Misuse of mobile phones

If you become the victim of a cell phone abuse, you will develop any one or more symptoms of cell phone abuse like….......

1. Inability to concentrate on what you are doing
2. Mild or severe irritability or annoyance

3. Sensitivity to stupid ring tones (pop songs or loud music)
4. Initially thinking that the cell phone user is actually talking to you
5. Wishing the user would finish the call
6. Wishing the user would leave the  place
7. Wishing that the battery of that cell phone would die

Here are some Social Problems related to Cell phone misuse

Mobile Phone misuse in public places creates social problems like
      

• In attention blindness
• Caller Hegemony
•  Cognitive load
•  Accidents

•Cell phone use in social situations may result in overload – both physical and mental.

•Local interaction with the surroundings and remote interaction with the other person demands certain attention- E.g. When you talk in a bus stand or crossing the road.

•Cell phone use in public places makes the user blind to local cues due to cognitive overload. E.g. When you use cell phone while walking through the road, you may not see a vehicle coming close to you.

•Cell phone use in public places increases the reaction time to events around the user. E.g. You will not get time to move away from a danger.

 •Reduced attention to local situation may disturb others since the user is not attending the social situation. E.g. Your conversation and body language may be annoying to others.

•Use of Mobile phones in gatherings, meetings, entertainment places etc. disturb others through inattention blindness

•Caller Hegemony is the asymmetric relationship between the caller and answerer.

•The alarming ring tone may demand higher attention to the phone rather than the local settings. If you use cell phones in busy areas, trains or buses, the sudden ring tone may alter your attention or the message from the caller may cause a disturbed feeling. This will leads to inattention blindness. This will not be the condition, if you use a land phone.

                           Cognitive load

Mobile phone use in public places makes the user overloaded and become unaware of the details of communicative behavior of co- located individuals as well as other relevant features of the social situation. It is advised that do not use cell phones while driving a vehicle or operating a machinery or crossing the road.

                                        Accidents

 •Mobile phone use while driving may cause accidents due to inattention blindness and cognitive load

•Cell phone conversation distracts the driver’s attention, increase reaction time, and reduce visual field attention

•Cognitive load rises above visual sensation and diverts attention.

•Memory of visual inputs and Response will drastically reduce if the cognitive load increases when using cell phone along with driving.

•The same negative effects may also happen if the driver uses a hands free phone.
E.g. If the actual distance between two vehicles is 5 meters, due to cognitive load, the driver may feel that, it is 10 meters. This is the reason for the accidents, if cell phone is used while driving a vehicle.

Both are dangerous

Other social problems include E-waste, Cybercrime etc. also  caused by  this usage  of  cell phones
                   
                                      E-Waste

 Obsolete cell phones are becoming one of the important sources of electronic waste.

Due to the fast development of mobile technology, new versions of mobile phones are coming and people buy them and discard the old one. The discarded cell phones become a source of environmental pollution if they are not recycled. There are toxic chemicals like, lead, zinc, mercury etc in the electronic components of mobile phones. The brominated flame retardants used in computers and mobile phones are toxic if enters into the body. If these toxic chemicals accumulate, they leach into the water bodies and finally get into the body of animals including human beings through drinking water. Prevention of e-waste and promotion of Green electronics is a new challenge in the field of electronics.

                             Cyber crime

With the increased use of camera phones and Multimedia facilities and blue tooth technology, mobile phone related cyber crime incidents are increasing. Cybercrime includes traditional activities such as fraud, theft or forgery, whenever a telecommunication system is involved. The word Cyber is derived from the Greek word Kubernetes meaning Steersman .It is used in the terms cybersex, cybernetics, cyberspace, cyberpunk, cyber homes and cyber hate etc. It is used in the computer or electronic context to denote control of the thing represented by the word it precedes

                    Psychological problems

Over use of Cell phones may cause two New generation Psychological problems.

No-Mo phobia (No Mobile phobia)
When we run out of credit or battery, lose of phone or are in an area with no reception, being phone-less can bring a panic symptom referred to as No-Mo Phobia or No Mobile phobia. To overcome No-Mo phobia, two methods are suggested. One is to keep the battery in top condition and the credit sufficient. Another method is, deliberately avoid mobile phone for few hours and then few days. Then you will feel that it is not an important thing.

Cell phone abuse is a worldwide epidemic which is now affecting millions of men, women and children especially teen age students

•  To the cell phone abusers  …………..

Consider cell phone as a communication device and not as an entertainment device or as a status symbol.

Try a little Cell phone courtesy…. and do not burden others with the pseudo social behavior.