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OUMH2203 ENGLISH FOR WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION Page 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In recent years, weve witnessed unparalleled growth in the use of mobile phonesacross the globe. Today, there are 5 billion mobile phones in the world, with 4 billion

of them in developing countries and emerging markets, often being shared by several

people. More than 80 percent of the worlds population lives within the reach of a

mobile phone signal, making mobile phones a unique and powerful tool for delivering

products and services to poor, rural communities.

Cell phones have been quickly moving their way into our everyday lives, especially

with the introduction of camera phones in the early part of the new millennium. As

cell phones evolve they have more and more of an impact on our everyday lives and

just how much they are impacting. As with new technology in any other form, cell

phones have changed greatly over their relatively short life spans.

In todays fast-moving and globalised world, it is almost impossible to imagine our

days of life without mobile-phones. It is one of the most successful inventions of the

20th century, which has become a convenient means of communication.

Mobile phones are rapidly developing these days as modern mobile phones perform

many other functions as well such as they can substitute for such devices as music

players, cameras and organizers. Most of them also provide Internet access and

texting. As modern people need phones in all spheres of their lives both in

professional and personal. But we do not notice how much we depend on cell phones

and what effects their excessive use might bring.

Cell phone usage can be defined as any application of the cell phone as a tool,

including talking, text messaging, game playing or the sheer accessibility of the

instrument. Originally the cell phone served as a tool for business management. Now,

cell phones serve as a tool for social connection, in other words, managing social

relationships. Across qualitative and quantitative studies, users of the cell phone all

report using their phone for social purposes. We are now able to be in contact with

everyone no matter where we are.

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2.0 HOW MOBILE PHONE USED HAS TRANSFORMED THE PEOPLES

WAYS OF LIVINGSince the development of the cell phone in the early 80's, it has become a major part

of our lives. If we have ever left our cell phone at home, we feel completely lost. We

don't remember anyone's number, can't check emails, and if we need to make a call,

we must first find a payphone and then have few cents to make the call. The mobile

phone is obviously convenient, but has multiple functions, and we can choose a

particular phone to fit your lifestyle. But does using the mobile phone really benefit

our life? Here are some aspects how using mobile phone might change people ways of

living.

2.1 Communication

Mobile phone has become crucial part of our life. One of the most important

functions of the phone is that it helps the communication become easier and

quicker. Communication and the way that individuals interact with each other

is a huge dynamic of sociology. The cell phone is changing the way in which

all of this interaction occurs, which makes it sociologically relevant. With the

creation and accessibility of cell phones, more and more individuals own their

own cell phone, and using them every day to communicate within their social

network. Cell phones also make individuals available anywhere, and anytime,

which changes the way that individuals are choosing to interact in social

settings with other individuals. However it also causes a lot of problem in

communicating.

Firstly, cell phone use has effects on the direct human to human interaction.

Talking on the cell phones is gradually replacing the communication face to

face between people. There was a time when the purpose of a telephone was to

convey the important messages and not many people owned telephones .Thus,

to talk together about something, they often met directly. As today owning a

cell phone is held as a necessity and anyone including children has their cell

phone. Therefore, the communication face to face between people is limited.

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Parents can be at the work place to talk to their children, to remind them of

studying at school. Friends like chatting together for hours by mobile phone so

they do not have anything to tell together when meeting at school. It seemsthat using cell phones too much destroys the pleasure of direct interaction.

Another effect in communicating by mobile phone is misunderstanding

between people because of the short form using in text messaging. It is ruining

our language. Text messaging, and the need to make messages short, meant

we developed new ways of spelling. People always send messages to ask for

information or congratulate someone but the problem is that sometimes they

forget to type the punctuation marks or they misspell, which makes the

receiver misunderstand. More seriously, this can destroy the relationship

between them. Therefore, to avoid some problem in communicating by cell

phone, people should be careful in using it.

2.2 Business Management

Each passing year, businesses must change their approach to accommodate the

rapidly changing elements of modern technology such as the television is

fading and social media is on the rise, our approach to productivity has been

totally rewired, and perhaps most prominently the mobile phones and tablets

are taking over the world.

As for example the use of email and the response times. Email has done a lot

to change the way we think of business communication, and likewise, smart

phones have done a lot to change how we think of emails. While it was once

standard to let emails pile up consistently and create responses in batches,

instantly checking your messages has become something of an expectation for

serious businesspeople. As such, the expected response time for any urgent

message has decreased from one to three business days to about two to

twelve hours.

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Another aspect is the higher attention to social networks. Social networks have

already ramped up in popularity and importance for businesses. However,

thanks to the constant attention users pay to their smart phone socialnetworking applications, this medium has become the single greatest source of

word-of-mouth traffic.

Business users are becoming more comfortable with the mobile phone as a

business tool instead of just a communication device. And the chat function

introduced by these companies has very quickly become as important as a

phone call or traditional text message in business circles. And this is seemed

just the beginning. Given the ever growing reliance on mobile phones, the

prevalence of lower cost smart phone devices and the ability to 'mobile'

maintain business relationships, provides a strong opportunity in developing

cloud based mobile technologies to help companies manage their teams.

This convergence of cloud (Internet based services) and mobility now allows

developers to build robust solutions where the mobile phone is the primary

device. In addition to the chat functions, businesses can now download mobile

sales force management solutions, virtual call centre platforms where workers

can effectively work from a tea shop, logistic tracking solutions that are

exclusively mobile phone based.

2.3 Social Life

Our life is becoming more and more convenient and the mobile phone has

become an indispensable and inseparable object. People use mobile phones in

every place, every time to manage their business. They talk on the cell phone

when working, even when they are on the road. A lot of drivers listen to cell

phone conversations while they are driving on the road. Consequently, they

can cause dangerous accidents for other drivers on the road. Getting caught up

in conservation on a cell phone can lead to the loss of focusing and highly

distracted driving. Furthermore, it is generally observed that drivers using cell

phones often forget to give proper signals disobey street signs and tend to cut

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lanes without warning. It is such a careless driving that results in many crashes

and fatalities every day. Therefore, our government should give the law to ban

drivers from using mobile phones while driving.

Besides, another result of using phones in a public places also causes some

problems. We can see some rude people who speak loudly in public places,

particularly in libraries, trains and theatres, which disturb other people a lot.

As another example, the camera of mobile phones sometimes disturbs a

persons privacy. Some people use the bluetooth and the camera in a bad

purpose. For example, they sneakily take photos of some girls in the public

places such as swimming pool or spa and spread those photos to the internet.

In some cases, the person without the cell phone is the antisocial entity. Some

people are just difficult and cell phones are not to blame. The needy neighbour

who cannot stop talking and let a person move on to do their chores, the rude

and aggressive acquaintance who never fails to slip in a hurtful or nasty

personal attack, the nosy and aggressive gossip who is only interested in

interrogating about the latest in a person's life, are examples of people who are

just asking for a cell phone to come between them and their intended victims.

In the opposite direction, a person is in an unhealthy phase of obsessive and

constant cell phone use. This may be caused by the newness of the device or

by an emotional problem that makes them use the cell phone to isolate from

others who surround them. Or, it might be that the increasing use of the cell

phone by everyone else causes the person to get one of their own.

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2.4 Impact on Teenagers Social Interactions

Mobile phone usage cab be defined as any application of the mobile phone asa tool, including talking, text messaging, game playing or sheer accessibility

of the instrument. Originally the mobile phone served as a tool for business

management. Now it serves as a tool for social connection, in other words,

managing social relationships. Mostly mobile phone users use their phone for

social purposes.

According to Bond (2010), mobile phones play a fundamental role in

positively maintaining and managing childrens friendships, but they

simultaneously facilitate a negative role in more risky relationships and in

bullying. This has been well documented by the media repeatedly claiming in

the news headlines in the UK that mobile phones are accountable for the

reported increase in bullying, stalking and social phenomena like happy

slapping (when a person is physically attacked in some way and the incident

is photographed or filmed on a mobile phone and the material shared with

others, normally causing further humiliation and anxiety.

2.5 People Health

There are certain harmful health effects, which might be caused by the

immoderate use of cell phones. According to modern researches, the most

menacing problem is connection between cell phones and cancer. Even though

the data remains controversial, most scientists agree that there is a certain

threat from using cell phones too much. It is reported, that people who talk on

the phone for several hours a day are 50% more likely to develop brain cancer.

The reason for this is the radio waves produced by mobile phones. It is

calculated, that every minute the human brain receives about 220

electromagnetic impulses, which are not necessarily harmful, but which

definitely affect the brain in cases of prolonged impact. Recent studies report

two types of brain cancer may occur such as glioma and acoustic neuroma.

Apart from cancer risk, mobile phones influence our nervous system.

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They may cause headaches, decreased attention, and shortness of temper,

sleep disorders and depression, mostly among teenagers. Radio waves are notthe only reason for such symptoms. It is the sad reality, that nowadays many

people, especially youth, experience lack of human contact, and they try to

compensate it by mobile-phone communication, which is not an adequate

substitute for personal intercourse. Adolescence is not an easy period of life,

and at that time a young person is especially vulnerable.

In cases of excessive mobile phone use there is a possibility of becoming

addicted to the phone; the real world seems to fade in comparison with hours-

long chats and hundreds of messages. These aspects cause psychological

problems, as people start to feel uncomfortable in face-to-face communication.

There are also other effects that should be mentioned. There is certain risk for

pregnant women and their children, so they are strongly recommended to

reduce usage of cell phones. Some studies provide information about harmful

effects of cell phones on the male reproductive system, so men should not

carry phones in the pockets of their trousers.

Most research reports that texting and playing games on mobile phones is also

harmful for eyes. Regarding games it also worth mentioning, that sometimes

they cause irritability and aggressiveness, especially among children and

teenagers.

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3.0 CONCLUSION

Todays world is a world of technology and inventions, and there are many toolswhich essentially facilitate our life. Mobile phones play an important role in the

development of human civilization, but their excessive use brings severe problems.

To reduce their harmful effects, one should always remember that mobile phone is a

friend, not a master, and it should never be used too much.

However, I still believe despite of all negative effects and problems that mobiles have,

it is beneficial to us in a variety of ways especially in our social life. Of course mobile

phones bring some problems if we used it in inappropriate ways.

The mobile phone device is a very important communication tool as it was built to

enhance social contacts and network while enhancing business productivity. With our

mobile phones, we are able to update ourselves on where our families and friends are.

We are able to know what is happening around us. The mobile phone enables us to be

on time during appointments. It also helps in verifying the degree of temperature to

enable us chose appropriate dress code for the day. It keeps us informed on current

events because of its connectivity to the internet. It relaxes it also when we play

games with it or listen to music through it.

Another example, consider to those that take long distance trips while driving. Loved

ones can now check up on them to make sure that everything is okay. And if

something were to happen, the person can simply call a tow truck rather than waiting

for the next car to stop and offer some assistance. In this respect, cell phones have

actual made travelling safer since the person does no longer have to find a land line

phone to use which resulted in going up to random houses and asking to use their

phone. With the GPS units that are installed inside each cell phone, should the person

be in need of help or they need to be tracked then police can tap into the system and

track them down. This is technology that has helped many people who have been lost

and stranded in harsh climates to be found before they met their death for the harsh

weather.

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Another way that cell phones have changed our lives is that we are now always

connected. If the person needs to know the nearest restaurant to dine in is at, they cansimply use their phone to find those that are in the area that they are. They can also

access the news and the person's email just with a touch of a button. Meaning that

those who are away from work can always be in contact with those that they need to

be in contact with in order to find out all the information that they need. It allows us

to stay even more connected while still getting a dose of freedom.

Mobile phones are also one of the best and cheapest ways of communicating with

other people around the globe. It helps us to chat as well as send emails or any other

documents instantly to anyone. With the help of smart phones we can access the

internet with the touch of a button and access to a wide variety of features like we can

use banking services, we can know the directions to a particularly place, we can take

photos and record videos and send to our loved ones who might be living in other part

of the world.

Cell phones also allow us to save money in terms of long distance. This is because

cell phones do not register that the number is long distance, we are simply paying for

the number of minutes that we use on the phone and not whether they are local or

long distance. This is something that land line phones simply have not caught up with

and the person is going to find that the cell phone is the best option to have when they

are calling many friends and family.

Overall, cell phones have revolutionized the way in which we stay connected with

friends and family, and have also increased the amount of safety that we have with us

when we travel. There are many phones and plans out there that the person can choose

from, thus they are having wider ranges of options than when compared to land line

phones.

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4.0 REFERENCES

Agger, Ben. (2004). The Virtual Self: A Contemporary Sociology. Oxford: Blackwell

Publishing.

Appadurai, Arjun. (1986). The Social Life of Things. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Bond, E. (2010). Managing mobile relationships: Childrens perception of the impact

of the mobile phone on relationships in their everyday lives. Childhood.

Divan HA, Kheifets L, Obel C, Olsen J. (2008).Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to

Cell Phone Use and Behavioral Problems in Children. Epidemiology.

Grint, Keith and Steve Woolgar. (1997). The Machine at Work. Cambridge: Polity

Press.

Hardell L, Hansson Mild K, Carlberg M, Hallquist A. (2004). Cellular and cordless

telephones and the association with brain tumours in different age group . Archives of

Environmental Health.

Katz, James. E. and Mark Aakhus. (2002).Perpetual Contact: Mobile

Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Khurana VG, Teo C, Kundi M, Hardell L, Carlberg M. (2009). Cell phones and brain

tumors: A review including the long-term epidemiologic data. Surgical Neurology.

Schutz, Alfred. (1973). The Structure of the Lifeworld. Evanston, IL: Northwestern

University Press.

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