Attitudes of Youth towards Mobile Phone Use

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to explore the attitudes of high school students and the students studying at the Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta, TRNC in Spring 2011, towards use of mobile phone also to find out the importance of the cell phones in todays globalized life. This study sets out to explore issues related to the extent to which young people use and attached to their cell phones, significance and the use of different functions of mobile phones, and the extent to which the students identify themselves with their mobile phones. In the study, the students’ attitudes were sought to be explored by a questionnaire prepared by the researcher. This study is a case study of TRNC young people (high school and university school students) which is based on quantitative methodology. A questionnaire comprising 39 questions has been prepared. The first section aims to collect data in the demographic characteristics of the participants. The second part focuses on the use of mobile phones. The third part includes 5-point Likert Scale questions. Sample is selected from high school and university students. The results of the study revealed that majority of the students (189,63%) responded that they use all of the mentioned functions of their mobile phones. In particular, messaging was the most dominant function of mobile phones used by the students. The percentage of the students who use mostly messaging function of mobile phones was 29,3% and the frequency was 88 out of 300 students. On the whole, it can be concluded that the participants of this study tend to be likely of a user type who is concerned more with the comfort and security that a mobile phone can possibly offer. As the analysis of the results revealed, the students seem to be relatively attached to their mobile phones as the absence of it brings feeling of discomfort and incompleteness. Keywords: Mobile Phone, Youth, Dependence, Convergence, Communication. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………