhere goes once his phone rings.
However, there are a few who point out that cellphones tends to present risk and how fast their social lives have progressed since they used cellphones. In one study, several college students have noted that since they had their phones, they tend to receive repeated calls and text from people they do not wish to speak the most and found their social lives to change drastically with just one call or text. Some have even argued that they no longer find it fun to connect with their friends and families as cellphones remove the sense of spontaneity and uniqueness of each message or call done with phones. Others also find that they no longer have the same social interaction skills they used to possess before owning a cellphone. These people tend to interact, only with their contacts and no longer open themselves up with other people. In America alone, Americans are no longer involving themselves in social activities such as going out in malls or attending community activities. Many parents and experts find this anti-social behavior to be common nowadays as many cellphone users would tend to concentrate on their phones rather than in the location, they are in and some tend to lose friends because of the user’s antisocial tendencies while they use their phone. In some instances, when a person is speaking with another and his phone rings, the person being spoken to first would feel left alone as the person would only talk to the person in the cellphone, fostering social anxiety and resentment .
Experts believe that cellphones also tend to break the sense of living . In this case, cellphone users tend to create instant gratification that would often result to a lack of patience in the part of the user. Impatient attitudes are imbued to some users, which may become the cause of arguments and annoyance as some users would be accustomed to instant replies or calls. Others may even become rude should their contact would not pick up or talk to them in incomplete messages . In recent studies, there have also been decreases in how cellphone users talk to other people as they are used to speaking through text or call; which may be detrimental to how they exhibit themselves outside their phones for urgent occasions such as job interviews. It is also noted that cellphone users tend to have their spelling and grammar decrease as some would only text through abbreviate words to save time, making some of these users unable to develop good writing habits. There are also cellphone related cases wherein cellphone users tend to be victimized by their text/call mates and some are killed by them. In the Philippines, for example, several crimes have already been reported wherein some women and men have been killed by their cellphone pals, or sexually and mentally harassed . Experts also warn cellphone users to be careful or mindful of their cellphone use as they may become cellphone dependent, especially when it comes to social uses .
It is undeniable that the world now finds cellphones an indispensable utility or tool that each person now has to have in their possession in the world where everything is connected to the internet and social media. On the one hand, it is notable that cellphones could also cause disadvantages and risks socially as some would use it for crime purposes to unsuspecting cellphone users. Cellphones have also been the cause of some deaths since some would meet their eyeball mates even if they just met through random searches and eyeballs. On the other hand, cellphones became a new tool for people to meet up with friends, meet people with the same interest and also open up new mediums for communication for people around the globe to meet up with others. While there are indeed instances wherein the lack of proximity, spontaneous discourses or feeling into using cellphones to socialize, technology slowly removes this problem gradually as more phones are now ensuring people could still interact with real people while using their handhelds.
Works Cited
Corbett, Alexia. "Cellular Phone Influence(s) and Impact(s) on Social Interactions and Interpersonal Relationships." University of New Hampshire, 12 March 2009. Web. 13 December 2012
Lenhart, Amanda, et al. Teens and Mobile Phones. Survey Report. Washington, D.C: Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2010. Web. 13 December 2012.
McCoy, William. "Cellphones and Social Skills." Houston Chronicle, 2010. Web. 13 December 2012
Pertierra, Raul. "Mobile Phones, Identity and Discursive Intimacy." Human Technology 1.1 (2005): 23-44. Print.
Straubhaar, Joseph, Robert LaRose and Lucinda Davenport. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture and Technology. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. Print.
