The pervasive presence of cellphones in the lives of urban young people around the globe has led to widespread research to evaluate the impact that this device has on young people’s overall psychosocial development. This relationship is often characterised as “addictive”. This research study presents a unique South African youth perspective in a field of research that is predominantly conducted in the United States, Europe and Asia. It explores the relationship that students (ages 18–21) at Rhodes University have with their cellphones in order to understand how this device informs their experience of social participation online and offline. Central to the design of this study is a “social media detox” which involved the research participants volunteering to restrict their social media and cellphone use for an agreed-upon period of time. The study employs interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to uncover key themes from in-depth interviews before and after the detox. Eight respondents were interviewed twice; once before and once after their detox. This study provides insights into the integral role of a cellphone as reported from a young adult’s perspective. Communicating on social media platforms using a cellphone has become normalised among this age-group and the respondents described how the cellphone feels like “a part of you”. Unlike interacting face-to-face which is potentially awkward and involves effort, socialising on a cellphone offers the respondents a sense of companionship, control and instant access to their peer groups. The respondents in this study seemed unaware of their own agency in social situations until their participation in the social media detox. By participating in this study, the participants became more aware of how their cellphone use influences social behaviour, both online and offline. The study proposes that the term “addiction” undermines the positive association young people have with their cellphones. Instead, this study suggests that “social fitness” would be a more relevant construct through which to encourage and support young people to exercise agency in their social lives. This exploratory study raises new questions for researchers, programme developers and educators to take up in future studies and programme development

published_or_final_version / Management Studies / Master / Master of Business Administration

The theoretical part of this thesis intends to familiarize the reader with review of the results of recent studies of how a mobile phone affects individuals, communication and society as a whole. Space is given to the issue of behavioural differences between men and women in relation to mobile phones. The last section shows how big is the attention given to a mobile phone in the field of marketing research. In the research part, the author uses methods typical rather to marketing research, an eye tracking, RTA and interviews to do the research whose goal was to describe the process of selection when buying a mobile phone via e- shop and to point out the possible differences between men and women. Measuring eye attention of 50 participants in the age of 18 - 29 years (25 men, 25 women) showed that eye behaviour of men and women when choosing a mobile phone differed significantly, particularly at the time that respondents gave to particular information areas. The interviews resulted in further differences such as differences in the importance of different criteria for both genders or unequal level of independence in selecting the phone.

The main aim of this graduation thesis is a proposal of future marketing strategy for a particular micro-enterprise based on its strategic analysis. Micro-enterprise is specialty retailer in field of cell phones and accessories. In theoretical part (two chapters) are firstly defined small and middle entrepreneurs and specified their importance. The second chapter describes strategic marketing, marketing mix and useful methods for marketing analysis. Introduction to practical part is third chapter describing history of mobile communication, current cell phone market and incoming progress. The fourth chapter introduces the analyzed company. In chapters five and six is conducted situational analysis and an overview of the current marketing mix. The seventh chapter is based on results of the previous chapters. It contains suggestions and recommendations for marketing mix strategy of the company.

Thesis advisor: Alan Lawson / Technology should enhance the human experience. Instead, it often alienates people from aspects of life that are considered most important. Artists are separated from their works, friends are separated from each other, and human ingenuity is filtered though computers before it can impact the world. These five short stories focus mainly on alienations inherent to communications and media technology, but also touch on database management and copyright concerns. Some take place in the present day; others present views of the future. All five stories use fiction to explore the truth of humanity's absurd relationship to technology. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Cell phone ownership among student populations is approaching ubiquity and many cell phone owners interact with their devices frequently throughout the day. Since cell phones often hold the power to connect and entertain their owners at any given moment, it is possible that students' increased proximity to cell phones during a classroom lecture may lead to increased distraction from academic tasks. This study investigated whether the mere presence of a cell phone, self-reported general frequency of cell phone use, and anxiety related to being separated from one’s cell phone were related to classroom lecture outcomes. Undergraduate participants (N=72) unknowingly signed up for one of three groups: phone-on-desk, phone-under-desk, or phone-at-front-of-room. In each condition, participants were asked to take notes during a video lecture; their protocols were subsequently scored for lecture note quantity, lecture note quality, and performance on a lecture content quiz. After controlling for self-reported general cell phone use frequency and cell phone separation anxiety, results indicated participants who had their phones on their desks during the lecture wrote more complete ideas in their notes than participants who had their phones under their desks or at the front of the room. Additional analyses indicated the phone-on-desk group wrote significantly more propositions and complete ideas in their notes than the other two groups. These outcomes fall in the direction opposite to the stated hypothesis. Future investigations should consider students’ habituation to having their cell phones present and the possibility that the absence of one’s cell phone could be distracting enough to suppress academic performance.

Cell phones and the Internet have become cornerstones in the daily lives of most Americans. Researchers have rigorously studied numerous dimensions of electronically mediated communication (EMC). Yet, very little research has explored the context and consequences of negotiating multiple forms of EMC within everyday life. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of everyday forms of electronically mediated communication (EvEMC) – cell phone talk, text messages, instant messages, and email – on self-work, particularly within personal relationships. Results of OLS regression analyses of survey data collected from 617 college students and qualitative data analysis of three subsequent focus groups suggested that negotiating personal relationships with and within EvEMC produces a sense of interstitial copresence, which is an awareness of the convergence of perpetual copresence within a digital environment and presence or copresence within a physical environment. The findings suggested that interstitial copresence is inherently Janus-faced. EvEMC provided people with a strong sense of freedom and control. However, negotiating personal relationships within interstitial copresence resulted in dissolution of relational boundaries. Consequently, deceptive tactics were commonly used to negotiate self-presentation within interstitial copresence, which had consequences for people’s self-appraisals as well. Since important others were expected to be accessible virtually anytime and anywhere, people with a strong sense of interstitial copresence often had an adverse emotional reaction when important others did not answer their calls or quickly reply to their messages or call or send messages regularly. As personal relationships negotiated within interstitial copresence move toward totality, the consequences for both the self and the relationships become more pronounced. Ultimately, the study concludes that self-work with and within interstitial copresence produces an interstitial self – a relational self that is, at all times, situated within a physical environment and a digital environment, yet never completely in either environment.

While there are exemplary studies on the relationships between social networks and media such as television and the Internet, less is known about the social network consequences of mobile phone use during life-stage transitions. This study investigates the roles that mobile phones play in supporting the relationships of young people as they transition to and through their first-year of university in Toronto, Canada. Focussing on information practices during a transition that tests the resilience of support networks, this study queried the extent to which mobile phones play a role in keeping relationships intact, enabling students to maintain a sense of social cohesion and belonging. Data were collected from November 2007 to September 2008 through a longitudinal research design. Socio-technical concepts and network analysis techniques were applied to analyze the ways in which mobile communication is embedded in the everyday social life of young people aged 17-34. Set within the culturally-specific context of urban Canada, the data provided substantial evidence that mobile phones foster social cohesion within intimate relations but provide a more tenuous platform from which to nurture new relationships. First-year undergraduates have integrated the mobile phone into the way they engage with their social networks to a considerable degree, with commuter students experiencing additional tensions in negotiating relationships from home and on-campus. Findings showed that mobile phones were the devices of choice to mitigate feelings of loneliness, with deleterious consequences for the development of new relationships. Furthermore, the mobile phone was a key contributor to a rising sense of empowerment and autonomy for young adults as they negotiated identity transformations during their rite of passage into adulthood. Issues of trust and reciprocity in forming new relationships were mediated through a continuum of social media of which the mobile phone was the most intimate. Evidence of continuous access to social networks has broader implications for how mechanisms for coping with being alone and disconnection are acquired in this generation. Finally, observations of ritualistic interaction practices involving mobile phones may be theorized as small-scale evidence of larger societal shifts from collective constructs of community to that of networked individuals.

While there are exemplary studies on the relationships between social networks and media such as television and the Internet, less is known about the social network consequences of mobile phone use during life-stage transitions. This study investigates the roles that mobile phones play in supporting the relationships of young people as they transition to and through their first-year of university in Toronto, Canada. Focussing on information practices during a transition that tests the resilience of support networks, this study queried the extent to which mobile phones play a role in keeping relationships intact, enabling students to maintain a sense of social cohesion and belonging. Data were collected from November 2007 to September 2008 through a longitudinal research design. Socio-technical concepts and network analysis techniques were applied to analyze the ways in which mobile communication is embedded in the everyday social life of young people aged 17-34. Set within the culturally-specific context of urban Canada, the data provided substantial evidence that mobile phones foster social cohesion within intimate relations but provide a more tenuous platform from which to nurture new relationships. First-year undergraduates have integrated the mobile phone into the way they engage with their social networks to a considerable degree, with commuter students experiencing additional tensions in negotiating relationships from home and on-campus. Findings showed that mobile phones were the devices of choice to mitigate feelings of loneliness, with deleterious consequences for the development of new relationships. Furthermore, the mobile phone was a key contributor to a rising sense of empowerment and autonomy for young adults as they negotiated identity transformations during their rite of passage into adulthood. Issues of trust and reciprocity in forming new relationships were mediated through a continuum of social media of which the mobile phone was the most intimate. Evidence of continuous access to social networks has broader implications for how mechanisms for coping with being alone and disconnection are acquired in this generation. Finally, observations of ritualistic interaction practices involving mobile phones may be theorized as small-scale evidence of larger societal shifts from collective constructs of community to that of networked individuals.

Tez (Uzmanlık) - Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi, Ortopedi ve Travmatoloji Anabilim Dalı, 2008. / Kaynakça var.