-Title-

The Effects of Mobile Phones on Today’s Youth using UK as a case study

-Aim-

To see whether the negative effects outweigh the positive when it comes to mobile phones and society, in particular today’s youth.

-Objectives-

Ro determine the extent to which today’s youth depend on mobile phone innovation.

To determine the negative issues associated with the use of mobile phones in line with family, health and moral issues.

To determine the health risks associated with prolonged usage of mobile phones.

To determine the positive impacts mobile phones have on technology and lives of the youths.

To determine the main purpose as to why youths mainly use the mobile phones. Whether they are for emergencies, internet access, calling friends/keeping in touch or Social networking will be determined.

To determine connection if any between mobile phone innovation and education levels.

Background to the Research Question and the Reasons Why the Research is Interesting/ Important-

Over the years I have gone through the whole mobile phone epidemic with society and have seen it gradually grow into a major part of our everyday lives. I feel that it is quiet important to find out what affects the regular use of mobile phone devices have on individuals as far as improving literacy rates or education intelligence or seriously damaging them. I have sometimes wondered increased use and popularity of instant messaging causes any long-term effects on society, as it’s created a “cyber world” that some people depend on. I’ve observed somewhat of a drastic change in behaviour amongst most youth of today towards family or authority figures; which is coincidently in sync with a technological boom where certain devices began became necessary in everyday life. I believe that it has to do with the lack of family orientation and proper communication caused by too much device orientation, as eyes are always glued phone screens, keeping individuals constantly occupied. I know that mobile phones are the cause of many family and school issues, as kids spend too much time on their devices. I feel it is relevant to find out if this is just ‘kids play’ or if this is actually having some kind of long term psychological effects on the use, with problems of “addiction” on the rise among the youth.

Relevant Concepts, Theories and Approaches from the Literature and Previous Research that will Help Me Design My Project-

Theories that are relevant to this investigation are theories that attempt to explain the relationship between technology and society as a whole. These will be helpful as they show how society is shaped by the innovation of certain technologies and also if technologies are shaped by society. With this in mind, theories such as Technological Determinism will be applied and analysed and investigated here as the research carried out will show whether TD applies to youth and mobile phones; “the idea of technology being ‘outside’ of society”. Technological Transfer will also be tested and investigated, as it also will help to carry out the investigation with the theory that “objects are defined by subjects and subjects by objects”. Actor Network Theory is another theory that is relevant to this study and help in its design as it mostly looks at the transfer and obligatory passages of technology in society.

Proposed Methods and Research Instruments-

Methods for research that I will be using will be primary, secondary and tertiary research as all together they will fully support the investigation that this dissertation is based on. Primary research is research that is physically gathered by myself and this will include questionnaires, focus groups, and other personal/direct interviews with select members of the public that will allow me to get a first hand understanding of what people feel and also allow me to gather information for myself that is not from another source. Secondary information is information that is not collected physically and information that does not come from my own findings but from another source and therefore based on their research and findings. This will include texts, journals, newspaper articles and also theories on the subject. Tertiary research is ..

-Types of Data to be Collected and Analysed and the Types of People Who will be the Subjects of My Research-

The data that I intend on gathering will be obtained from secondary sources like the internet. In order to retrieve valid up-to date feedback from real users of the device, I will have to develop questionnaires appropriate for handing out to young people who use mobile phones heavily, preferably between the ages of 12 – 18 so I am able to retrieve their honest opinions on their experiences and investigate whether they depend on it. I also plan to ascertain statistics pertaining to health issues that may be related to mobile phone use.

Here quantitative and qualitative data will be discussed and analysed as they are equally significant in this investigation. Quantitative data is data that pertains to numbers or amounts; looking at percentages. Qualitative data is descriptive or explanatory and comes from personal opinions or theories of others. This can be seen as more helpful than quantitative because qualitative data is direct and detailed.

-Hypothesis-

My hypothesis for this investigation is that I will find high levels of dependency on mobile phones that will show the youth and society’s evolution and move toward being much more technically advanced. I also however believe that this investigation will also show a potential health risk that dependency on technology will eventually cause for youths. I feel that while the innovation of mobile phones and other technology will have a positive affect on the youth by making them technologically advanced but also make them lazy and less active, as life is much more convenient than it was for the youth in the 70’s for example. The availability of information and instant communication is diminishing important social skills like engaging more with their surroundings and more importantly general activeness i.e. playing outside or engaging in sports.

-Bibliography-

A. Bryman, (2012) Social Research Methods 4th Edition, Oxford University Press Inc, United States of America