Are cell phones helping or hindering our society? Poor social skills may equal loneliness, but this may be a classic case of which came first -the chicken or the egg? It is also possible that loneliness results in poor social skills. This is especially true given the high frequency of use of cell phones in today’s society. It is also possible that the frequent use of non-face-to-face communication leads to poor social skills which then results in loneliness. Loneliness is defined as perceived deficiencies in one’s ongoing relationships or the network of relationships one has is smaller or less satisfying than one desires (Jin and Park, 2012). It may seem initially surprising that loneliness may be tied to mobile phone communication as it is always said that the world is at our fingertips. Mobile phones may instead be the virtual feeling of being all alone in a room full of people if you haven’t learned to interact with others appropriately.
Social skills deficit hypothesis is loosely defined as the experience of lonely people lacking the social skill set necessary for establishing intimate or long-lasting relationships (2012). Poor social skills are significantly associated with less face to face interaction and higher rates of loneliness, as found in one study (2012). Face-to-face interaction is still important as more mobile communication is significantly related to higher levels of loneliness (2012). This may be because mobile communication is being used in these cases as the primary means of communication in the individuals’ lives instead of as a means to scheduled face-to-face time with friends and family members. The folks conducting this study acknowledged that a plausible explanation is that loneliness is the cause of more voice communication rather than the outcome of it (2012).
In addition, privacy may be a thing of the past. Now people are almost always accessible and are almost expected to be. Some people within my company even have two phones – one for their personal use funded personally, and another for their co-workers that is often paid for by the company. Many people today seem to not mind the privacy they’re giving up or perhaps don’t remember a time when they had privacy away from the pull of mobile devices. Perhaps this is because they were too young with they became addicted to cell phone use to remember the freedom that not answering to a mobile device entails.
Cell phones and mobile connections can be addictive. Access to the internet and mobile networks has become more pervasive as cell phones have improved, allowing for anywhere, anytime access to the internet (Salehan and Negahban, 2013). This is potentially detrimental because social networking sites influence human interaction and have the potential to impact users lives (2013).
I suggest we help society to take a look at the time spent on a mobile device and attempt to set some personal boundaries to avoid enabling this potential addiction to play a role in our lives. Perhaps we may challenge ourselves to stay off of mobile devices while eating. Or perhaps we can train ourselves to not give in immediately when our phones beep by giving that sound our immediate attention. Taking back control of our lives in these minor ways may make a huge impact on our control over our time. I believe it is time to take back control over our social lives and begin to use mobile communication as a means to schedule face-to-face contact instead of replacing it.
References:
Jin, B. & Park, N., (2012). Mobile voice communication and loneliness: Cell phone use and the social skills deficit hypothesis. New Media & Society 15, retrieved from http://nms.sagepub.com/content/15/7/1094
Salehan, M. & Negahban, A. (2013). Social networking on smartphones: When mobile phones become addictive. Computers in Human Behavior. Retrieved from www.elsevier.com/locatecomphumbeh
Tags: media
We used to only be able to communicate with a person on the phone while at home or in a phone booth with wires connected which limited how far you could go or where you could talk (PSU WC, L-9, pg.2). With technology advances, we now have the ability to talk to others on our wireless phones whether it be calling, texting e-mail or through the use of other cell phone applications.
It is crazy how wrapped up in our cells phones we can get. I recently had dinner with my mother-in-law along with her boyfriend and his daughter. While we were eating, his daughter was constantly texting on her phone. It was rather distracting and I feel as if people lack boundaries where cell phones should and should not be used. People get so wrapped up in their phones they forget about the people that are right in front of them. You bring up good points about how we can try and reduce cell phone use such as avoid phone use while eating and resisting the urge to grab the phone the moment it goes off. I think it is important for people to sit back and enjoy what is in front of them rather than worrying about what is on their phone. You can miss out a great deal when you are distracted on your phone.
Reference
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). Psych 424 Lesson 9: Media. Retrieved from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp14/psych424/001/content/10_lesson/01_page.html
You mention how cell phones are changing our society. You assert that there may be a link between poor social skills and the use of cell phones or vise versa. You also mention the lack of privacy people have because of 24/7 accessibility. Lastly, you discuss how social websites on cell phones may have an addictive component. I also think that to some extent cell phones while beneficial in many ways can have a negative impact socially.
It is interesting to note that with the advent of the answering machine brought about the option to “screen calls.” Prior to the answering machine, answering a phone call was considered proper etiquette and people rarely did not answer a ringing telephone because it was the social norm. I’d like to go a bit further and extend what you mentioned related to social sites on cell phones. The social norm today seems to “rudely” (while there is a live person present) and “dangerously” (while driving) use cell phones. Both of these instances people ought to be engaging with the person in front of them or paying attention to the road and not engaging with their cell phones. As you mentioned, addiction to our cell phones is common place. I wonder how much of this addiction has to do with the desire for people to feel accepted, loved and admired. Take Facebook as an example. It is a place where one can have “friends” yet never speak or see these same “friends” face-to-face. It is a place to receive instantaneous feed back on what one had for lunch, where one vacationed and where one can show off that new hairdo. It can be a forum to vent opinions and share pictures of one “enjoying” life. A person becomes part of a social group. A large group at that! The nature of a group consists anywhere from 3-20 people. Some people have well over two thousand friends in their social group on Facebook! This large number of friends is questionable because of the sheer number of people to manage, let alone have a meaningful relationship with. A true friendship has an emphasis on confiding and self-disclosure. I am not sure how much one can (or should) confide on a social site such as Facebook. Perhaps one of the draws to a social site such as Facebook is the emotional reward received in the form of written praise or “like” button (where the user can express that he/she likes, supports or enjoys). According to social exchange theory, we like people who reward us the most. The rewards of the relationship minus the costs of the relationship are considered. Another reason may be that people feel a strong sense of de-individuation where feelings of (some) anonymity and reduced individualist result in the loosening of normal constraints on behavior. This may explain why some people will post pictures of themselves intoxicated or scantily clothed. It is almost as though there dual persona – a backstage and front stage persona. The backstage persona is the one where the private “true self” emerges. The front stage persona is the public and therefore proper etiquette, behavior and conduct are exercised. It may be possible that another reason that people are “addicted’ to socializing on their cell phones include familiarity and repetition. The propinquity effect states that the more we see and interact with people, the more likely they are to become our friends. While people may not be “interacting” in the traditional sense, an interaction is occurring none the less. People post hoping other will approve by clicking on the like button. Familiarity leads to “liking.” No pun intend. Also, the mere exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. Over time people crate habits and going on Facebook to see others posts and posting becomes part of the daily routine. In some ways the jury is still out whether or not social media and the use of cell phones have a negative impact on society. The technology is in its infancy. However, it can be said that social norms are being created. I believe that as a society we should look for modification to these newly created social norms when necessary.