Degree

Master of Business Administration Executive

Faculty / School

Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)

Year of Award

2015

Project Type

MBA Executive Research Project

Access Type

Restricted Access

Executive Summary

The mobile telecommunication industry has and is still undergoing extraordinary changes brought about by the introduction of new technology and market forces. Since the late 1990s the world has been witnessing a phenomenal growth in the use of new information and communication technologies. The advent of new touch technologies and the widespread presence of smart mobile phones made humans embrace technology more and depend on it extensively in their lives. With new communication technologies and smartphones the world has really became a small village.

In recent times telecommunication revolution especially the use of mobile phones is transforming the society in many ways. The socio-economic and health impacts are enormous. Mobile phone communications offer an effective means of bringing people together and reducing the distances between them. The research sets to study the theories and studies on social behavior and media and how smartphone usage affects the user habits, behavior, interactions, dependency towards the smartphone, co-present situations and social norms. The research findings indicate that the smartphone capabilities and expectancy of constant availability can create an addiction which leads to excessive use of the handheld device. The smartphone further has a tendency to make a person preoccupied and may result in user neglecting the physical context and co-present situations and thus usage can be seen as improper social behavior. However it can add value to interactions but only when the use includes all members in the social party. The findings suggests that smartphone usage can have both positive and negative effects on co-present situations depending on the context, the nature of the interaction and the social group’s norms whether smartphone usage is seen as improper social behavior or not. Additionally the smartphone usage is resulting in the emergence of new social norms and this is a phenomenon that needs further study as new patterns of use continue to develop and evolve. Research shows that the smartphone’s capabilities of convenience are also giving birth to a rather negative social tendency and that the constant availability can increase the daily level of stress. Stress causes the user to constantly check various social networks. Our social norms and social relations have changed, in the past interaction was through exclusive co-presence where eye contact important but now it has changed into maintaining a state of omnipresence. Smartphone’s integration with social media, its versatile accessibility and endless opportunities was of entertainment has become an opponent to people’s social cohesion. Smartphone use in co present situations makes the user forget the physical surroundings and opt out from the people in the surrounding while creating bonds with new online acquaintances. Technology always leads to new norms and we need to find a balance between technology and real life otherwise it will only stress us more than help us.

As the spectrum of mobile phone usage increases, opinions differ among users on the impact of this revolution. This research therefore sets to investigate the impact of cellular phone technology on the society. In general, the most important steps that different stakeholders can take to make the most of the Telecommunication revolution in are also revealed. Although these technologies provided many positive features, we cannot neglect the negative influences inherited by these technologies. One of the major negative sides of smart phones is their side effects on human interaction and health. This paper will address this issue by exploring the existing literature related to the negative side of smart phones on society by investigating the literature related to three major dimensions: social interaction, behavior and work efficiency. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of smartphones on the society and how smartphones transform the social life, culture and other aspects of the society. The primary focus of the study is to understand the impact smartphones have on business, health, education, human psychology and social life. At the end, the study will summarize both the positive and negative impacts and conclude based on wide range of smartphone impacts on the society. The paper will also give recommendations in order to counter the negative impacts of smartphones and to grasp the full advantage of this innovative technology. The purpose of this research is to inform the audience about the positive and negative impacts of smartphones on the society and to give recommendations on how smartphones could be used positively.

Pages

67

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