Social Impact Of Mobile Computing: Critical Evaluation Of Research Studies

General Discussion

Discuss the social impact on mobile computing.

Embracing latest technology often means adopting the good and bad features. Mobile computing is a phenomenon and with increased services, applications and learning methods geared towards mobility it is here to stay. But implications cannot be ignored which can be both social, economic or cognitive including areas of learning methods, social media behavior and newer terminologies. The author critically evaluates questions and findings from the journals authored by Joanne and Michael, in a formal and non-formal environment and by Chuan-Tuan, Yu-Kang, Zhao-Hong and You.

The clarity of the statement and justifying its significance:

In the article “Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cell phones, smartphones & social media”, authors Joanne and Michael clearly state the current trend of mobile usage in the field of learning, especially in higher education (Fischer and Smolnik 2013). The significance is important as increasing number of young students are turning to online methods of learning (Gikas and Grant 2013).

In the article ‘The dark side of smartphone usage: Psychological traits, compulsive behavior and technostress’, authors Yu-Kang, Chuan-Tuan, You and Zhao-Hong discuss the impact, outcome, research studies, methodology and limitations of individuals and groups regarding increased usage of mobile computing and constant dependency. The article clearly justifies the statements written (Lee et al. 2014).

The extent to which the research covers the concerned topic:

The authors’ only cover the impact of using mobile devices, social media websites and video sites in a formal and non-formal learning environment, detailing foster collaboration, easy interactivity between peers, teachers and combination of them. He takes a positive approach while mentioning the risks of adopting this technology (Wu 2012). 

The research studies undertake certain hypotheses and concepts, including the influence of locus control and social interaction anxiety need for touch, materialism influence among others. His methodology includes a study by country selection, measures taken, pre-tests and traditional research of participants and data gathering. The study concludes with some preliminary analysis, statistics and estimates, measurement and structural model. Limitations and opinion on future research are detailed at the end (Billieux 2012).

The methodology followed by the research :

To provide an in-depth experience of students’ viewpoints of using mobile computing devices, they accepted the qualitative approach and methodology from Merriam’s journal published in 1998. They studied the category of themes explained in the journal to better understand the approach through an individual’s eyes on how they perceive the reality after they were interviewed to share their stories and opinions (Barry, Murphy and Drew 2015).

Methodology

The authors adopted a methodology as per the journal study published by authors Ahonen & Moore and categorizing it into three sections – country selection, measures taken and few pre-tests. They chose Taiwan because of its high smartphone penetration, which is around 51% in compared to developed countries and its increased smartphone usage. Measures were taken from various literature studies, including dimensions of control loss, abysmal of life, conflict, symptom of withdrawal and compulsion. For pre-tests, they followed the procedure as per the author Churchill. Six constructs used for 63 items and undergrad students of marketing assessed for consistency (Tsai 2015).

The research findings were based on primary assumptions of some characteristics based strictly on the nature of mobile devices including access to The Internet, portability, and as a communication apparatus. The research cannot be concluded as exhaustive as it was based on old findings of data from three universities, which participated in the project. The collected data was used to find patterns to find connections by open coding and categorized and compared to three rounds of analysis. The patterns and relationships through simulations may not fully recreate a probable solution (Fernando, Loke and Rahayu 2013).

There is a good correlation between assumptions, concepts, studies undertaken and conclusions drawn. It is because they adopted three categorized their study into three parts of the methodological study, and drawn references from many authors with published journals. Instead of raw code simulation, they took actual dimensions that are relatable and provided recommendations based on the studies undertaken which is more logical (Lee 2015).

The authors made the point that even though research and methodologies were carried out to find patterns, glaring loopholes can exist. The students participated maybe due to they believe they felt an impact by mobile devices or was just interested. Other findings are partly justified when the technology compared from that time of writing the article, like fear of using small buttons of keyboard onscreen or longer exposure to screens.

No flaws found in their study due to the diverse nature of their work, but since they based their research methodology, only from one country, the study can be said to be one-sided. The study is more logical as they have considered human dimensions.

The ethical study of the research:

The studies carried out morally and ethically justified to a degree because the authors conducted researches replicating the actual environment, while at the same time old researches and complicated method of data patterns cannot be compared with the reality and the conclusion provided may not be justified (Whaiduzzaman 2014).

Biases and Flaws in Research

The studies performed by the authors hinges towards morally and ethically correct as they have compared smartphone usage, its implications on daily life and analyzed the resultant outcome without biasing. It would have been morally incorrect if they concluded their study with the research findings alone. Instead, they recommend self-introspection, better psychological assessment, and encouraging to find the cause of stress and compulsive behavior to come at a solution (Cox, Bird and Fleck 2013).

On the collection of data and analysis part, the authors have been successful because they took reference from many writers, who wrote journals on related topics and referenced in the article for the same. So the findings and evaluations are conclusive even though dated when compared to immediate changes. It is because rapid technological changes in hardware and software, easy availability of software, shapes smartphone usage and usage characteristics accordingly.

The data collection undertaken from their studies, by following tested methodologies and made comparison charts and appendices for easier understanding. Appropriate analysis is given based on the comparative study.

Findings from the research are exhaustive if not conclusive because the studies are based on students from only three US universities. Results carried out from the interview are advantages of a mobile computing device in learning the field, and the frustrations associated learning from a mobile device owing to its limitations. Also, the conclusion of negative impacts is documented saying seclusion of an individual, depression, victimization, trolling and self-harm caused directly or indirectly.

Research finding, along with empirical data, charts and process are well documented in appendices, references, charts, surveys, methodologies and in-text citations to avoid confusions. They carry all conclusive evidence.

Conclusion:

The authors approach starts with the introduction of mobile computing in the field of education, describing its usability, features replicating a formal environment but in a modern sense of freedom. Social implications of newer and older generations are different now from that of 90’s or before and are both good and bad in their respective ways. He underlines some stark contrasts between the two generations without judging due to the nature of their environment and its influence on them changing from time to time. He also mentions the positive and negative influences drawn from various studies with different conclusions drawn from proven tests. The common theme being self-evaluation, and behavior study as recommendations.

References:

Barry, S., Murphy, K. and Drew, S., 2015. From deconstructive misalignment to constructive alignment: Exploring student uses of mobile technologies in university classrooms. Computers & Education, 81, pp.202-210.

Billieux, J., 2012. Problematic use of the mobile phone: a literature review and a pathways model. Current Psychiatry Reviews, 8(4), pp.299-307.

Cox, A.L., Bird, J. and Fleck, R., 2013. Digital Epiphanies: how self-knowledge can change habits and our attitudes towards them.

Fernando, N., Loke, S.W. and Rahayu, W., 2013. Mobile cloud computing: A survey. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(1), pp.84-106.

Fischer, N. and Smolnik, S., 2013, January. The impact of mobile computing on individuals, organizations, and society-synthesis of existing literature and directions for future research. In System Sciences (HICSS), 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 1082-1091). IEEE. [online] https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/hicss/2013/4892/00/4892b082.pdf

Gikas, J. and Grant, M.M., 2013. Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet and Higher Education, 19, pp.18-26.

Lee, Y.K., Chang, C.T., Cheng, Z.H. and Lin, Y., 2015. Helpful-stressful cycle? Psychological links between type of mobile phone user and stress.Behaviour & Information Technology, pp.1-12.

Lee, Y.K., Chang, C.T., Lin, Y. and Cheng, Z.H., 2014. The dark side of smartphone usage: Psychological traits, compulsive behavior and technostress. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, pp.373-383

Tsai, M., 2015, August. How the diffusion of smart phones will change public opinion surveys in Taiwan: The feasibility of using blended samples of landline and cell-phone numbers for telephone surveys. InManagement of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), 2015 Portland International Conference on (pp. 2409-2416). IEEE.

Whaiduzzaman, M., Sookhak, M., Gani, A. and Buyya, R., 2014. A survey on vehicular cloud computing. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 40, pp.325-344.

Wu, W.H., Wu, Y.C.J., Chen, C.Y., Kao, H.Y., Lin, C.H. and Huang, S.H., 2012. Review of trends from mobile learning studies: A meta-analysis.Computers & Education, 59(2), pp.817-827.