The purpose of the proposed study is to look into the issues concerning communication that arise due to the increasing use of mobile phones in society. communication among children, specifically the role of mobile technology in threatening to change the future generation’s patterns of communication. The prevalent use of mobile phones among children presents positive but also negative influences on this population. The continuous development of technology is a potential threat on disrupting and changing communication patterns in our interconnected world.
Refined Literature Review
The information technology revolution and an extraordinary increase in knowledge have led to the development of a new era in technology. This new era has affected the political, cultural, social and economical activities, both negatively and positively, in all areas of the world. Governments all over the world have recognized the different roles in which communication and information technology could benefit countries through economic development. Due to the development of technology and general technological knowledge, mobile phones have greatly evolved over time. The technology is improving and becoming more sophisticated as time goes by. Mobile phones have currently become a part of people’s lives. Most people, from children to old people, own a personal mobile phone (Madden, et al., 2013). A study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 78 percent of teenagers from 12 to 17 year old own mobile phones and 37 percent of the population own smartphones. The research also reveals that the percentage of children and adolescents that use mobile phones increase significantly up to 25 percent every year (Madden et al., 2013).
Advantages of Mobile Phone Use among Children
Mobile phones have several positive effects, which can possibly lead to positive changes in the patterns of communication of future generations. Although the use of mobile phones by children may have drawbacks, it is important to know that there are advantages to owning mobile devices as well. People’s lives are connected completely by the use of mobile phones. Even though there are potential dangers in people’s health and relationships, such as risks due to high radiation from mobile phones and the disconnect among people who use mobile phones instead of communicating in person, mobile phones can lead to better and bigger things happening. Through the improvement in performance in the work place, for instance, the future of communication pattern in the work place may greatly change in the coming generations. The improvement in mobile phone technology may enable people to multitask as well as take several projects at the same time, presenting all of them in several different formats. This will improve the performance of employees in the work place as well as save time through development in the communication patterns.
Being mobile implies that one can accomplish many things because of availability, whether at school or at work. Spontaneous chats, meeting sessions and plans may be easily created and crafted since they can easily be conducted through mobile phones. People do not have to be present for a meeting to take place. This helps in saving time since meeting will not have to be postponed due to members being absent. The future generation will benefit from the changes in the patterns of communication because they will not have to travel for long distances for meetings and other business transactions. This will help in saving time. Moreover, technology affords people convenience and ease of use (Jonassen & Driscoll, 2013).
Changes in mobile phone technology may affect the communication style of children in future. Most of the mobile phones in the current world have access to the internet leading to easy access to information. Children may be able to use this opportunity to learn (Ling, 2004). They may be able to teach themselves different languages. This will increase the number of people from different cultures that they may communicate with. This implies that the future generation may be able to communicate using multiple languages, which is a positive impact of mobile phones to the future generation (Sharples, et al., 2009). Aside from learning languages, mobile devices such as phones and tablets also offer children applications that will help them in their schooling. Applications include dictionary, thesaurus, language tutorial applications, and other activities or exercises that will help the students continue their learning in an enjoyable and interactive way (Druin, 2009).
Disadvantages and Negative Impact of Mobile Phone Use among Children
Many children increasingly use mobile phones, which has positive effects but also negative impact on their behavior (Baker, 2003). Children are using mobile phone devices for different purposes, such as getting in touch with their family and friends, especially during times of emergency, receiving updates about their interests or preferences, and gaining a source of entertainment through mobile phone gaming and social networking applications (Jackson et al., 2012). Some of the ways children use mobile phones are affecting them in a negative way while others are affecting them positively. Some of the positive effects or contributions of mobile phone use among children include the capacity to contact family, friends, and even authorities during emergencies, keep in touch with the people special to them, and keep a source of information since mobile phones can connect to the Internet (Szostek, 2013). As the mobile technology evolves throughout the years, the methods and ways in which people communicate change. With the current trend, the pattern of communication of the future generation will change greatly. The negative effects of mobile phone use among children include poor development of interpersonal skills as they will fail to see the importance of one-on-one interaction, loss of concentration as they are easily distracted, and the development of undesirable habits or behavior such as procrastination. Moreover, mobile phone use also affects the language and communication skills of children. Texting, for instance, affects their skills in grammar and spelling.
Despite the disadvantages and negative influences of mobile phone use, when used meaningfully, it could reverse its effects. While mobile phone technology remains fairly an idea that is new, it has been able to take the world of education by storm. Professionals and experts in the field designed learning networks to use mobile technology in order to improve learning. Nowadays, students can use their personal tablets or phones to interact with their peers and instructors from anywhere at any time (Bisaliah, 2007). Nevertheless, like any other phenomenon, reliance on mobile technology has its downside. Using mobile phones and other devices is not limited to learning. When children learn to use these devices and rely on them, they will discover other features, such as gaming and social networking. Consequently, constant exposure to these kinds of activities makes them at high risk of developing addictive behavior. Students can use opportunities of getting addicted are increasingly high due to the extended use of the mobile phone devices outside the learning institutions or the general human interactions as well as competing to be the best. Children are constantly exposed to websites and applications that offer entertainment and a break away from their responsibilities and priorities. Exposure and addiction to gaming and social networking will prevent the development of desirable values and behavior among children such as a sense of responsibility (Khang, Kim, & Kim, 2013).
Changes in the communication pattern have affected the ability of family and friends staying close. A continued change in the patterns of communication will enable the future generation to be easily in touch. They will be able to talk anytime through mobile phones as well as have video chats. Special occasions can be shared without much struggle of traveling and increased expenses. Such occasions may be done through conference videos. This will improve the pattern of communication in the future generation (Costabile, 2012). On the other hand, this may affect families negatively. Family members who are normally in different areas may get used to communicating through mobile phones and video calls. This may affect the number of times they come together as families, which may in turn affect their relationship because they communicate with each other less (Ballagas, et al., 2009).
Changes in mobile technology may as well have negative impacts on children and the future generation. Mobile phones are a cause of distraction. Most of the children using mobile phones normally get distracted while doing their studies. For example, children may prefer to use their mobile phones instead of doing their homework (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010; Lewin, 2010). They at times shift their attention from their studies to communicating to their friends through their mobile phones. This may affect their performances in school negatively. On the other hand, their communication is affected since they want to communicate with many people at the same time. Divided attention may lead to incorrect information during the communication process (Strasburger, Jordan, & Donnerstein, 2010). Furthermore, children may learn different things from the internet through their mobile phones. For example, listening to music and watching different clips may lead to them to learn informal language such as slang, which will then affect their vocabulary. They may be able to learn these languages from their mobile phones through the Internet, especially when they are unsupervised by their parents. In turn, this may affect their communication patterns in a negative way due to the use of the slang words (Watt, 2010; Sundqvist & Ronnberg, 2010). The future generation may end up communicating in a language that is greatly informal. Therefore, parents should control how their children use their mobile phones to avoid negative impact on future communication patterns. There are different methods in which parents can control this. They may begin by limiting the time their children spend on their cell phones. Parents should learn different ways of regulating this. They may turn of internet connections at their homes at different times. This will help in curtailing their children’s addiction (Druin, 2009). They should as well monitor the use of these devices by their children. If not controlled, children may do a lot of negative things in the future. If well controlled, the negative effects may not cause great negative impacts on them.
Conclusion
Mobile phones have different effects, both negative and positive, to children and the future generation. These effects are threatening to change the patterns of communication of the future generation. Some of the positive impacts of mobile phones include saving of time and improvement of the communication language. Through mobile phones, communication has been simplified and will continue becoming simpler. For examples, people will be able to hold meetings from different places through the use of mobile phones, which will save time. On the other hand, mobile phones may have negative impacts on future communications. Learning new words from the internet may lead to use of a lot of slang words, which may make communication informal. Mobile phone use should be controlled in order to avoid future negative impacts.
Refined Research Questions
- How do children use their mobile phones?
- What are the effects of mobile technology use on children?
- What are the effects of mobile technology on a child’s interpersonal communication skills?
Refined Data Sources
Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be employed to obtain data in the study. The target population includes members of the family – parents and brothers or sisters – teachers, and children. The study will target 30 members of the family, 10 teachers, and 30 children who use mobile phones everyday. The sample population will participate in surveys and then informal interviews. The objective of conducting surveys is to determine behavioral and communication patterns of children using mobile phones in the family and in school. The interviews will be used to address other questions that would arise based on the responses of the participants in the survey.
Refined Hypothesis
Based on research using existing literature and preliminary knowledge about the topic, research hypotheses include the following:
1a. Mobile phones change children’s communication patterns.
1b. Mobile phones do not change children’s communication patterns.
2a. Mobile phone use develops unfavorable behavior among children.
2b. Mobile phone use does not develop unfavorable behavior among children.
Through the research, the aforementioned hypotheses will be proved or rejected depending on the outcomes of data analysis.
Refined Definition of Variables
Theoretical Definition
Use of mobile phones – The use of mobile phones refers to the basic and advanced functions of mobile phones, including the features specified by manufacturers.
Influence – Influence refers to the effect, impact, or outcome of a person, thing, event, or phenomenon.
Interpersonal communication skills – Interpersonal communication skills refer to skills and practices during the communication or exchange of information between two people.
Operational Definition
Use of mobile phones – In the research, the children’s “use of mobile phones” refers to the different functions of mobile phones in their daily lives. The children will be asked about the ways they use their mobile phones to determine how they use their mobile phones. A checklist will be included in the survey questionnaire to allow the children to use the specific function of mobile phones for them and to determine how often they use their mobile phones for these purposes.
Influence – Influence, in the research, refers to the overall effect of using mobile phones among children. Influence will be viewed and assessed from different aspects or angles (e.g. values, behavior, views about communication, among others). Influence will be based on observations during the interview and the responses and observations of the teachers and parents that will be participating in the research.
Interpersonal communication skills – Interpersonal communication skills in the research refer to measurable and observable skills and behavior of the child during communication. It will be observed in the way they communicate during the informal interview (e.g. maintaining eye contact, attention span, understanding of the question or statements said, alignment of response to the question, etc.).
Potential Data Analysis Techniques
Two sets of data will be obtained from the sample population – qualitative data and quantitative data so two different analysis techniques will also be employed in the study. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze the data obtained through the survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics will be used to measure the frequency of responses in the data obtained and therefore, to extrapolate and predict outcomes. Qualitative data will be organized and analyzed through coding. The coding process will involve a review and summary of the interview transcript.
Potential Sampling Design
First, a school will be randomly selected within an accessible location. In the school, the Middle School classes will be selected and random sampling will be used to select 20 students and 10 teachers (including the adviser for the chosen Middle School Class) who will be participating in the research.
Potential Instruments
Qualitative and quantitative research methods will be employed in the study. To obtain quantitative data, the survey questionnaire will be used as the primary instrument in obtaining data from the sample population. Two sets of survey questionnaires will be constructed for the research – one for the teachers, parents, and family members who will be participating in the research and another one for the children. The survey questionnaire for teachers, parents, and family members will be constructed to determine the participants’ observations when it comes to the mobile phone use among children and its influence in their behavior and manner of communication. The participants will use the Likert Scale to rate the kinds of behavior and practices that apply. The survey questionnaire for children will be used to determine how the participants use mobile phones. The survey questionnaire will include a checklist through which the children will determine how and how often they use mobile phones. The informal interview will be conducted with children. During the interview, the children will be asked to bring their mobile phones. The children will be asked basic questions about themselves (e.g. name, age, school, pets, interests, among others). During the interview, the children’s way of communicating will be noted. It will also be noted if they use their mobile phone in their hands during the interview.
Survey Questionnaire for Teachers and Parents
Survey Questionnaire for Students
Interview Questions for Students
What’s your name? How old are you?
How’s school? What subjects do you excel at? What are your hobbies or interests?
Note: The questions will depend on the conversation with the student. The objective of the interview is to note how well the participant communicates in person and how often the child checks/glances at his or her mobile phone while the interview is going on.
Potential Limitations
The willingness of the target population to participate in the study presents a potential limitation to the study. Moreover, since the research involves an assessment of the behavior of children in using mobile phones and interaction with their parents and family members, some parents may not be willing to join due to the sensitivity of the children’s age. Children are not adults and parents may be concerned about the privacy of their children. To address this limitation, steps will be taken prior to conducting the study in order to protect the privacy of the children. Consent forms will be distributed among the participants and they will be informed that no personal information will be used in the research. Potential biases during the study, especially on the part of parents and children, also limit the outcomes of the study. Moreover, during the informal interview, the children may not exhibit their regular behavior while communicating with their peers, which may then prevent the researcher from making accurate observations.
References
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