Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Correspondence
T Tripura Sundari,
MCJ, Ph. D., MSIS
Professor
Dept. of Communication &
Journalism, Sri Padmavati
Womens UniversityTirupati
517502Andhra Pradesh, India.
Introduction
India is young. Nearly half of all Indians are under 30 years of age that is 550 million youth
which is equivalent of Western Europe and the USA together. India appears to be in the
forefront of the developing market for mobile phone (and data) services to young people.
India is the fastest growing mobile subscribed base in the world with 950 million users. 81%
of India uses a mobile phone, 10% of India uses a smart phone where as 9% of India use a
multimedia phone. Surveys and studies from a number of countries indicate that the use of
mobile phones in young people is increasing rapidly and starting at a younger age. Almost
half of the mobile internet users are between 18 and 25 years. Studies show varying
prevalence of use at different ages in different countries. According to the Wireless World
Forum, a research consultancy, the number of young people using mobile voice and data
services in the Asia Pacific region will be more than double from 71-million in 2004 to 151million in 2007. India's mobile youth market will grow 300 percent from 2005 through 2007,
from 8.3-million to 27.6-million people. This means India will account for 18.3 percent of
this large and growing market. India's young people spent US $437-million on mobile
telephone services in 2004 and US $856-million in 2005. And by 2007 this expenditure was
almost triple to $ 2.5-billion.
In India every household item is social. The Mobile is the only item which qualifies to
become the first personal, protected and private item of possession. It gives a great high to
anyone to own such personal and private item. Ease to early adoption is another significant
~898~
~899~
(2004) [5] extensively looked into the rise of the mobile youth
in a crosscultural perspective. Their stated hypothesis was
that there is a youth culture that finds in mobile
communication an adequate form of expression and
reinforcement. They indicate that much of the research into
this youth culture has focused on Europe. The researchers
cite evidence for the emergence of collective identity
resulting from peergrouping based on networked sociability.
They examine evidence in the United States where owning a
mobile phone for a teenager has become a rite of passage.
This compilation brings up a wide variety of unique culture
attributes for each of the countries or regions studied.
However, there is little by the way of direct crosscultural
comparison for specific demographic segments.
The literature review shows that the usage of mobile phone
technology has a significant societal influence. The
ubiquitous and alwaysconnected nature of the technology is
shaping attitudinal changes regarding public and private
space of mobile phone users. The importance of this area and
the study of the behavioral characteristics involved are being
just realized. However relatively few studies are available
which look at this issue from a crosscultural perspective,
especially the youth segment of the mobile phone user
market.
Theoretical Perspective
Erikson (1968) [11], in his psychosocial theory, describes post
adolescence as a period of searching for identity. Young
adults struggle with identifying who they are, to what group
they belong and who they want to be. Elkind (1967) [10], in
his theory on adolescent egocentrism, pointed out heightened
self-consciousness during adolescence. Young adults also
become extremely self-conscious and pay significant
attention to what peers think of them. Both Erikson and
Elkind highlighted increased peer influence on youth. An
empirical study also confirmed that youth are particularly
susceptible to trends, fashions and styles, which make them
more willing to adopt new technological devices and certain
behavioral characteristics (Ling, 2001) 14].
Both theoretical perspectives and previous empirical studies
suggest that the recent rapid increase in cell phones has
~900~
0
Not taking to college
115
115
115
115
4
1
613
428
263
213
3
2
319
461
92
101
2
3
76
135
563
147
1
4
77
61
167
624
Weighted
sum
2729
2570
1968
1556
Priority
1
2
3
4
Never
88
7.3
148
12.3
195
16.2
167
13.9
164
13.7
Seldom
219
18.2
291
24.2
246
20.6
265
22.1
196
16.3
sometimes
505
42.1
437
36.4
379
31.6
407
33.9
449
37.4
Often
275
22.9
241
20.1
245
20.4
269
22.4
288
24.0
Always
113
9.4
83
6.9
135
11.2
92
7.7
103
8.6
Total
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
Can't
say
72
6.0
139
11.6
133
11.1
96
8.0
97
8.1
67
5.6
Strongly
disagree
64
5.3
76
6.3
80
6.7
131
10.9
131
10.9
109
9.1
Disagree
Agree
185
15.4
230
19.2
374
31.1
397
33.1
344
28.7
224
18.7
644
53.7
568
47.3
472
39.3
459
38.2
499
41.6
555
46.2
Strongly
agree
235
19.6
187
15.6
141
11.8
117
9.8
129
10.8
245
20.4
Total
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
Can't
say
39
3.2
40
3.3
24
2.0
49
4.1
89
7.4
123
10.2
79
6.6
75
6.2
92
7.7
Strongly
disagree
116
9.7
233
19.4
343
28.6
249
20.8
180
15.0
189
15.8
329
27.4
312
26.0
347
28.9
Disagree
Agree
319
26.6
531
44.2
512
42.7
588
49.0
468
39.0
397
33.1
360
30.0
420
35.0
390
32.6
431
35.9
325
27.1
228
19.0
245
20.3
351
29.2
378
31.4
331
27.6
293
24.4
243
20.2
Strongly
agree
296
24.7
71
5.9
93
7.8
69
5.8
112
9.3
113
9.4
101
8.4
100
8.3
128
10.7
Total
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
1200
100.0
~902~
p-value
0.000
Male
Gender
Female
Total
Total
613
100.0%
587
100.0%
1200
100.0%
p-value
0.005
17 - 20 Years
Age of the respondent
21 - 24 years
25 - 28 years
Total
Total
607
100.0%
504
100.0%
89
100.0%
1200
100.0%
p-value
0.000
SSC/HSC
Intermediate
Bachelor Degree
Education
Master Degree
Professional degrees
Others
Total
Total
54
100.0%
159
100.0%
515
100.0%
192
100.0%
176
100.0%
104
100.0%
1200
100.0%
p-value
7.41**
Size of
the family
Living
status
Total
0.025
Low
Moderate
High
Below 4
members
203
351
186
740
27.4%
47.4%
25.2%
100.0%
109
196
155
460
23.8%
42.6%
33.6%
100.0%
312
547
341
1200
26.0%
45.6%
28.4%
100.0%
4-8
members
Total
34.08**
Monthly
income
Total
0.000
Low
Moderate
Below
Rs.10000
158
220
105
483
32.6%
45.6%
21.8%
100.0%
122
207
179
508
24.1%
100.0%
Rs.10000Rs.30000
High
40.7%
35.2%
Rs.30000 Rs.50000
28
84
40
152
18.4%
55.3%
26.3%
100.0%
Above
Rs.50000
36
17
57
7.0%
62.8%
30.2%
100.0%
Total
0.006
With
Parents
In
Hostels
With
friends
Alone
Chi
square
value
p-value
312
547
341
1200
26.0%
45.6%
28.4%
100.0%
Total
Total
667
100.0%
309
100.0%
149
100.0%
75
100.0%
1200
100.0%
~904~
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
References
1. Ahmed Z. Youth drives India's mobile phone revolution.
Retrieved
from,
2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3585257.stm.
2. An investigation of mobile phone use: Asocio-technical
approach. Socio technical Systems in Industry, Summar
Session Department of Industrial Engineering.
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved October
10, 2005 from2001.
3. Aoki K, Downes EJ. Analysis of young peoples use of
and attitudes towards cell phones. Telematics and
Informatics 2004; 20(4):349-364.
4. Carlson PJ, Kahn BK, Rowe F. Organizational Impacts
of New Communication Technology: A Comparison of
Cellular Phone Adoption in France and the United
States. Journal of Global Information Management,
1999; 7(3):1929.
5. Castells M, Mireia F, Qiu J, Sey A. The Mobile
Communication Society. Research report for the
International Workshop on Wireless Communication
Policies and Prospects: A Global Perspective. Retrieved
October
27,
2005
from
http://annenberg.usc.edu/international_communication/
WirelessWorkshop/MCS.pdf, 2004.
6. Dimmick J, Sikand J, Patterson S. The gratifications of
the householdtelephone: Sociability, instrumentality and
reassurance. Communication Research. 1994; 21(5):643663.
7. Donner J, CTelle z. Mobile banking and economic
development: Linking adoption, impact, and use. Asian
Journal of Communication. 2008; 18(4):318-332.
8. Donner J. Mobile media on low-cost handsets: The
resiliency of text messaging among small enterprises in
India (and beyond). In G. Goggin and L. Hjorth (Eds.)
Mobile technologies: from telecommunications to
media. New York and London: Routledge. 2009, 93104.
9. Donner J. The Rules of Beeping: Exchanging Messages
~905~