Does Mobile Phone Use Displace Other Media-Related Activities?

by
Anna Lourdes C. Javier
BS Development Communication 2010
Visayas State University

Anna Lourdes Javier texting on her mobile phone

To better understand displacement effects, time spent on the nine media-related (internet, watching television, sending text messages, reading newspapers, calling using the mobile phone and listening to radio) and interpersonal activities (playing sports, interacting with family members and socializing with friends face-to-face) were determined. These nine activities were chosen because they are deemed important for the cognitive, social, and physical development of students. The total time spent on the nine activities per week ranged from 18 to 396 hours (M=123, SD=77.52). The time spent on the five media activities (M=79.5, SD=52.22) comprised almost two-thirds (0.64) of total activity time. The total time spent on interpersonal activities (M=43.5, SD=40.82), made up about a third (0.35) of total activity time.

All of the respondents experienced a change (whether a decrease or increase) in their use of other media after they got a mobile phone. In this study, displacement effects is defined as the extent to which respondents report a decrease, increase and neither increase or decrease in specific media-related and interpersonal interaction activities, as a result of their mobile phone use. Of the nine activities mentioned above, only newspaper reading (60%) and landline use (76%) decreased as the respondents use their mobile phone, clearly showing displacement effects for the two activities. A very close third is television viewing (49%). On the other hand, mobile phone use did not displace the time spent on the other activities such as internet use, radio listening and sending email. Interestingly, only for one interpersonal activity, socializing with friends face to face outside of school, did respondents report an increase in time spent as a result of mobile phone use. According to respondents this is because the mobile phone lets them easily communicate with their friends so that they can arrange gatherings and outings. Table 2 below details the respondents’ reported effects of mobile phone use on time spent on the activities.

Table 2. Changes in amount of time spent on activities as a result of mobile phone use arranged according to reported displacement effect

Discussion

From the results of the study, clear evidence that respondents are motivated to use the mobile phone for a variety of reasons is observed. The study results supported Aoki and Downes’ (2003) statement that the mobile phone has gained popularity among a wide range of users and is exploited in a number of purposes.  Respondents all scored highly on the four types of motivations identified by Katz, Gurevich and Haas.

Cognitive needs had the highest motivation rating. This was followed by social integrative needs, personal integrative needs and lastly, affective needs. This implies that acquiring information, knowledge and understanding is the primary need that motivates people to use the mobile phone. The high motivation for social integrative needs affirms previous mobile phone use research (Pertierra, 2005) in the Philippines – that the eagerness to maintain close relationship with family and friends by always keeping in touch – is the main reason for the mobile phone’s popularity in the country. High scores on personal integrative needs as a motivation for mobile phone use demonstrate that strengthening credibility, confidence and stability are also prime motivations for using the mobile phone. Affective needs is comprised of cyber-serenade and fashion/status. Findings revealed that most of the respondents were more motivated to use the mobile phone for cyber-serenade – that is to find a girlfriend/boyfriend or to meet someone new. A high motivation for cyber-serenade supports studies by Clayton-Ellwood (2006) which found that Filipinos have viewed the mobile phone as an avenue to express emotions and a medium to woo and play with the notions of love.

In the study, it was observed that all of the respondents owned a mobile phone, and most of them have used it for quite some time already. This clearly shows the pervasiveness of mobile phones in Philippine society, especially in university towns such as Visayas State University. Mobile phone ownership has thus become a major index of modernity especially among the young people. Mobile phone communication technologies are advancing rapidly. This is attested to by the many functions that respondents frequently use. The phones of today have been built to suit the varied lifestyles of its users. Users, especially young people, respond to the technological advancement and in return, the technology evolves based on users’ demands.

Of the many mobile phone functions, texting was most often exploited by all of the individuals in the study.  This result concurs with Grinter and Eldridge’s (2001) study which viewed text messaging as mobile phone function that has changed how teenagers use the device to communicate and coordinate. Furthermore, of the nine media–related and interpersonal activities, time spent on text messaging occupied the largest proportion of respondents’ time. This also confirms Ellwood-Clayton’s statement that Asia is the leader of digital and mobile culture and that the Philippines is the world’s texting capital.

Results also show that although the mobile phone is habitually used by young people, it did not displace their time spent for internet, sending emails, listening to radio, playing sports, interacting with family members and socializing with friends face-to-face outside of school. This implies that mobile phone use complement, rather than displace, young people’s existing means of social interaction. On the other hand, there is a clear manifestation of displacement effect in the use of landline telephone and newspaper reading. This discovery finds support in the studies (Neuman, 1998; Lee & Leung, 2006) on functional displacement, which propose that a new medium will displace an existing medium when it can serve the function of the existing medium in a better and effective manner. The study implies that newspaper reading is displaced due to the cognitive needs that are now gratified by the use of mobile phone. On the other hand, it is clear that the displacement of landline phone use is a result of its very similar function to the mobile phone as well as the clear portability of the mobile phone. In fact, to address this displacement, landline telephones are now beginning to evolve to mobile forms. An instance is Bayantel offering wireless landline service, which they market as offering the key benefits of landline and wireless services in a single package.

Results have indicated that motivations and use of mobile phone is correlated. This implies that the more motivated people are to use the mobile phone, the more likely they are to use and acquire the device. A relationship was also established between respondents’ use of mobile phone and displacement effect. This suggests that displacement effect can be attributed to the frequency of mobile phone use. The more respondents use the mobile phone, the more possible the mobile phone will displace other activities. Moreover, a negative association was revealed between age and displacement effects. This means that the older the student gets, the less likely he/she will displace time spent on activities due to mobile phone use. This can be attributed to increased maturity and skills developed from experience such as multitasking and time management. Percentage of allowance spent on load was associated with displacement effects. Therefore, the higher the amount that a respondent is willing to spend on load, the more likely that the phone is used so often that it displaces time spent on other activities.