Cellphones

How cell phones have changed our sense of self

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Courtesy of flickr user Bundini

Gunjan SinghCognitive Science Examiner

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August 18, 2010

Currently, more than half of the world uses cell phones as indicated by the mobile penetration rate of 61% that was reached by the end of 2008 (ITU, 2009). As cell phones continue to become a part of our daily life, there is a need to examine how general population’s attitudes towards mobile phones have changed over the last few years.

Now-a-days people consider their mobile phones to be a personal device (Tian, Shi, & Yang, 2009). The appearance of a cell phone and the way it is used in a public setting says a lot about an individual’s preferences and identity. For the weak and elderly cell phones have almost become a necessity, particularly in circumstances where there is some sort of emergency. Tian, Shi, and Yang (2009), a group of researchers at Peking University and at China Academy of Telecom Research of MIIT, have hypothesized that there are three dimensions that characterize our attitudes towards mobile phones: sense of security, sense of self-character extension, and sense of dependence.

Sense of security is the ability of mobile phones to reduce uncertainty and provide feelings of safety for its users. Studies have shown that one of the major reasons why people acquire cell phones is due to their personal security concerns (Totten, Lipscomb, & Cook, 2005). Sense of self-character is the idea that mobile phones are not just devices for communication but they also extend our sense of self (Ling & Yttri, 1999). People change the background images and put special ring tones on their...