Literature Review (mobile phones effect on society)

Dr Badre 2008 states that teenagers are becoming more and more addicted to their mobile phones due to a group pressure to be reachable by mobile phone round the clock. She goes onto say how this disrupts teenagers sleep patterns which not only affects theirs education and learning but can lead to ‘serious health risks’. Jessica Alexander, from the sleep council, adds ‘too many teenagers are stimulating their brains with mobile phones or computers late at night’ when they should be getting about 9 hours of sleep a night. As well as the sleeplessness that comes with excessive use of mobile phones Dr Badre also mentions how the pressure of friendship groups to constantly be available by phone brings stress and fatigue. Although Harper 2002 had similar results in that teenager’s feel the pressure to always be available by mobile phone he sees it in a different way. He argues that mobile phones have made teenagers a lot more sociable and forms their social lives, and those who didn’t not share their phones or reply to messages were left feeling socially isolated. However Woolcock 2009 found that excessive use of a mobile phone led to three out of ten teenagers used text abbreviations, such as L8 (late), in their coursework. Kakabadse said this research showed how technology and mobile phone in particular to be a hindrance in a students spelling and grammar and encourages plagiarism.