Tilley 1

Abigail Tilley
UWRT 1101-037
Connie S. Douglas
11/03/14
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How Social Are You?
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Over the course of the last couple weeks, observations were made in different

scenarios of the way people socialize with one another. Analyzing the way people
socialize helps gather a better understanding of how different things can change the
outcome of the way people act. The focus of the research was to see how the use of
technology and other electronic devices can change the way people socialize with
others. Analyzing the different groups of people in different locations would represent
how a town, or community, reacts around each other and how often electronic devices
are used. Another thing that was observed, was the ages or patterns between whom
used electronic devices and what patterns had the most electronic activity. Looking into
the behaviors between men and woman, younger ages and older ages, and people who
were by themselves verse people who were in groups gave a better understanding
during the research. While observing the use of technology, the surroundings and
reactions of the socialization in the community were analyzed. Technology and the use
of electronic devices has the ability to change the way people socialize or act around
other people.

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Effects From Technology

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Not only does technology impact socialization, but it also has impacts on many

other things, such as, child development, merchandising, hospitality, and family
services. The use of technology is increasing and causes greater effects on the things
around us (Technology and Us). Not only is technology being used in the hands of
majority of the population, but it is also being used for educational purposes. Schools
have now added the use of technology into their systems. The teachers are using it to
support and enhance the traditional teaching ways (Hampel). Dr. Hampton who is
conducting research with the Pew Research Center, thinks that not only is technology
still in the introductory stages with society but it will continue to evolve. So far results
have shown that the impact technology is having on relationships is consistent and
surprising. Technology changes the structure of relationships and resulting in fewer
close relationships (Technologys Impact). Technology has evolved rapidly and is
changing the socialization between people. It is said that ninety percent of children
preferred an iPhone game over a traditional one. Along with ninety-six percent of people
between the ages of sixteen to twenty-four using a non-oral communication every day,
when contacting friends and family. More statistics go on to say how Facebook, a social
media website, has caused thirty-three percent of marriage breakups just in the year of
2011. This is up about thirteen percent from 2009. Along with the proof that technology
makes us less sociable, it also deters relationships from happening. It was also said that
one in two lie about their personal details while using the internet, proving a point that
technology does have an effect on people whether it is socialization or something else
(Smith).

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Methods
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This research was a non-participant observation in several different locations.

Deciding to do a non-participant observation was chosen so people would not know

what was being conducted, and would not have the opportunity to change the way they
would normally act in these situations. Choosing to do more than one location gave
more results of different types of people. The locations chosen were in Mooresville, NC,
scattered around the town with an addition of a restaurant in Huntersville, NC, about 30
minutes away from Mooresville. For the research, a restaurant, movie theatre, pet store,
coffee shop, and a shopping center were chosen as the locations. In these locations,
people who were on their phone or other electronic devices were the main targets for
the research observations. Another target was the age groups of the people on their
phones and whether they were by themselves or in groups. Along with analyzing what
they were doing, researching for the way they were socializing was another target. After
conducting the research, specific patterns popped up showing which groups had the
most electronic activity and which groups socialized more.
Results
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The first location for the observations was at the local Starbucks in Mooresville,

NC, around 4:30pm on November first. Two girls who appeared to be sisters were
standing in line. Neither of the girls had their phones out. The next group of people were
a mom and her son, and both were talking to each other and neither were on any type
of electronic devices. There was one woman sitting by herself who stayed on her phone
scrolling on what was assumed to be a social media website. She scrolled on her phone

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until her drink was ready. A couple of minutes later it was observed that there were two
older woman who were talking to each other both had their phones on the table.
Eventually both women began to pick their phones up, and show each other pictures of
their grandchildren. There was another woman who was by herself, maybe in her
thirties, and had her phone out scrolling while she waited for her drink. There was a
family of four who came in ordering drinks and none of them had their phones out.
Overall the location was very open and had several tables and chairs. The location was
very busy with people coming in and out about every five minutes. At one point in time
there were nineteen customers in line, and there were more on their phone then they
were off of it. The people who were not on the phone were always with someone else
and talking to them.
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The second location that was at a restaurant called Red Rocks in Huntersville,

NC, around 6:40pm on November first. The first thing observed was at least fifteen
couples who were all waiting in line to be seated. Most of the couples were younger, in
there teens and twenties. Out of all the younger couples, at least one of the partners
were on their phone at all times. There were three different groups that consisted of all
guys and none of them were on their phones or any other electronic device. There was
one group of five woman who were in their thirties. Only one of the women was on her
phone and she stayed more distant from her group. While the others were busy having
conversations she was more aloof from them, while scrolling on her phone. There was
one large family of around twenty people. On one end of the table there were older
people who were maybe in their thirties and in the middle of the table there were
children. On the opposite end of the table were the parents of the children. The parents

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were all on their phones while the kids were on tablets. The older group at the other end
of the table didnt have any devices and stayed busy conversing.
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The third location was a movie theatre in Mooresville, NC. The movies had a very

big open space in the lobby area with four benches to sit on. There was a group of
teenagers around the age of sixteen to eighteen who were arguing. There were three
guys and four girls in the group and all of them were on their phones. There were four
older couples all in their sixties or older, and had no devices and were being more
affectionate towards each other than the other couples were. There was about seven
younger couples who were not as affectionate towards each other as the older couples
were. Overall there were more girls on their phones then there were guys. There was
one group of four girls and all of them were on the phone along with talking to each
other. There was also a younger couple where the guy was on the phone and the
woman had her hands in her pockets while they walked out of the theatre.
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The fourth location was at Petco in Mooresville, NC, around 11:30am on

November second. The first observation was of a woman in her 50s being helped by a
younger male employee who was maybe eighteen or nineteen. She had her phone out
showing him what kind of fish she was looking for. There was also a girl in the checkout
line who was using her phone to show the cashier a coupon. There was a teenage girl
with her mom and both were on their phones while walking and neither were talking to
each other. There was an elderly couple buying dog food and neither had devices in
their hands, and they were both talking to each other. Then another woman waiting in
line by herself who was maybe in her fourties and talking on her phone while she

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waited. There was another woman with her husband who were around twenty to thirty
years of age and neither had a electronic device and both were talking to each other.
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The fifth location observed at was the Target in Mooresville, NC, around 12:30pm

on November second. The first thing noticed was how busy it was. There were several
workers re-stocking the shelves and several different customers. The lines were all
packed. It was mostly woman shopping with their red shopping carts. There was also a
man in his forties to fifties with his wife, he was on the phone and she was looking at a
sheet of paper that looked like her grocery list. There was another woman in her forties
to fifties who was by herself and texting on her phone while she pushed the cart forward
along the isle. Two teenage girls were both on their phones while waiting for their mom
to get back to the grocery cart. Then there was a couple who were holding hands and
looking for a bag of chips together. Neither of them had electronic devices in their
hands.Two teenage girls shopping for clothes both had phones in their hands but
neither were using them. There was a woman in her thirties waiting to check out and
was on her phone while a little boy sat in the cart on a electronic tablet.
Conclusion
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Overall the research showed there was a wide variety of people who are on

electronic devices. There were more people who were on their devices then there were
people who werent. The more people by themselves, the more likely they were going to
be on there phone. There was a pattern between couples who were on their phones
and couples who werent. The couples who werent on any electronic devices were
more affectionate towards each other than the couples who were using the electronics.
The people who tended to be on their phones were less sociable and talked less to the

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groups of people they were with. There were more females who were on their phones
than males. Every location observed at, consisted of people using electronic technology.
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The overall research was very thorough and can be trusted because it was at

several different locations. If there were to be more research conducted, changes would
be made by going more into more detail; counting every male and female on their
phone and collecting more data on how sociable they were being. It would also be a
good idea to add in a survey to give to people asking how often they use their phone,
and if they are more likely to use their phone when they are with people verse when
they are by themselves. Then it would be easy to tell if the data matched up to what the
surveys say. Overall the electronic devices and technology had a huge impact on how
sociable people were when they were observed. Several different patterns were
observed and studied along with the way people act around others with the addition of
electronics. In general people who used their phones were less sociable than the
people who had no electronic devices.

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Work Cited

HAMPEL, Gyrgy. "Learning In A Virtual Environment." Acta Technica Corvininesis

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Bulletin Of Engineering 7.4 (2014): 35-40. Academic ! Search Complete. Web. 13
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Nov. 2014.
Smith, Nick. "Interview." Engineering & Technology (17509637) 9.9 (2014): 42-45.
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Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

"Technology and Us: Impact on Families and Consumers." Technology and Us: Impact
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on Families and Consumers. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

"Technology's Impact on Social Relationships-The Data May Surprise You!"

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CalSouthern Content. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.