Mobile phones have become a necessity for many people throughout the world. The ability to keep in touch with family, business associates, and access to email are only a few of the reasons for the increasing importance of mobile phones. Today's technically advanced mobile phones are capable of not only receiving and placing phone calls, but storing data, taking pictures, and can even be used as walkie talkies, to name just a few of the available options.
How these features will effect on society? Whether those effects are positive or negative this essay will study most of it.
Introduction:
Without any doubt, mobile phone has had a great effect on society. You may wonder why? Simply, because almost everyone does has one. These effects can be seen in many aspects of life. Culture, economy, civilization and health for instance.
Hypothesis:
Does mobile phone effect on our health?
How the effect of mobile phone is will be on our relationship?
What is the effect of mobile phone on the economy?
Literature review:
In 1997 researchers at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia spent 18 months exposing mice to radiation mimicking the emissions of digital mobile phones and found that twice as many of these mice developed lymphomas as did animals not exposed to the radiation.(Bolton, 2004)
But since then, three other teams have failed to find similar evidence of increased cancer rates among mice exposed to microwave emissions. Bolton said
A six year research programmed set up by the UK government reported on Tuesday that the evidence so far does not link mobile phones to harmful effects on human health or biology. (Paddock, 2007)
Research methodology:
This essay will talk about mobile phone and their effects on society.
This essays' information has been gathered from websites, books, journals magazines and newspaper articles, this is all secondary research. Primary research is the most effective source of information. However, due to limits in time. It will not be possible to collect, translate and organise the data in a way that can help me in my research.
''Quantitative and qualitative data will ensure that this research have both facts as well as individual views. Qualitative research is used to gain an in-depth insight into matters that affect human behaviour. Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation used to measure the feelings and thoughts of people, and actions of the way and why things are done.'' (Miles & Huberman, 1994)
Regarding to Rajeev, qualitative data has been used mostly in this research.
Main body:
No one can deny the positive outcome of mobile phone. Mobile phone does not only give us the ability of talking anytime and anywhere wirelessly, but also provide us with a wide range of facilities and services. Day by day these services are improving and become more and more efficient. From make and receive phone calls only in early ages of mobile phone invitation. To the new generation of mobile phone where there is no limit of what you can do with your mobile phone. Like taking pictures and videos, listening to music, playing games, accessing the Internet and much more. Keeping the entertainment part in mind.(Reid,2009)
The main positive effect of mobile phone in society is keeping you in touch with all people around you wherever you are, whenever you want. You are able to contact family, friends, work, etc...
In my point of view, this is the greatest things in mobile phone.
Not only calls can give the feel of being in touch. You can send SMS which is cheaper than making voice call. Moreover, some time SMS and MMS can deliver your thought more than a 100 minutes call. Thus, some people prefer SMS and MMS to express their feeling.
All those services are creating a new era of communication. Where (communication) are the most important things in society. In a way, that makes it easier for a mobile phone user to contact widely and makes new friends from all over the world. Not only that, but also mobile phone can help you to keep your old friend. Before mobile phone comes to public, it was difficult for a person to keep in touch with all his friends. Now a person can be in contact with all his friends within a second by sending them a SMS or MMS. That will make people closer to each other wherever they are.( Lavrakas, 1993)
What is more, new mobile phone has a lot of applications that really help people. For example, book link which allow you to search for the book that you want then download it and start reading it. Apart from that, latest mobile phone has GPS service. That provides us with amazing feature. You will never get lost. That means no more excuse being late for a business meeting or friend's party.
Mobile phone these days become our mat. Anywhere you point your eyes you will see someone playing in his or her mobile phone. Unlimited feature and entertainment.
Furthermore, you can do your work while you are sitting behind your disk. If an old person knows what you can do with your mobile he will be amazed. Time is money, and mobile phone does save our time if we use it properly. Imagine that you are traveling by plan and you do not know which terminal you should go and you are in a hurry. Do not panic, in your way to airport you can know which terminal your flight will be in by sending your flight number to airport service and you will receive all the information that you need. You can also do a lot of things with no need to drive down there by yourself and queuing for a long time. Such as money transfer, within seconds that will be done from your mobile phone, while it might takes a long time if you go to bank by yourself.( Lavrakas, 1993 )
In addition, some statistics company they run their work through mobile phone. For instance, mobile phone survey. As a result of accuracy in data given by mobile phone survey. mobile phone survey has three main advantage. The most important advantage of mobile phone survey is the opportunity it provides for quality control over the entire data collection process. This includes sampling, respondent selection, the asking of questionnaire items, and with computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) it also includes data entry.
A second major advantage to mobile phone surveying is its cost efficiency. Mobile phone surveys can collect data for more efficiently than in-person interviewing.
The third major advantage of mobile phone surveying is the speed at which data can be gathered, and thus processed. In a week or less, one can gather survey data via mobile phone that might take a month or more using in-person interviews.
A major disadvantage of mobile phone surveying, even when well-executed, is its limitations on the complexity and length of the interview. Unlike the dynamics of face-to-face interviewing, it is tiresome to keep the average person on the phone for longer than 20-30 minutes. (Paul, 1993)
How secure you feel when you have mobile phone?
Obviously, when you feel you are not alone, you will feel that you are out of harm's way. Exactly, this is what mobile phone does. Indeed, mobile phone in emergency event can allow help to reach you quickly and possibly save lives. Aside from this, by emergency situations for example when a burglar breaks into your home it is easier to grab your mobile phone and lock yourself in the closet while you call the police rather than using a typical, wired phone.
On the whole, mobile phone has a huge advantage on our society. However, it also has its negative effect on society.
Although the dangers of using mobile phone have not been officially confirmed or refuted, there is certainly some evidence that points toward some diseases caused by mobile phones. When you consider what the disadvantages of mobile phone are, perhaps the greatest negative impact could be the effects that mobile phones may have on a person's health.
Mobile phones transmit and receive Radio Frequency (RF) signals in order to communicate. The RF signals from mobile phones fall within the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This radiation is also referred to as microwave radiation or electromagnetic radiation.
A study led by Dr Agarwal, Ph.D summarizes some of the researched health consequences of the microwave radiation we are exposed to though mobile phone use:
"Electromagnetic waves alter [electric activity of the brain] and cause disturbance in sleep; cause difficulty in concentration, fatigue, and headache; and increase reaction time in a time-dependent manner. They increase the resting blood pressure and reduce the production of melatonin. They are also implicated in DNA strand breaks."(Agarwal, 2008)
In addition, the use of mobile phones has also been related to Alzheimer’s disease and Cancer.
A study by Swedish researchers suggests the link between mobile phone use and Alzheimer’s disease:
"Mobile phones damage key brain cells and could trigger the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. …Researchers have found that radiation from mobile phone handsets damages areas of the brain associated with learning, memory and movement." (BBC, 2003)
This study was performed on rats, which were exposed to radiation equivalent to that of a cell phone for only two hours. The brains were examined after 50 days, and the researchers found an abundance of dead brain cells in the exposed rats.
The development state of the rat brains that were used are similar to the development state of a teenager’s brain.(BBC,2003)The researchers emphasized the worrisome impact that mobile phone use has on the developing brain of a teenager.
Furthermore, studies have linked mobile phone use with brain cancer, mouth cancer and leukemia. Most recently, the American Journal of Epidemiology published a study from research author Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, a cancer specialist at Tel Aviv University. The Telegraph published an article about this study and summarized:
"People who use a mobile phone for hours a day are 50 per cent more likely to develop mouth cancer than those who do not talk on them at all, new research has shown" (The Telegraph 26 Feb. 2008)
Besides the negative effect of using mobile phone on health, it also effect negatively on our society.
Use of mobile phone can be addictive. Specially, young people and those whom suffering from social. That led to a difficulty in making those people participate in social life as a normal person.
At home family is the number one who suffers from this problem. Basically, they loss the communication between each of family member. That can guide to a series problem in family such as feeble relationship. That means children will grow without any control or supervisor. What you will expect from those children? Not worst than being in jail for some time.
What is more, students using their mobile phone in class, even when the teacher or lecturer taking the class. students often get busy with their mobile phones.
In the places where we supposed to have the silence, mobile have been the disturbing elements. Places like hospitals, libraries, movie theaters and even formal meetings cannot be completed these days without the interruption of someone's ringing mobile phone. It can be terribly annoying and frustrating when such a thing happens. The same can be said about ringing mobile phones at movie theaters, family gatherings, etc...
Because mobile phones provide a constant path for communication, they can interrupt at the most inconvenient of times, under the most inconvenient of circumstances. This is certainly a major problem with the ubiquity of mobile phones. Mobile phones may dehumanize the dynamics of human contact. Some people may not know how to interact in real life anymore, preferring the safety and comfort of a well-timed SMS.
Again, because of this constant form of communication, people also feel compelled to keep communicating while behind the steering wheel. People who talk on mobile phones can be a huge safety concern. They are not concentrating fully on the road and often cause accidents. There was an increasing of traffic accidents caused by using mobile phone while driving. And that's partly why the United Kingdom mobile phone law was introduced.
A further negative effect of mobile phone is lack of personal privacy. That means you are no longer having your own time alone. Not to mention the fact that you can be traced through your mobile phone. With the new GPS service it is easy now to locate you wherever you are.
Perhaps one of the disadvantages of mobile phones is the very fact that we are so fascinated with them. Many enthusiasts feel compelled to "upgrade" their mobile phones on a very frequent basis, looking forward to the Second Generation iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold, among countless other handsets. And that's just for now. These enthusiasts will want a different phone next month, as well as all the accessories and peripherals that may go along with it.
Let us face it. Mobile phones can be a very expensive hobby, especially if they are upgraded more often than every two or three years.
Evaluation:
As mention in the essay, the negative effect of mobile phone on health have not been officially confirmed or refuted. All researcher that essay talk about, have not provide a strong and direct link between mobile phone and disease. Thus, there is no real worry about mobile phone regarding to health.
Since the entire negative effect of mobile phone can be managed and avoidable. There is no reason to be out of mobile phone and its unlimited services.
Conclusion:
Taking everything into consideration, Mobile phones provide a great level of convenience and safety to those who use it, and they can substantially improve the productivity of workers. However you feel about mobile phones, one thing is clear. They are here to stay to help us and to make outlives easier.
References:
1- Agarwal, Ashok, Fnu Deepinder, Rakesh K. Sharma, Geetha Ranga, and Jianbo Li. “Effect of Cell Phone Usage on Semen Analysis in Men Attending Infertility Clinic: an Observational Study.” Fertility and Sterility 89 (2008): 124-128.
2- BBC News, 2003 ”Mobile Phones ‘May Trigger Alzheimer’s’” Health.
3-Bolton,W,2004 ''Mobile Phone and Health'' smart buzzel
4- Burch, J B., J S. Reif, M G. Yost, T J. Keefe, and C A. Pitrat.1998 “Nocturnal Excretion of a Urinary Melatonin Metabolite Among Electric Utility Workers.” Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health 24: 183-189
5- Cockcroft, L.2008 “Heavy Mobile Phone Use a Cancer Risk.” The Telegraph,
6- Lavrakas,P, 1993 "Telephone survey methods" , 2nd ed. USA.
7-Miles & Huberman,1994 '' Qualitative Data Analysis'' p.40 USA.
8-Paddock,C,2007 ''Mobile Phones Do No Harm, UK Report'' medical news today
9-Reid, B, 2009 Cell phones: How early is too early?. The Washington post, pp17
