Mobiles play an important role in the life of students

Susendralingam Piravinthan

Cellular phone or mobile phone is one of the characteristics of globalisation brought about by information technology. Hitherto, usage of mobile phones used to be a preserved item for the rich businessmen and women, lawyers, managers, bankers etc. As such whoever who had a mobile phone was held in high esteem.

However, contrary is the picture at the moment as it's evident among students in higher institutions of learning namely polytechnics and an universities. The usage of mobile phone has become so common and fashionable that a close friend once remarked. "These days it has lost its 'prestige', because it is too common in campus".

The issue of cellular phone in campus is gradually but steadily gathering momentum. The fever seems to be attacking almost everybody and we are all crying for one. The question then arises as to why the usage of mobile phone has assumed such a profound dimension on campus. Probably there are some merits in it, which this article will try to unravel.

Mobile phones play a very important role in the life of students in campus. In an era of globalisation where quick flow of information is highly appreciated, it is just fair that both parents and students exchange quick greetings and messages when the latter is in campus.

For instance mobile phones remain the fastest and the most efficient medium to communicate with one's parents, friends. Students could be informed about the latest development at home at the shortest time. Besides, students sometimes use these mobile phones to send urgent messages quickly to course mates.

For instance, changes in time for a particular lecture, submission of an assignment, or any sudden development in ones department which needs to be communicated to an absent friend in the hall or outside campus.

I remember pleading with one of the users to call a friend to report to school immediately. This was because a lecturer intended organising an emergency mid - semester examination in order to take absentees and late comers unaware.

Again, these mobile phones are good for other reasons. Some serve as radios where one could receive news and views. In addition others have the ability to send and receive e - mail messages.

In an era where importance is attached to material possession, these mobile phones project one's ego. Therefore those who possess them earn some amount or sort of 'respect" debatable though. On a less serious note, it is rumoured that some of the guys use them to grab "chicks". Or do we say that it is the ladies who tend to like the guys who own them? Judge it.

Almost imperceptibly, mobile phone is causing chaos. In the first place any student who fails to switch off his or her mobile phone in a lecture room, is in anticipation of a call.

Hence that student's mind is assigned to do two things, that is, thinking of when that anticipated call will come as well as listening to the ongoing lecture. This assignment for the mind is in sharp contrast with a natural law which stipulates that the human mind can do only one thing at a time.

Eventually, students end up missing the things said at the lecture. And when this call finally arrives, the beep distracts the attention of the class. In some cases vibrators may be used. In this case it is only the user who is disturbed.

Sometimes some of the students do respond to their parties at the top of their voices thereby causing more disturbances in the lecture room. Others hurriedly leave the lecture room to speak outside and in the process run into furniture thereby distracting the attention more as they end up partly or wholly missing the lecture.

The above scenario does happen in our chapels tool. It is even a common sight to see student doing the printing of text on their mobile phones when walking or crossing the road. There is the risk of stumbling over stumps, being knocked down by a moving car or even running into someone or a stone whilst driving, The reader is left to guess.

It is alleged that some students have been using the mobile phone in the execution of certain vices like cheating in an examination and prostitution. In the case of the former, reports have it that few students are alleged to have been caught red-handed in the examination hall using the mobile phone to receive answers to questions from a friend in the hall.

This was possible because the students might have put their roommates on high alert with notebooks so that with the help of these mobile phones these "student criminal" could communicate. The reports further reveal that some of the students tried to store certain vital 'fila' or 'apo' on their phones and used them as and when needed.

This resulted in an embargo placed on the handling of mobile phone in the examination hall. With regard to prostitution, it is also being alleged that few of our female students employ these mobile phones to transact "sex business".

The allegations say they do this by giving their numbers to hoteliers in town who link them to clients who arrive in the hotel.

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Mobiles:

A Necessary Evil?

We have had a huge response to our topic 'Is Political Activism Permissible in Universities? This is one of the burning problems facing the country as politics seem to have taken over education at universities. While some thought that political activism should flourish in universities, others disagreed. Some were of the opinion that politics should be banished altogether from these hallowed seats of learning.

Again, it is a question of democracy. Such steps may not be practical in a country that values the freedom of expression. Unlike school students, university students are adults who are supposed to have a broad understanding of politics and the world around them.

But where do we draw the line? Politics sometimes practically invade the universities, disrupting lectures and studies. Students have been killed as a result of rivalry among student unions affiliated to various political parties. It is indeed a topic that should be given serious thought by educationists and the public.

Now we move on to our topic for December. Seven million Sri Lankans carry them already and thousands more join them every day. The ubiquitous cell phone or the mobile has become a 'must-have' accessory for most people. Even schoolchildren and grandmothers flaunt them.

They have proliferated to the extent of becoming a menace. There is not a quiet place any more. Enjoying a dinner in a cosy restaurant in peace is next to impossible as the person at the next table yells the details of his dog's breakfast into his handset.

The best line in the movie is rudely interrupted by a crass ringtone. Hello? Haven't they heard about the silent mode? Your car is rammed from behind by a driver who is deeply engrossed not in driving but in conversation with some unseen individual over the ether. Your phone is inundated with SMS messages from people you have never heard of. Cellphone etiquette? Whoever heard of such a thing?

Does one need to hug the phone always?

The mobile has its uses but should it practically take over our lives? Should we use it in a manner that drives others round the bend? Is a cell phone really necessary for your child in Grade Six?

Write to us on the topic Mobiles: A Necessary Evil? using 750-1000 words to Daily News Debate, 35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10 or email [email protected] on or before December 26, 2007.

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A loss of independence and intrusion of privacy

Dharini Daluwatte

Mobile technology is at the heart of our society in the 21st Century. The question is whether it is a necessary evil? As a colleague of mine pointed out it is an 'irritant'. I quite agree with her on this.

It has become part and parcel of our lives and for some they cannot imagine life without it, for others, it's used only when required and according to their budget. This prevalent mobile paradigm inevitably affects our lives or living experience, continuing to change the ways in which people conduct their lives.

The question is whether it is necessary or not, it probably has become so by default. The more crucial question however, would be whether or not the mobile needs to rule our lives and the way we behave.

Mobile phone etiquette

All ringing phones are disruptive, even arresting. Many people feel irritated and disconcerted by this new electronic soundtrack. All responses to a mobile phone run some risk that people who are present at the time will feel abandoned by the person who has answered the mobile, and in so doing has opted to be answerable, to the device rather than to them.

The dis-empowering effects of situations in which it is felt as though people were being dropped and picked up by their companions, without any chance to negotiate the terms is rather distressing.

Mobile phone etiquette is an important matter of social discourtesy, such as phones ringing during funerals, weddings, cinemas, and at the theatre.

Users often speak loudly, leading to book shops, libraries, cinemas, doctors' offices, and houses of worship prohibiting their uses, and, in some places, the installation of signal-jamming equipment to prevent their use in many countries, (in the U.S. such equipment is currently illegal).

In countries such as the US, some new buildings such as auditoriums, have installed wire mesh in the walls (making it a Faraday cage) which prevents signal penetration without violating signal jamming laws.

Mobile calls can come at any time, at any place, and in the company of any number of onlookers and eavesdroppers. The etiquette of handling such interventions has become a matter of some debate, and in many parts of the world, the ability to handle them - on the part of the recipient and all those within earshot - has become an important social skill.

A ringing mobile will often take precedence over the social interactions it disrupts: the need or desire to answer a call often outweighs the importance of maintaining the flow of face-to-face conversation.

This is why even a silent mobile can make its presence felt as though it were an addition to a social group, and why many people feel that just the knowledge that a call might intervene tends to divert attention from those present at the time. The mobile tends to siphon concentration, demanding attention even when it is not in use.

Invasion of privacy

People with a more developed sense of privacy seem rather less willing to accept many of the ways in which the mobile blurs these boundaries, which protect private life and personal space. Some people wouldn't hesitate to ask strangers to stop using mobile phones in their vicinity, just as they might ask people not to smoke.

They were also keen to retain what they perceived as their natural, pre-mobile autonomy. The sense of constant connectivity, which is attractive to so much of the world, is in this instance more likely to be seen as a loss of independence, an unwelcome invasion of personal space and intrusion of privacy.

The increased use of the mobile phone is seen as a threat to a person's space and privacy, both in terms of not wanting to hear another person's conversation as well as maintaining ones own personal space. The concept of personal space is quite alien to Sri Lankan society where regard for your fellow man is dispensed with for ones own comforts and needs.

It is this very aspect that make the invasion the mobile phone has made it an 'irritant'. Total disregard to others is why people speak on their mobile phone during lectures, seminars, workshops and other events which has brought about a culture of rude, disrespectful, selfish people and the unfortunate phenomenon is that this is on the increase and growing as 'accepted' behaviour.

Mobile phones and driving safety

Another aspect is using the mobile phone whilst driving, which is common but controversial. While few jurisdictions have banned motorists from using mobile phones while driving outright, some have banned or restricted drivers from using hand-held mobile phones while exempting phones operated in a hands-free fashion.

Using a hand-held mobile phone while driving is an impediment to vehicle operation that can increase the risk of road traffic accidents.

However, some studies have found similarly elevated accident rates among drivers using hands-free phones, suggesting that the distraction of a telephone conversation itself is a significant safety problem.

This problem does not apply to conversations with a passenger, as passengers can regulate the flow of conversation according to the perceived level of danger, and also provides a second pair of eyes to spot hazards.

(The writer is Senior Trade & Investment Officer, British High Commission, UK Trade and Investment 1)

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Not a luxury but an indispensable accessory

N. U. Abdul Razzak

Man is a gregarious animal that needs to be in touch with his companions and relatives who live either in and around him or thousands of miles away. Today we completely depend on communication in an unprecedented manner as a large number of people have moved to far off places for many reasons such as education, employment and health.

For instance, there are over two million Sri Lankans who work in foreign countries such as Gulf Region and the like.

All these Sri Lankan expatriates constantly keep in touch with their dear ones through this latest invention of science. So it is no exaggeration to say that nothing is possible without communication.

When you mention this communication, naturally the picture of the mobile comes to our mind as it is the king of all sorts of communication. Should'nt we be indebted to our ancestors, scientists and researchers who sacrificed themselves to produce this latest piece of magic which helps in no small way to give more meaning to the concept of the global village.

So it is crystal clear that civilisation has paved the way to get this latest product to our hand with ease. Indeed this portable piece of machine is useful in many ways though it can cause much disturbance, embarrassment, bankruptcy and hardship if it is handled wrongly.

Before analysing the facts, for the argument it is apt to go back to the history of communication to get ourselves updated so that we will be in a better position to understand things. The ancient man conveyed his feelings, thoughts and messages by making sound.

Hooting and screaming enabled him to inform his messages and news such as invitation, danger, etc. As the population increased his kingdom got expanded. Hence he was compelled to use other modes of communication such as beating the drums ringing the bell and so on.

Next, man found conch as a means of increasing the volume of his message in the path of development of communication. The next step in the civilisation was the use of birds such as doves. They were trained to carry messages from one place to another.

In the recent past, man found time was so precious. As necessity is the mother of invention he invented vehicles which not only helped/help people move from one place to another but also to pass messages quickly.

The greatest milestone in the advancement of communication was the establishment of Postal Service. It introduced the delivery of letters, telegraph, telephone, fax and other services.

The setting up of Telecommunications Department and authorities provide special services of communication besides the yeoman service of the post office.

The newest achivement is the invention of mobile which has created a new revolution in communication. I am sure all the readers will agree to pay our tributes to all parties who contributed for the top achievement, the world has got today in communication.

Hand phone is a vital apparatus that helps us pass the information quickly. It has got many features which can be utilized to dispatch messages immediately. Today SMS is a household name that has made an important impact in the field of communication.

Sending a message costs not rupees but mere cents. Therefore it is certainly a boon. Hand phone being a portable tool helps people who are in danger and distress to get themseleves out of such risks.

Think of a fisherman who struggles in the choppy mid sea for his life. If he is armed with this gadget it will turn out to be a good Samaritan to rescue him from such fatal dangers. There are millions and millions who get their day-to-day work done smoothly with the help of this piece of magic.

Mobile can also bring embarrassment, misery and danger if it is abused. Thousands of messages of hoax, scam and insultation do the rounds everywhere daily. Thousands become victims of many dangers and face much humiliation.

But who is responsible for this? Only a fraction of the population who wants to give trouble to others commiting crime, prank and mischief. So the fault lies with the persons and not with the tool.

How can we get over this risk? Parents, teachers, elders and religious leaders have a responsible role to be played to see that the children, students and youth behave decently adhering to discipline. Then there won't be mischief and misery that is sent to different destinations via this mobile by such bad elements.

A clever user of cell phone can send messages without spending a single penny. A miss call can keep the(cash) credit intact fulfilling the requirement.

Mobile phones render a great service to save the lives of patients. When a person falls sick in a remote village it becomes active to save his life. It will do the needful such as calling a taxi, informing the relatives, buying the medicine and even bringing the doctor to the household. So it is obvious that thousands of lives are saved across the globe every moment with this tiny apparatus.

In the field of business it plays an invaluable role. It saves money and time considerably. A shopkeeper can easily order his purchases through this tiny machine without making a long an ardous journey to the city. Similarly, many brokers and businessmen do their dealings by using this hand phone.

Likewise, when a person is on a trip he can inform the latest development or his new plans to his members of the family or the superiors of the office so that life will go smoothly. All these points prove mobile has made a big revolution to make our life a bed of roses. Let us pick this rose without getting ourselves pricked. So caution can help us to pick this rose safely.