Smartphones and their Impact on Communication:
Case study of Slovakia
Thesis
By
Denisa Kubackova
Bachelor of Arts
In
Communication and Mass Media
State University of New York
Empire State College
Year 2015
Reader: Silvia Chelala
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank to the entire staff and administration of UNYP and ESC for all their
hard work, commitment and help throughout my studies. Especially, I would like to thank
my mentor Silvia Chelala for the support and time she spent working on my thesis. I would
like to also mention Todd Nesbitt and Tess Slavíčková for invaluable knowledge and
guidance in the areas of communication and advertising. I truly believe that the
understanding and skill I have obtained will help me in my future career success.
Table of contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………....6
CHAPTER 1
COMMUNICATION THEORIES……...…………………….…………............9
1.1
Communication theory……………………………………………………...........9
1.2
Marshall McLuhan’s communication theory……………………...………….11
1.3
Harold Innis’s communication theory………....................................................14
1.4
Computer mediated communication (CMC) theory……...………………......15
1.5
The type of society new technology devices as smartphones create………....16
CHAPTER 2 HISTORY OF SMARTPHONES ……………………………………….…....18
2.1
What is a smartphone, what is an application? …………………….………...18
2.2
Evolution of smartphones……………………………………………………....19
2.3
Differences between usage of smartphones in the past years and nowadays.22
CHAPTER 3 INFLUENCE OF SMARTPHONES AND ITS APPLICATION ON
ADOLESCENTS…………………………………………………………………25
3.1
How smartphones and its application influence communication …................25
3.2
How adolescents use smartphones……………………………..…..…………...27
3.3
What are the main activities on smartphones…………………………………27
CHAPTER 4
SOCIAL NETWORKS………………………………...………………………...29
4.1
History of social networks………………………………………...…………….29
4.2
Social networks……………………………………………..……………………30
CHAPTER 5
RESEARCH IN SLOVAKIA ……………………………………………...…...32
5.1
Introduction……………………………....……………………………………...32
5.2
Purpose of study ………….………………………………..……………………33
5.3
Methodology…………………………………………………..………………....34
5.4
Participants…………………………………………………..…………………..35
5.5
Instrumentation………………………………………………..………………...35
5.6
Data Collection……………………………………………………………..…...36
5.7
Results…………………………………………………………….……………..37
5.8
Discussion…………………………………………………………………….....39
CHAPTER 6 POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SMARTPHONES AND ITS
APPLICATIONS ON ADOLESCENTS COMMUNICATION……….........40
6.1
Positive effects of smartphones on communication………………………......40
6.2
Negative effects of smartphones on communication……………...…………..43
CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION………………...………………………………………………..46
APENDIX………………………………………………………………………...…………...…..49
WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………………………..……...61
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………...…………………....64
ABSTRACT
Quick evolution of new technology devices leads to the fact that communication
between new generations is more often dependent on technology devices that change the
communication of adolescents completely. Classical face-to-face communication is
replaced by more popular computer mediated communication, which not only influences
communication but also whole interaction of adolescents. Internet together with social
networks, the most famous applications currently downloaded to smartphones, are the main
reasons of the grave change in communication. Adolescents in Slovakia spend considerable
amount of time by interacting and communicating online, leading to computer-mediated
communication becoming more frequent than the face-to-face interaction. Based on the
results, online communication creates safe environment for adolescents and allows them to
be able communicate with friend over long distances, meaning that this kind of
communication is improving their relationships in terms of frequency of communication.
Part of the thesis is focused on an original research conducted in Slovakia, analyzing the
use of smartphones by adolescents. The purpose of the research was to shed light on
possible differences between what is generally known about modern technology gadgets’
usage and the actual situation in a small CEE country Slovakia is. The results showed that
the globalized world possibly brings the way of utilizing devices such as smartphones to a
level that does not vary among nationalities. The implications are further discussed in the
paper. Along with the innovation of new technology, we should understand that not only
positives are provided to us. We need to recognize and be aware of the fact that innovations
can also bring the harms and risks for new young generations, and parents shall be well
informed and not let their children be freely exposed to these risks.
Introduction
Modern quick and often stressful lifestyle makes people live, work and communicate in
ways greatly different from ever before. We live at times when stress becomes almost a
natural part of everyday life and we often have to accept it. We also attempt to simplify
many activities by using new technologies. After all, technologies are one of the fields that
have been helping us this way substantially. They have been developing very quickly, and
every year there are innovations for new devices that become useful in many different
fields, actually influencing our existence. Going past in history to the Marshall McLuhan’s
theory of communication, we might agree with his predictions. His theory of
communication describes the understanding of electronic media and its impact on culture
and society. His predictions asserted years ago are happening right now within our society.
People think and interact differently through utilizing the electronic technology.
Smartphones are one of those devices that became the number one tool in this sense, as the
usage is very simple, quick and helps people solve many kinds of problems easily. They
could be considered small computers because their functions actually fulfill that
description. These technology gadgets are no longer than 8-10 years available on the
market, if we consider the ones that are seriously comparable with computers such as
iPhone or newest Android models. In 2007, the first iPhone was launched and since then
average consumers became hooked on similar devices. If we look at our society, especially
at adolescents, we could easily say that their interpersonal and group communication and
interaction have been altered by these changes remarkably, exactly as McLuhan
6
communication theory predicted. New devices allow people to communicate through word
of mouth conversation that could be compared with classical telephone as well as let them
use the written word in text messages. Combined with that, the connection to the internet is
another reason why they became so popular.
Smartphones became a part of ourselves, because we use all mentioned appliances as our
planners, dictionaries, calendars, notes, and more; they are able to tell us what we have to
do in a particular time, making remembering anything by ourselves irrelevant if we wish
so. Important to mention are also the applications - apps - through which adolescents, as
well as other smartphone users, are able to find anything they need, use communication in
different ways, edit pictures and videos, browse the internet and more. There is the
possibility to find applications of any kind of interest; they seem almost unlimited in the
category range. Some of them are for free, many can be quite expensive. The application
development is now a prevalent business opportunity for a reason. Since people are able to
use these technology devices in many ways for different purposes, however, it also carries
the danger of having many negative effects.
The problematic of effects of these devices on people are among the most commonly
discussed topics in the world. If we look at this problem from the point of impact that
smartphones have on adolescents, we can see possibly even unexpected results. There has
been a lot of researches done on adolescents, which were focusing on the impact of
smartphones and other electronic devices. There is a question if these new technology
gadgets have been influencing people in a good or bad way. From the communication point
of view, we could consider the change in our lives specifically in the way we communicate,
as our communication became more effective and quicker, possibly creating a positive
7
effect. Another positive effect would be that since people have smartphones almost always
within their reach, they are able to communicate and interact with the world constantly and
almost for free in terms of the cheap access to the internet. Smartphones allow us to solve
more problems at the same time as well as give us the opportunity to be at the same time in
many different places.
This mostly influences the younger generations, especially adolescents, who became
amazed by and addicted to smartphones. That might be the negative effect of these new
technology devices. They see the power of social networks, which are now available, easily
reachable and possibly very addictive. There are different ways how to use smartphones,
notable for instance among genders. Functions such as camera, photos and the use of social
network became highly popular for girls who like to document their lifestyles (Park & Lee,
2014). Boys are most likely to use these devices for music videos, GPS and social
networks. These gender differences emerge from the fact that there are differences between
girl and boys in terms of their social activities and psychological profiles. Since adolescents
have started to interact with smartphones, it was discovered that their leisure time has been
adapted to the amount of time they spend online. Further, the verbal communication has
been changed due to texting. Texting is a quick procedure, which is one of the favorite
concepts of modern communication of adolescents. Notable the usage of slang and
shortened version of words is part of the impact of quick and viral communication. The
purpose of this paper is to explore how new technology devices and their application
influences the communications of new generation of adolescents. Further, through original
research made on adolescents in Slovakia, it is discussed what is the situation of that
particular topic in a small country that Slovakia is.
8
The purpose of the research on adolescents from Slovakia points to the fact that these
teenagers are online most of the time and the non-verbal communication - “picture
communication” - became so popular that verbal communication is sometimes taking place
as additional communication. There was discovered that adolescents consider smartphones
as their everyday life tool which is helping them communicate faster and more effectively,
and search for the information they need much more easily. They perceive these new
technology devices as a part of their life, without which they might become even lost.
CHAPTER 1
COMMUNICATION THEORIES
1.1 Communication Theory
“Communication,” a well-known word, whose meaning became important for society’s
interaction, is related the terms “communion” and “community.” The origins of the word
‘‘communication’’ comes from the Latin word communicare that means “to make
common” (Weekley, 1967,) or “to share.” Based on DeVito’s (1986) claim, communication
is “the process or act of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver, through a
channel and with the interference of noise”. These three essential parts of communication
are the Sender, Receiver and Channel. All are crucial in the way each message is perceived.
Another important term, which will be used a lot in this paper, is the term message, which
is a “signal or combination of signals that serves as a stimulus for a receiver (DeVito,
1986)”. Message can have varying forms; it can be a symbol, sign or a spoken version. Due
9
to the fact that my topic focus is smartphones and the communication through them, I will
concentrate on the aspect that information is transferred mostly through verbal
communication. Transferring information verbally, vocally or the usage of a written word
is all considered verbal communication. This type of communication can be divided into
two sections: oral communication and written communication. New technology devices
such as smartphones basically allow people to communicate in both ways because users are
able to use word of mouth conversations to send their message to the receiver (which is
consider an oral communication) as well as use of written word via text messages (which
would be an example of written communication).
A Model of Communication
The models of communication which were written by McQuail and Windahl, ‘‘simplify
reality, select key elements, and indicate relationship’’ (McQuail & Windahl, 1989) of how
communication works. In the illustration, we can easily see how the connections sender object/message - receiver work.
Letter A in this case represent the object/message, which is going to be sent. B represents
some sense through which the message reaches the observer. It can be a different visual
10
aural or other sense. Letter C stands for the sender who is an observer of the message and
who will push the message to the receiver. Finally, the most interesting letter of my topic,
the letter D represents the channel through which the information will be sent. In my case,
it is a smartphone. Even if the topic is smartphones themselves, it can be divided to
different types of sub channels by which the message will be sent. Social networks or
generally computer mediated communication, which is based on the internet connection,
phone calls, and text messages are all possible options for smartphones. The last letter in
the illustration is the letter E, which logically stands for the receiver, as the last part of
communication process.
Due to the fact that this process is same in any type of communication, it is easy to
comprehend that smartphone communication, or communication through new technology
devices in general, is based on the same principles as any other type of communication.
Differences are only in the aspect that this new communication is managed online, which
means that sometimes, if we use texting as our way of communication, we are losing the
face to face contact that might make a difference in the message comprehension.
1.2 Marshall McLuhan’s theory of communication
A Canadian scholar and philosopher of the communication theory, who was focused on the
problematics of electronic media and communication, is well-known Marshall McLuhan.
He is a holder of a big name in the communication field due to, among other contributions,
his specific terms, such as “the medium is the message”, which stands for the idea that
perception of our understanding of the message depends on the medium, through which the
11
message is sent. Another popular term would be the “global village” that describes ‘‘how
the globe has been contracted into a village by electric technology’’ (McLuhan & Lapham,
2003). Nowadays, the global village stands for or considers the World Wide Web.
Important to mention also is that this person predicted in his theory something happening
right now. The new technology devices and internet could be considered a point of view of
the McLuhan’s theory, because with the arrival of internet his perspective and theory have
been renewed.
Marshall McLuhan’s theory of communication specialized on the understanding of
electronic media and their impact on culture and society. His theory can be simplified to a
collection of different curious ideas, which stick together by some common assumption.
However, the idea “that changes in communication technology inevitably produce profound
changes in both culture and social order” is considered as a central assumption of the theory
(“Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is the Message and Massage”).
To understand his theory deeper, it is important to mention that there was no connection
between the theory and political or social movements. He was following any movements
which were connected to changes in communication technology (“Marshall McLuhan:The
Medium Is the Message and Massage”). He called himself a technological determinist,
because most of his work argues for the conviction that technology indispensable causes
the changes in how people think and how society is structured.
This theoretician, who stands behind his own communication theory, became very popular
among people and many schools; teachers embraced his theory as the one, by which to
teach the new generations about communication. If we look into details of his theory, we
can see connections between the theory of electronic devices and their influence on
12
people’s thinking, behavior and interaction. This could be seen as an overall impact of new
technology on people communication even nowadays. Our contemporary society greatly
considers the theory again because the impact of new technology devices such as
computers, smartphones and others affect us in enormous ways. The society has been
changed through technology development.
What we should be addressed along with the Marshall McLuhan’s theory of
communication is term tetrad. In the general meaning, the word tetrad represents any
picture of 4 things connected (“McLuhan’s tetrads: What they are and how they work,”
2011). We can connect it to Marshall McLuhan and his tetrad of media effects, which
consists of four effects on society that are caused by any technology. His tetrad is made of
four questions: What does the medium enhance? What does the medium make obsolete?
What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier? What does the medium
flip into when pushed to extremes?
In the two illustrations placed above we can easily see how the McLuhan’s tetrad works
and looks like. The first illustration is only a basic example of what we can imagine in
13
every part of the tetrad that is influenced by any technology tool. The other illustration
placed on the right side is already applied to cell phones/smartphones and their impact.
1.3 Harold Innis’s theory of communication
The roles of media and technology shape the society and its culture. This was an opinion of
another Canadian professor, who was interested in communication theories. Harold Innis
claimed that the development of communication media is the key factor of social changes
(Innis, 1951). He became an important figure in the field of communication, and influenced
others such as Marshall McLuhan by his theory. The objective of his study was to apply
two different dimensions to media; the time dimension and space dimension.
Time-biased media are supposed to be the ones, which carry a message from generation to
generation with limited audiences (Innis, 1951). This group includes clay, poems or handcopies that are sources that leave messages for generations to come. However, interesting
for this paper about new technology devices is the other group, which is the space-biased
media. Space-biased media are modern media such as radio, television, and nowadays also
the internet and smartphones that are carrying messages to many of people through long
distance. Compared with time-biased media, they have the effect of creating a short term
message. People easy forget the message because there is a quantum of messages that are
coming in at the same time.
Innis sees technology and society somehow connected together, while mutually influencing
one another. Our media operate with already existing situations and work on the basis that
is allowed to them which means that they create new cycle of change (Innis, 1951). In this
14
case, we can see that Harold Innis was a person who believed that power that is implied to
communication technologies shapes our culture. Therefore, he could be seen as a
technological realist. He concludes that the "relative emphasis on time or space will imply a
bias of significance to the culture in which it is embedded" (Innis, 1951).
1.4 Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) theory
If we look at our society nowadays, we can easily recognize that social interaction between
people is influenced in a huge manner by new technology devices. This is exactly the part
of the computer mediated communication theory which asserts that CMC or Computer
Mediated Communication can simply be explained as a transaction between two or more
networks like chartrooms, e-mails, WhatsApp or other Social Networking Sites, text
messages, etc. (“Computer Mediated Communication, Communication Theory”). This
growing topic has been talked about and argued by theorist and scholar Joseph Walther,
who is an author of social information processing theory that was introduced by him in
1992.
Walther’s
social
information
processing
theory
describes
interpersonal
communication that allocates how people get know each other while being online through
different technology devices and applications. Development through computer-mediated
communication depends on the specific time and application that are available in the
particular device for communication. The lack of nonverbal communication that is provided
by computer-mediated communication means that this kind of communication contains less
information in comparison with classical face-to-face communication; however, Walther’s
social information processing theory asserts that this type of communication is more
15
frequent than classical face-to-face communication. Joseph Walther is also a developer of
hyper personal model of communication, which notes that computer-mediated
communication evokes more emotions and affection in comparison to the same situation
managed via face-to-face communication (Walther, 1996). Hyper personal model foretells
that in less rich media, which are the ones through which communication takes a longer
time to be understood, the message are perceived as less rich, allowing more satisfying
level of interaction than face-to-face communication (Dennis, Fuller, & Valacich, 2008).
The role played by computer-mediated communication has increased, and is still on the
rise, transforming every single life that it touches, effecting individuals in both positive and
negative ways. Due to the fact that this multifaceted medium (CMC) uses internet as a main
tool of human communication, it subsequently leads us to the impact and dependence on
this type of medium in ways affecting human minds. We may also see that society, mostly
new generation of adolescents, considers smartphones as a technology device that is
necessary for their lives. The fact that smartphones are basically a specific type of a
computer gives solid basis for the mentioned discussed theories. Computer mediated
communication is considered as an effective type of communication; however, as was
mentioned before, it has some negative effects as well as positive ones.
16
1.5 The type of society which new technology devices such as a smartphones create
The evolution of communication led modern societies to primarily interact via electronic
devices, and use them as a medium much more often than in previous years. This causes a
huge impact on the new pattern of communication. Smartphones together with other
technology devices provide every individual with the perks of quick communication, which
is partly why smartphones gained on popularity to the point where they are considered the
most commonly used channel of communication among people. They can be considered as
some kind of liberation, and they fulfill different needs of individuals. Not only adolescents
claim that smartphones are not only devices which make their communication easier, but
they also let them be more effective and quicker in educational way, since web browsing
makes it possible to find information in any particular moment. Further about the topic of
computer-mediated communications, which is provided by smartphones as well, this
medium covers almost everything relevant to the scope of this paper. There are many
different interests of individuals that can easily be covered and found by these devices.
People have varying needs and interests, and it is not different in Slovakia. In this part of
the world, it was discovered that adolescents use a lot of applications in the music,
translators or different languages categories as well as application that are focusing on news
for instance (local as well as international ones). The actual access to social networks
(SNS) themselves plays a crucial role, as it allows users to connect with people in any other
part of the world. One of the students mentioned that the most used applications in his
smartphone are exactly ones that allow him to connect with his dad when he is away on a
business trip. This can be considered an effective aspect of this kind of communication. In
the last few years, the progress in technology created society that is dependent on internet
17
network, available through new devices. It affects our lives, especially adolescents’, who do
not hide their personal information on various social networks, possibly causing harm to
themselves sooner or later. On one hand, society is dependent on this kind of technology.
However, another important factor to mention is, that we feel as an independent society in
the way we access information and use communication channels. New technology devices
have created the society of absolute freedom. The term, as used within this essay, is meant
as a feeling based on the perceived reality that we are able to get any information at any
time. It is easily reachable through the mentioned appliances, because they allow us to
communicate from one part of the world with the other part of the world in a matter of
seconds.
CHAPTER 2
HISTORY OF SMARTPHONES
2.1 What is a smartphone, what is an application?
Smartphone is a new technology device, which has been developed from a mobile phone.
It is able to operate wirelessly and is still traditional enough to be able to make a phone call.
Smartphones have the ability to operate sophisticated applications. It is an electronic
appliance, which can be compared with computer because it has the ability to do many
procedures as well as computer or, together with GPS (the Global Positioning System) even
much more. It became one of the most useful tools of our lives because long-distance
communication became much easier after the invention of this smart technology.
18
Applications (Apps) are special pieces of software that are able to be downloaded and
cooperate with smartphones directly. Their functions are comparable with computer
programs. These applications are available for free, and many of them are paid as well,
opening completely new and profitable market of application development. They have a
broad sphere of categorization, which means that people are able to find anything that
interests them. Social networks, dictionaries or news are the most popular spheres
("Understanding Mobile Apps OnGuard Online," 2011).
2.2 Evolution of smartphones
The history of the telephone started to be written in 1878 when Alexander Graham Bell
invented a first patent application for the device. Throughout the years, technology became
more inventive, and finally in 1993, the first concept of a smartphone has been created.
IBM, who named it the Simon Personal Communication, invented it (“Alexander Graham
Bell - Phone and other inventions,” 2006). It was a telephone that had a monochrome
touchscreen, antennae and a charging base station. This first smartphone was already clever
enough to send and receive email as well as faxes. Successfully following the development,
Nokia brought its smartphone on the market in 1996, called Nokia 9000 Communicator.
This model already had navigation keys, outward facing dial pad and a monochromatic
display. Nokia 9000 Communicator had a patent for opening the full Qwerty keyboard with
physical navigation buttons (Taylor, 2014). As well as Simon, Nokia 9000 Communicator
was capable to use email or fax as well as web browsing and spreadsheets. Considering the
functions, which these telephones were providing in that particular time, they would
19
definitely belong to the category of smartphones even now. However, the name smartphone
became popular one year after the invention of Nokia 9000 Communicator, when Erickson
invented their GS 88 concept known as Penelope. Penelope’s exterior appearance could be
compared with Nokia 9000 Communicator because outward appearances were similar;
however, this new model already included touchscreen, which was the main progress when
compared to the telephones before.
Since every other developer mostly concentrated on the basic cell phone communication,
Japan became the first nation popularizing smartphone in the market place (Taylor, 2014).
They informed the market how new i-mode and wireless networks were able to transmit
information in a very short time with the speed of 9.6 Kbs. In 1999, the BlackBerry 850
came to the market, followed by many other companies such as a Nokia or Motorola, who
both designed similar models. These smartphones were heavily focused on email, fax, web
browsing and other enterprise-centric features. Years between 2000 and 2006 could be
considered as faulty in the cell phone evolution, as cell phone manufacturers started to
explore huge amounts of different types of functions for smartphones, such as sliding and
flipping keyboards, rotating display, wafer-style phones with display placed above
permanent vertical keyboards, and other models with multiple keyboards and resistive
touchscreens. These years when manufacturers Motorola, Palm, HTC, HP, Samsung, Nokia
and others build their names for themselves became crucial. Due to this fact, other
companies were crushed by the situation in the market and later more or less forced out of
the competition (Taylor, 2014). Danger Hiptop was a smartphone considered as the most
memorable one of the era. It became popular because of his java-based DangerOS and its
quick text-based communication, which was named instant messaging and became well20
known as an Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and MNS Messenger. Its display
emerged from the center of the phone, where the keyboard was situated. This smartphone
device was recognizable all over the world as the messenger.
Between 2004 and 2007, it was discovered that there was a huge rise in the usage of
smartphones. Instead of the usage as a device for communication through email and similar
applications, it was discovered that smartphones became mostly used for correspondence
and light Web browsing on the train (Taylor, 2014). With the introduction of the new
iPhone, it was all set to change once more. In January 2007, the first iPhone was launched
and Apple’s idea was to create a new technology device, the actual smartphone, which
would be a combination of variety of multimedia functions with the same email and
browsing features that all other smartphones already had had. IPhone as a product became
popular in a matter of minutes because of its big colorful display and finally a fingersfriendly touchscreen/interface. It had only four buttons on its body: the home button, which
was main button in the middle of the lower part to manage manipulation with the
smartphone, and other three buttons around its edges, with two controlling sound and one
set for manipulation of power/standby. The first iPhone was operating with the iOS system,
as they do nowadays. It was very simple iOS system but people had to get used to work
with this new technology at first, slowly building a customer base for the company. In
September 2008, Google announced their Android OS operating system, which was used
by HTC. After the invention of these two new operating systems, there were altogether
following leaders of the market: Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Palm OS, Windows Mobile,
web OS, making up together seven major mobile system. By the year 2012, Symbian
disappeared from the market, Windows Mobile together with Palm OS were superseded by
21
the web OS, and Windows Phone and BlackBerry stayed in the market with their popularity
dramatically decreased (Taylor, 2014). Android together with iOS became the kings of the
market. After the invention of these two powerful softwares, smartphones originally
designed with physical keyboard have been pushed from the market as well. All new
smartphones started to be more dependent on the touchscreen. Nowadays, these two
softwares are competing with each other solemnly.
2.3 Differences between usage of smartphones in past years and nowadays
If we look at the past, a few years ago we would have definitely mentioned that our
technology has been developed a lot corresponding to communication. Interactions between
people came to the point when no one usually needs mutual face-to-face communication.
New technology devices came quickly to our lives, and we started to interact with them
quickly as well. People began using all their advantages to make lives easier not only in
terms of communication but overall customization of the technology experience. It
influences all generations now; however, those most influenced by the new technology era
are young generations, to whom smartphones are a tool of an everyday need. If we look at
the past, only ten years ago we would see that purpose and usage of cell phone were
tremendously different in comparison with the current situation.
Speaking from the scientific point of view, then a perpetuity in the point of development of
the products can be observed. Back in the year 2004, iOS and Android OS, two main
operating platforms, that are dominant in the market nowadays, did not exist. Under the
22
name cell phone people understood a technology device capable of communicating with
another person through phone calls or text messages, which had limited number of letters
used. Old-fashioned cell phones presented with already developed color touchscreen
display were in that particular time the devices that had many useful functions; however,
these were still not comparable to computers. These technology devices were featured with
full Qwerty keyboards and some of them were already based on the slider technology. They
already had Wi-Fi and a camera in the back and also some amount of internal memory.
Calendar, planner, alarm, photos, messenger, calls, and Wi-Fi were the functions enabling
users to use the technology efficiently. Compared to the current situation, it also means that
these smartphones were more useful for phone-call communication or texting; however,
they had yet to play a crucial role in people’s lives. Adolescents were not influenced by
these arguably old fashioned smartphones as much as nowadays, because they were used
mostly for phone-call interactions between them and another person.
In our contemporary fast and stressful lifestyle, smartphones do play a crucial role. Only a
few years ago, no one knew what the word application meant, or what was or would be
WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, Viber, Snap chat and others. Most people did not think that
in such a short time technology would change in similarly radical way. Since 2007, when
the first iPhone and its iOS operating system together with Android operating system were
invented, our perception about smartphones has changed. These new technology devices
almost replace computers because their functions and applications allow people to
communicate with others at any moment from any place almost for free. Any kinds of
interest – sports, fashion, dictionary, cooking classes, and all other different hobbies – have
now some sort of application. New generations, especially adolescents, are affected by
23
smartphones more than anyone else. Communication in their case is changing from vocal
speech to photo communication. In addition, the language is being altered, as seen on the
fact that slang became more popular and shortened versions of words – such as OK, Hm,
Yop, Wow,  and others – are nowadays most common words used by adolescents. On the
other hand, communication became easier and more effective. Functions that differ from
classical cellphones are for example:
›
A calendar that provides functions for entering and editing appointments directly to
it, with the possibility of synchronization with personal online-calendar.
›
Address book (contact) allowing adding, deleting, and editing all the contacts
similarly like on a computer. In the case of communication with a new contact, the
phone itself will prompt you to add this number to one’s database.
›
Music/video players are developed with clear viewing screens and with the option
for recording videos with or without sound. These new smartphones similarly offer
mp3 players which are able to store music, edit it, rate it, categorize it, etc.
›
Internet access and email now work on a similar basis like on computers. Web
browsers and Wi-Fi access are now a must. Voice activated dialing, based on the
voice and recognition of certain words, enables smartphones to automatically search
for a contact within one’s database and dial it.
›
GPS or Global Positioning System would be another important function that plays
an important role in people’s lives. Smartphone is now able to detect one’s specific
location via satellites and lead one to his or her desired destination.
›
Other important features, which smartphones are able to utilize, are the shortly
called “Apps”- applications. As was mentioned before, an application is a function
24
comparable with computer programs. These applications are available for free but
many of them are paid as well, opening completely new and profitable market of
application development. They have a broad sphere of categorization, which means
that people are able to find anything that interests them. Social networks,
dictionaries or news are among the most popular spheres.
CHAPTER 3
INFLUENCE OF
ADOLESCENTS
SMARTPHONES
AND
THEIR
APPLICATIONS
ON
3.1 How do smartphones and their application influence communication
Relationship between adolescents and new technology is nothing new in contemporary life.
It is all influenced by the impact of fast development of the technology. Families are using
technology gadgets every day. Parents are naturally the role models of adolescents that
become better informed and easiest to interact with nowadays with the new technology than
their parents and older generations did. More and more adolescents use smartphone as an
everyday tool and to be online, which means to be active in a particular activity through
technology devices such as smartphones using an access to internet or data. It is something
what we could consider as a normal in this time. We see more often that being online does
not mean only to communicate, but it is used as well for purposes of socializing, learning,
playing, listening or participating in all sorts of activities.
25
Only 10-12 years ago we remember the time when our communication was dependent on
the face-to-face communication. Adolescents discussed their problems, experiences or
homework in the period of the time when they were physically at school, or during some
kind of activity with others. There were no other technology devices, social networks that
would allow adolescents to be online 24 hours per day. To communicate after school was
not so common because there were not devices that would let people be reachable
everywhere. Telephone was used mostly for the purpose of being in contact with one’s
family, and actually not all young people owned mobile phone at that time. Nowadays, it
seems more and more normal. At that time, the house phone was also very common, which
was used by all family members. Another important fact to mention is that adolescents had
different interests; they were more physically active and they were more often participating
in-group plays where the interpersonal communication was possible (Mascheroni &
Ólafsson, 2013). Although few years ago it might not have been particularly easy to
communicate that effectively and quickly, people were communicating more actively at
situations requiring interpersonal communication. Compared to contemporary generation,
we may see adolescents walking around with smartphones or tablets in hands, which means
that most of their leisure time is spent being online or at least not fully focused on the
present. It is possible to be active in some kind of game, social network or educational
program through different applications or internet in general of course; that is why the
communication of new generation is changing. Reasons for this are arguable; however, we
can say that adolescents do merely what technology allows them to do. We should consider
that communication is easier nowadays because it might be more informal, meaning that
through smartphones or other technology devices communication is more open; adolescents
do not have to write grammatically correct and they can use slang commonly. This became
26
highly widespread; we often have to adapt to it. Nowadays, even if we write an email to a
teacher, we do not have to be so careful about the correct outline or other features. As was
mentioned before, in many cases new technology is developing so quickly that the impact
on communication and interaction in the society is simply remarkable.
3.2 How adolescents use smartphones
If we look at the usage of smartphones from a general perspective of adolescents, we could see
from many sources and researches that European kids use smartphones as a tool to get an
access to Internet, social networks and different applications (Mascheroni & Ólafsson, 2013).
Consistent results are also measured in regard to the places from which all of the three areas
listed are accessed. Most of adolescents, who use smartphones to be connected or online in
their leisure time, are active at home, most likely from their own bedrooms. It can be
connected to the possibility that their rooms evoke a certain kind of privacy, which can make
them feel relaxed and be able to search any type of information for different interests. Less
often adolescents access the internet from other rooms. Third option is accessing the internet
through smartphones at schools or other public places. What I discovered from my own
research was the fact that adolescents connect to the internet most likely through smartphones
in comparison to the other technology devices such as a computers or tablets. This was proven
by other research made on European adolescents from different countries (Mascheroni &
Ólafsson, 2013).
27
3.3 The main activities on smartphones
During to Net Research Go Mobile that was made for the purpose of discovering how
mobile European children are, the main activities that are sought most often by adolescents
on the electronic devices such as smartphones were discovered (Mascheroni & Ólafsson,
2013). One section of the research was concentrating to understand what the range of
online activities is and how it is connected with commonplace activities. Other reason was
to understand the level of opportunities and risks of harm coming from these activities.
In top 10 online activities that were shown in the research, social networking was on the
first place, with 58% of surveyed adolescents visiting their profiles or other social network
sites or instant messaging once or more times during the day (Mascheroni & Ólafsson,
2013). This fact was measured by the overall research of usage of different technology
devices. It was also claimed that smartphone users interact on social networks in higher
percentage than non-smartphone users. This trend actually repeats in any other activity that
will be mentioned further. Another important or common activities on the electronic
devices such as smartphones were listening to music and watching video clips, which is
actually very common activity because adolescents do not need any other devices to search
for music or videos. Smartphones already substitutes all devices that were before assigned
for listening to music. Searching for school is important as well, as it was in top five
activities because smartphones allow young people access any sort of information about
potential educational institution as well as reviews from current students. Playing games or
watching movies through smartphones belong to the top 10 popular activities. It was also
discovered by the research that activities such as uploading and sharing pictures or videos
is considered as activities with increasing growth rate during the last few years, while the
28
usage of internet for schoolwork through smartphones or playing the games are decreasing.
Other activities, such as watching news or the usage of translators became more popular as
well. Adolescents who use smartphones to go online more often engage with app store,
where they download applications for different purposes.
European adolescents own and interact online through social networks, listen music or
search for information relevant to schools using smartphones more often than any other
technology devices. Being social, socializing through social networks through smartphones
is the most popular activity of European adolescents (Mascheroni & Ólafsson, 2013). Due
to the fact that smartphones allow their users to be online anytime at any place, it increases
the connections between the intensity of smartphone usage, being online and the
experiences gained through these technology devices.
CHAPTER 4
SOCIAL NETWORKS
4.1 History of social networks
Social networks as we know them, the modern invention, have origins in the past as
everything. Even if not in the same meaning, the term social network comes from the word
socializing, which means to build the personality of the person, his thoughts, feelings,
behaviors and keep connections between people (Bitto, 2007). During the past years, due to
the fact that the Internet did not exist yet, people socialized through face-to-face
communication and interaction. However, the end of the 90s played a crucial role in the
29
social revolution, which was the time of rise of the Internet. We can see that the purpose of
Internet at that time was different from the current situation. It was invented for army
purposes, to be connected with other military bases and gain important information. In 1991,
last (third) phase of invention of the internet started, which brought it more commercial
purposes, and regular people started to interact and use it for their needs and communication
(Bitto, 2007). The beginning of social networks or the first form of social networks appeared
as a BBS (or Bulletin Broad System) which was a form of online meeting place that allowed
users to communicate with central system, from which they downloaded files or games as
well as and messaged the other users ("The History of Social Networking," 2014). The social
networking’s boom came later with Classmates.com, a network through which it was
possible to interact with a specific person. This social network did not allow users to create
their own profile, but SixDegrees.com that became known in 1997 already had this feature.
This social network also allowed people to invite friends to their profile, organize groups and
see profiles of others ("The History of Social Networking," 2014). In 2002 and 2003, there
was another invention of other social networks such as Friendster, LinkedIn and Myspace,
which were already on a higher level in terms of communication and user experience. Every
person was able to share personal information, hobbies and utilize communication needs
through these social networks; it became simple. Facebook, which was invented in 2007,
became one of the most favorite and crucial social networks, and it still belongs among them
nowadays. Together with other popular social networks or communication channels, such as
WhatsApp, Instagram, Viber or Skype, they create a new era of communication that
influenced especially adolescents who often did not experience life without these platforms.
30
4.2 Social networks
Social networks are among the most frequent activities nowadays, becoming popular and
important channel and source of communication. Access to these communication networks
is enabled by new technology devices, most commonly through smartphones (Mascheroni
& Ólafsson, 2013).
Social networks became an important source of our everyday
interaction and communication with society. The most favorite one according to my
research is Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Social networks have many different definitions from author to author, but according to
dictionary, social networks are communities of people or different groups who are
connected together through some online communication site (“social networks”). Through
mutual interaction they influence each other. It is a place where any individual is able to
share his or her personal information and life activity.
Facebook, the most famous social network over the world became popular straight after its
introduction. There is no difference in the age of users this way, because it became soughtafter-site for all age categories. It is a channel of easy communication, where people are
able to share their personal information as well as their interests and lifestyle. Facebook
was invented by Mark Zuckerberg who did not even think of the popularity that Facebook
has nowadays (Mezrich, 2009).
Instagram, a simple application that is possible to be accessed through any technology
device that has an internet, with another (and most frequent) option being downloading it
directly to phone as an application. This communication network basically works as a
visual communicational channel. People are able to communicate through their images or
31
videos, which they post on their profiles. Mass of people, even unknown to each other, has
the ability to comment under pictures and start to communicate. A person receiving likes or
comments can share or follow the others, creating new ways and patterns of specific
communication. This communication channel differ from Facebook and WhatsApp in the
way that there is no specific feature only for communication; however, Instagram is one of
the favorite communication tools due to the fact that images might make the
communication more appealing.
WhatsApp is a simple application that is able to be installed on the smartphone with the
purpose of straight and quick communication with another person or groups of people. This
application allows people to communicate through text messages, voice recordings or via
the sending of photos or videos, which is popular as well. People are able, as in the case of
Facebook, post their location while communicating. Compared to Facebook, this
application is simpler but actually more effective in term of easiness of communication.
CHAPTER 5
RESEARCH IN SLOVAKIA
5.1 Introduction
The adults and parents of young people and children in Slovakia should be well informed
about the risks and harms of these new technology devices. These can be faced through
smartphone usage by adolescent, as there is an evidence that ‘‘when parents actively
mediate their child’s Internet use, this too is associated with lower risk and, most important,
lower harm. However, parental active mediation of use is linked to more (not fewer) online
32
activities and skills.’’ (Dürager & Livingstone, 2012). I should mention that new
technology devices influence the communication of adolescent in terms of the face-to-face
communication as well, making it less common.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the time being spent together in terms of social
interaction on social networks done through smartphones by adolescents in Slovakia. The
study is based on an original research, during which data were collected through survey
among elementary and high school students – frequent smartphone users in Slovakia (N =
40). The study primarily focuses on how much time adolescents spent being online on
social networks through technology devices such as smartphones in comparison with the
time spent by typical face-to-face interactions. I wanted to see how the trends connected to
new technology devices and their applications influence adolescents’ interaction and
communication in such a small European country Slovakia certainly is. Is there a
correlation between time spent chatting on smartphone and the time spent on face-to-face
interaction? At the end of the study, I will summarize how it influences the communication
of adolescents and their interactions.
5.2 Purpose of study
The purpose of this research was to explore what is the relationship of Slovak adolescents
and smartphones. Are these new technology devices perceived as a number one tool of
communication in terms of spending time being online? Discover how these technology
devices influence our communication in term of time spent on smartphones was the main
point of the survey. This research was designed to inform other adolescents and their
33
parents and teachers how the communication has changed over time as well as address the
fact that even small countries such as Slovakia already developed at the new digital era,
being able to accept the changes as a part of globalization and digital development.
Research questions
Is face-to-face interaction correlated with phone usage?
Is phone usage correlated with time spent on social networks on the phone?
Is phone usage influenced by gender?
5.3 Methodology / Research Design
This research used qualitative and quantitative research methods together with exploratory
research practices, which were be further used to construct the survey and better understand
the topic and results. The research is going to explain and explore the thesis topic,
particularly how new technology devices influence adolescents’ communication and
interaction.
Questionnaires with close-ended questions were used to collect relevant and specific
answers from participants. There were also open-ended questions as well, since the research
was partly qualitative in nature. The variables that will be shown in the research are:
34
›
Independent variable – gender is the independent variable to signify differences
between genders
›
Dependent variable – the time spent on face to face interaction and the time spent
on social network on smartphones
5.4 Participants
There were 40 participants from Slovakia engaging in the research study.
The participants of this research study were students of both genders from two different
schools in Slovakia. My sampling of participants is not randomized; they were a
representative sample of both elementary and high schools. One part were the 9th grade
students of an elementary school in Slovakia, and the other were 1st grade students of a high
school in Slovakia. I decided to have these specific students in my research because I
wanted to measure participants with similar age from the range of 13 to 19 years old people
– the adolescents. The age was M = 14.88, with the SD = 0.853. There were 42.5 percent of
participants who were 14 years old, 27.5 percent of participants at the age of 15 years, and
30 percent were 16 years old participants. There were 18 male participants, who consisted
of 45 percent portion of the gender distribution, and there were 22 females who represented
55 percent of the gender distribution in the research. Two different schools in the study
should lead to more relevant research results due to the advantage of sampling participants
from different environments. These information are stated in (APPENDIX, Table 14,16)
35
5.5 Instrumentation
A researcher constructed the questionnaire, for the purpose to explore research questions
that are the main reason of research. This questionnaire was created on our own, even
though the inspiration was taken from other already existing questionnaires that had been
used in different countries for similar purposes. Questionnaire that was used for our
research was based on close-ended questions together with open questions. In addition, it
was simple and easily understandable for given age group, making the research reliable,
and during the time that teenagers were answering the questions, researcher was present in
case of some difficulties. This all shall be a proof of the reliability of the research.
Questionnaire was given to students at particular times and results were explored soon
after, supporting the validity of the whole process.
5.6 Data Collection and Analysis Procedures
Instruments together with data were collected through mentioned surveys that were given
to students personally at schools during classes. The survey was given to students by
teachers, who collected them right after student answered. Students were answering the
survey as an individuals in order to make sure the environment supported the provision of
an unbiased opinion.
Result analysis was made after collection of the surveys through exploratory and
confirmatory factor analysis, which focused especially on the time spent interacting on
36
social networks through smartphones in comparison with face-to-face communication. The
areas explored were mainly whether this type of new communication is used more often
than regular face-to-face communication, and what is the correlation between these two.
Inferential statistics were used (Pierson’s or Spearman’s correlation index together with ttest or ANOVA).
5.7 Results
Due to the fact that this research was both quantitative and qualitative, the first part will be
described initially (the quantitative results), and later the analysis will continue with the
second part (the qualitative results). I was observing if there was some correlation between
the times spent online on smartphones compared to the time spent using face-to-face
communication. I was also focusing on the aspect of whether the time spent on smartphone
has some connection with time spent by being online on social networks.
The methods that were used in this research were suitable, but there was no correlation
either any statistical significant difference using frequencies with chi-square. However, I
found a correlation between the time spent on smartphones and time spent on social
networks.
There was a mentioned minimum limit of age in this research – 14 years – and a maximum
limit – 16 years. From general point of view, there was a maximum of 6 hours spent by
adolescents engaging in face-to-face communication with others, and the maximum time
spent on smartphones was 12 hours in comparison. Out of the 12 hours, 8 were spent on
social media. These information are stated in (APPENDIX, Table 16)
37
It was discovered that there was not a statistical significant positive correlation between
time spent on smartphone and time spent engaging in face to face interactions, with rs (38)
= .096, p = .558. Therefore, we cannot reject the null hypothesis that states that there is no
correlation between time spent on smartphone and time spent engaging in face to face
interactions. It was discovered that there was a significant positive correlation between the
time spent on a smartphone and time spent on social networks on the smartphone, with rs
(38) = .676, p < .01. These information are stated in (APPENDIX, Table 1,2)
Therefore, we can reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis that states
that there is a correlation between time spent on a smartphone and time spent on social
networks on the smartphone. A Mann-Whitney U test was run to determine if there were
differences in phone usage between males and females. Phone usage for males (mean rank
= 15.92) and females (mean rank = 24.25) were statistically significantly different, with U
(n=40) = 115.5, z = -2.31, p = .021These information are stated in (APPENDIX, Table 4)
Based on the qualitative results, 38 participants out of 40 owned a smartphone, which
means 95% in comparison with 2 participants who owned cellphone (5% of the measured
population). 27 (67.5%) of participants used smartphones for social networking on
Facebook, Instagram and other sites, 7 (17.5%) use smartphones mostly for Internet search,
and other 6 (15%) of the participants still prefer to use smartphone for calling or
messaging. Main communication channel of a smartphone is the communication through
38
social network. It was discovered that 26 (65%) of participants prefer to communicate
through social networks, compared to 10 (25%) who like to communicate through text
messages, and 4 (10%) who prefer phone calls. In term of Internet access, it was discovered
that 21 (52.5%) participants of the measured population use smartphones as a tool to access
the internet, 13 (32.5%) like to access internet through computer and 6 (15%) prefer tablet.
30 (75%) participants download new applications to their smartphones, compared to 10
(25%) students who do not do so. Important to address is also the fact that 40 (100%) of
them, which mean all of them, consider smartphones important and they cannot imagine
not having one (at least eventually).
These information are stated in (APPENDIX, Table 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12)
5.8 Discussion
The finding that adolescents in Slovakia use smartphones and their applications such as
social networks for communication more often than classical face-to-face communication
might be caused by the overall evolution of smartphones and the impact of electronic media
on our society (McLuhan, 2003). Using smartphones, internet and their applications,
adolescents are able to interact any time from any place, which leads to the devices
becoming an important part of their lives. Based on the results of the research, we may see
that smartphones are considered as communication tools, and that adolescent cannot
imagine being without them (McLuhan, 2003). Social networks usage is among the most
favorite activities that are accessed through smartphones (Mascheroni & Ólafsson, 2013).
39
As was mentioned, adolescents access the Internet most often through smartphones in
comparison with other technology devices such as computers and tables. According to my
hypothesis: there is a correlation between the time spent on a smartphone and the time
spent on social networks accessed from the smartphone, which means that social network
are among the most important applications or perhaps the main reason to spend time on a
smartphone in general.
CHAPTER 6
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS
APPLICATIONS ON ADOLESCENTS
OF
SMARTPHONES
ANT
ITS
In the beginning of this chapter I should mention that contemporary environment has
influence on the reshaping of children’s lives. The interaction is always for either better or
worse no matter where they live – Slovakia included.
6.1 Positive effects
If we would concentrate only on the fact that new technology gadgets together with new
communication channels such as social networks influence our society and mostly
adolescents, we would have to consider that communication is much easier because
information spreads faster through social media than through any other media (“Computer
40
Mediated Communication, Communication Theory”). In addition, the frequency of
communication is higher in comparison with classical face-to-face communication, which
could be seen as a positive effect of the new computer mediated communication. Most
downloaded applications that often appear on any smartphone of contemporary adolescents
are exactly social networks through which they communicate (“Are Social Networking
Sites Good for Our Society,” 2015). These applications are mostly used for communication
between 2 or more individuals while featuring other useful aspects. They are also used as a
source of new information from a particular country, even the whole world. Adolescents
are able to receive any important news very quickly, leading to effective kind of
communication as we mentioned in the beginning, because adolescents as well as other
people are informed in a short period of time, and it allows them to as well react timely
afterwards. They do not need to wait to get information by looking for some proper
sources, because smartphone and its application allows them to find it in a matter of
seconds. More than 50 percent of people learn about breaking news from social media
("Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society," 2015). The reason for this popularity
lies in the fact that their smartphones inform them any time that something new happened.
What we could count as another positive effect of smartphones and their applications would
be that students or adolescents use it as a tool for studying. 59 percent of students, that have
applications for social networks or web browsers, use it to discuss there their topics for
different assignments and projects, and it further tends to be a good source of information
for their school work ("Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society," 2015). Since
smartphone is a new technology device that allows people to interact through different
applications, social networking sites allow people to improve their relationships as well as
make new friends. In the chapter 4, where I was discussing social network applications
41
such as Instagram, I mentioned that every individual is able to follow and interact with any
person interesting to him or her. That means that this kind of interaction allows people to
find new friends or people they are somehow living the type of life that is similar to theirs.
There is also the possibility to be interacting 24 hour per day, allowing everyone to be in
straight and persistent connection with others. Based on this fact that adolescents interact
constantly together, it might create better and stronger relationships between them. There
was discovered that more than 25 percent of adolescents report that communicating through
social networks makes them feel less shy, more outgoing and that they feel more confident
about themselves. Interesting fact to mention is that even adolescents who are less socially
adept admit that social networks are the places where they find the friends because it is
easier to communicate and they feel more comfortable ("Are Social Networking Sites Good
for Our Society," 2015). According to my own research that was made in Slovakia, I
discovered by asking them personal questions, whether they use social networks for
communication over long distances. To my surprise, even young people such as
adolescents are communicating with people they are in long distance relationships with on
a daily basis. It was discovered that adolescent use smartphones and their applications such
as social networks for communication with friends who live away from them, or with
parents who for work reasons have to be at distant places. This could be considered as
another positive aspect of these new technology devices, as it allows adolescents to be in
contact with family relatives or friends any time from any place. That leads to what was
mentioned before, that relationships or friendships between individuals might be stronger
with communication more frequent between them. It even might have a positive impact on
the fact that applications for example serve to teach different languages. After all,
dictionaries have a big role in the phone because adolescents are able to easily translate any
42
text that is written in the other language they do not understand. This is another challenge
and one of the ways how they even without thinking learn new languages. There is many
different tasks surrounding the social networks which are written in other languages.
Music, that today’s young population listen to, is frequently sang in the English language as
well, which might lead them to translate words that they do not understand.
6.2 Negative effects
Even though smartphones are devices that give every individual the opportunity to interact
on a very high level in terms of communication and information receiving, the process of
using them brings about possible negative effects as well. Even though smartphones
themselves do not expose adolescents to any direct harm, the applications through which
they interact on social networks and elsewhere do create this possibility. First important
fact that can be considered from many points of view as a negative effect of new
technology devices and their applications would be that the face-to-face communication is
changing to online communication. Adolescents often and more comfortably choose this
kind of communication because of its easy and quick usage. It might lead to them having
access to less information from the other person, or can be perceived in a wrong sense, as
they are meant by sender of message different. The absence of non-verbal aspect of
communication in this case cannot be ignored after all. It can also lead to a problem with
personal verbalization, becoming a problem when they for instance are to speak in front of
an audience, because the communication online does not developing their verbal resources
43
fully. In the online type of communication, slang and shortened versions of words are used
more often. Another risk that should be mentioned about interacting through social
networks on smartphones is that adolescents create their own profiles, where they expose
their personal information. That can carry not only cyber but potentially even physical risks
if the information is abused by the wrong people. Even if adolescent do not perceive it as a
risk, the free availability of user’s information and pictures can lead to online bullying or
also called cyber bullying. Cyber bullying and harassment is considered the biggest online
danger for adolescents (Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig, & Ólafsson, 2011). There exists the
term online predator, which means an adult who interacts online and harasses and stalks
someone more vulnerable ("Online Predators” 2006). Becoming a victim is as easy as it is
unfortunate. According to “Risk and Safety on the Internet: The perspective of European
Children”, which surveyed adolescents in 25 different European countries and which was
published in January 2011, found that 6 percent of these youngsters received online nasty
or hurtful messages, and 3 percent of them have sent nasty or hurtful messages to the others
online (Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig, & Ólafsson, 2011). Cyberbullying can even cause
young kids traumas or bad feelings. According to “Risk and safety on the internet”, it was
proven that half of the kids who have been experiencing receiving bullying or harmful
messages online were fairly or really upset (Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig, and Ólafsson,
2011). Another negative effect that is caused by new technology devices and their
applications would be that those adolescents spend less time with family and friends in
terms of the face-to-face communication. They like to spend their time posting different
pictures from their life on their profiles or even share tiniest life details and keep up to date
with their peers. Taking pictures and posting them became a phenomenon that influences
adolescents greatly. Young girls try to change their image based on the celebrities or
44
models that are posting various pictures, which are often altered in Photoshop, later
possibly causing health disorders. Nudity became very popular – as was mentioned, young
girls like to follow their icons, while many times there are young girls who attract predators
by posting inappropriate pictures of themselves.
However, adolescents perceive smartphones and their applications as an advantage for their
living; they are becoming addicted to these new devices that are able to provide them with
any kind of service for what they need or desire ("Are Social Networking Sites Good for
Our Society," 2015). What should be mentioned as another negative side of technology
devices is the fact that it can have negative impact on adolescents’ health. Itchy eyes or
sleeping problems are the most occurring problems that are faced after extensive usage of
these new technology devices. It can also cause a lack of concentration, which means that
adolescents do not concentrate on their work, being distracted by their devices very often.
What I should not forget to mention is that all these negative aspects such as itchy eyes or
sleeping problems have also a considerable influence on school performance. That is
actually problematic because these young people are in the age when they are supposed to
develop their knowledge background from elementary and high school ("Harmful Effect of
Commonly Used Electronic Devices on Adolescence and Its Safeguard at Shebin ElKom”). There is a question about the time they spend being online at home chatting with
friends, while not doing some physical activities.
45
CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we should consider that contemporary innovations of technology are
very fast, which likely influences not only interaction and communication of adolescents
but also the thinking and structure of society. If we look back to the time of McLuhan and
Innis, when the new technology devices were not invented yet, we could consider that their
theories were correct and they predicted in their communication theories something that is
happening right now. McLuhan global village that is seen as today’s internet is one of the
biggest triggers in terms of changes in communication. The central point of his theory is
that changes in communication technology cause changes in culture, have impact on
people’s thinking and alter overall structure of society.
If we deeply think about his words, we could easily come to the conclusion that this
situation is the one which our society currently faces, and it does lead to the point that our
society is being shaped through the invention of new technology. This idea was addressed,
as mentioned, by Harold Innis as well. Based on his theory, that the development of
communication media is the key factor causing social changes, it would be proven by
observing the contemporary type of society (Innis, 1951).
Quick evolution of smartphones allows them to become a number one communication tool
of this era. Even though it has an impact on the whole society, new young generation
became the main group of people who are and will be influenced by this evolution. In fact,
46
it is changing all the thinking and way of living at this time, because new technology
devices such as smartphones, together with their applications are inseparable part of their
lives. They replace cell phones and computers; they replace even television or radio
because all this media are already implicit in these small devices (Mascheroni & Ólafsson,
2013). It is not only because smartphones themselves would be the ones including
everything. Thanks to the internet that is a part of the technology gadgets, it is easy to
download any application that replaces all these media. In addition, web browsers allow
adolescents to seek any information they need in any particular situation. Computer
mediated communication took place in our society because the contemporary
communication is mostly based on the interaction between two or more networks like
chartrooms, Social Networking Sites, text messages, or emails. We live at times when
smartphones are taken as something that is able to solve any problem for anyone. It leads to
communication becoming much easier, because no one has to interact personally face-toface, and it allows us to communicate quickly from any place at any time. The lack of
nonverbal communication rises with the appearance of computer mediated communication;
however, on the other hand, this kind of communication is more frequent than traditional
face-to-face communication.
As was mentioned before, it was discovered that online communication is improving
relationships because adolescent are able to be in contact with friends or family nonstop.
That should be considered an important factor because the relationships are important part
of any human being’s life. It also makes adolescents’ years of studies much easier, as
getting information quickly through web browser is easier than it was without the new
technology. Based on the research in Slovakia, it was discovered that social networks
47
belong to the group of most popular and most used applications downloaded to any
smartphone. Adolescents are able to communicate through them, but as well to get new
information that is good for their brief overview about the world happening around them as
well as thousands of kilometers away.
Along with the innovation of new technology, we should understand that not only the
positive sides are provided to us. We should recognize and be aware of the fact that
innovation can bring the harms and risks for new young generations as well, and parents
shall be well informed and not let their children be freely exposed to these risks. Cyber
bullying is the biggest harm that can be practiced via online communication and
interaction, which are provided through smartphones and their communication tools (social
networks). Computer mediated communication is considered an effective type of
communication; however, as was mentioned before, it has some negative effects as well as
positive ones. After all, innovation cannot bring only positives effects and results, and in
the end we have to be able to recognize and be aware that development cannot merely make
our lives easier without exposing us to some risks.
48
APPENDIX
Questionnaire that was specially constructed for my research done in Slovakia.
QUESTIONNAIRE
My name is Denisa Kubackova and this questionnaire is done to help me in my Thesis that is
connected to the topic how mew technology devices influence adolescent’s communication in
Slovakia. By this research I want to explore how important are new technology devices for
Slovakian adolescents and how much it influence their communication and interaction with the
World.
Always circle only one correct answer
1. I have a:
Cell phone
Smartphone
2. How much time do you spend per day doing something on your smartphone? (Please
give an approximate in hours)
-------------------------
3. How much time do you spend per day talking (face to face) with your friends? (Please
give an approximate in hours)
-------------------------4. I mainly use my smartphone for:
49
Social networkorking on Facebook, Instagram, Snap chat, etc.
Taking pictures with the Camera
Making/Receiving Phone call
Sending/receiving text messages
Internet searching
5. I communicate more often through:
Social networks
Text messages/ phone call
6. I access the Internet or search on Internet through:
Smartphone
Computer
Tablet
7. How much time do you spend per day on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) on your
smartphone? (write hours)
--------------------------------
8. Do you upload special applications to your smartphone/ tablet?
Yes
No
If yes which ones?...................................
50
9. Do you consider smartphone as an important thing in our life?
Yes
No
10. I am a:
Male
Female
15. How old are you?
I am ________
51
Section of graphs and tables that prove results of my research :
Correlation between time spent on smartphones (in hours) and time spent on face-to-face
interaction (in hours)
Table 1
Correlation between time spent on smartphone and time spent on face-to-face interactions
Time spent on smartphone
Time spent on face to
.096
face interactions
52
Table 2
Correlation between time spent on smartphone and time spent on social networks on the
smartphone
Time spent on smartphone
Time spent on social
networks on the .676**
smartphones
**p < .01
Table 3
Ranks in the Mann Whitney U test in Males and Females on Smartphone usage
Time spent on smartphone
(in hours)
Gender
N
Mean Rank
Sum of Ranks
Male
18
15.92
286.50
Female
22
24.25
533.50
Total
40
Table 4
Test Statistics in the Mann Whitney U test in Males and Females on Smartphone usage
Time spent on
smartphone
(in
hours)
53
Mann-Whitney U
115.500
Wilcoxon W
286.500
Z
-2.310
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)
.021
Exact Sig. [2*(1-tailed Sig.)]
.024b
a. Grouping Variable: Gender
b. Not corrected for ties.
54
Table 5
Type of Phones that are used most often by adolescents
Valid
Frequency
Percent
Cellphone
2
5.0
Smartphone
38
95.0
Total
40
100.0
Table 6
Most frequent way of usage by Smartphone
Frequency
Percent
27
67.5
5
12.5
1
2.5
Internet searching
7
17.5
Total
40
100.0
Social
networking
on
Facebook, instagram
Making / Receiving phone
calls
Valid
Sending / Receiving text
messages
55
Table 7
Main communication through Smartphone
Frequen
Percent
cy
Social
26
65.0
10
25.0
Phone calls
4
10.0
Total
40
100.0
networks
Text
Valid messages
Table 8
Access to the internet through Smartphone
Frequency
Percent
Smartphone
21
52.5
Computer
13
32.5
Tablet
6
15.0
Total
40
100.0
Valid
56
Table 9
Communication preference in Smartphone
Frequency
Percent
Messages
4
10.0
Phone calls
18
45.0
Pictures
18
45.0
Total
40
100.0
Valid
Table 10
Upload applications on Smartphone
Valid
Frequency
Percent
Yes
30
75.0
No
10
25.0
Total
40
100.0
Table 11
Being without smartphone
Valid
No
Frequency
Percent
40
100.0
57
Table 12
Smartphone is important
Valid
Yes
Frequency
Percent
40
100.0
Table 13
Gender participation in research
Valid
Frequency
Percent
Male
18
45.0
Female
22
55.0
Total
40
100.0
Table 14
Age participation in research
Frequency
Percent
14
17
42.5
15
11
27.5
16
12
30.0
Total
40
100.0
Valid
58
Table 15
Statistics
Age
Valid
40
Missing
0
N
Mean
14.88
Std. Deviation
.853
Table 16
Descriptive Statistics
Minim
N
Time
spent
smartphone
on 40
Maxim
Std.
Varian
Range um
um
Mean
Deviation
ce
9
3
12
7.40
2.725
7.426
3
3
6
4.68
.829
.687
5
3
8
5.50
1.553
2.410
(in
hours)
Time
spent
face
to
interactions
on 40
face
(in
hours)
Time
social
spent
on 40
networks
on
the
smartphone
Gender
40
1
1
2
1.55
.504
.254
Age
40
2
14
16
14.88
.853
.728
59
Descriptive Statistics
Minim
N
Time
spent
smartphone
on 40
Maxim
Std.
Varian
Range um
um
Mean
Deviation
ce
9
3
12
7.40
2.725
7.426
3
3
6
4.68
.829
.687
5
3
8
5.50
1.553
2.410
(in
hours)
Time
spent
face
to
interactions
on 40
face
(in
hours)
Time
social
spent
on 40
networks
on
the
smartphone
Gender
40
1
1
2
1.55
.504
.254
Age
40
2
14
16
14.88
.853
.728
Valid N (listwise)
40
60
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