How Mobile Phone Affects the Academic Performance of a Student

CHAPTER I

1.1 Background of the Study

Globalization has changed our lives and one of the best examples of it is how we

communicate; thanks to advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

One of the ICT’s which is seeing rapid advancement is Mobile Phone. Mobile phone is popular

since the late 1990s (Meek, 2006) and today, with 7 billion mobile connections worldwide and

unique mobile subscriptions of over 3.5 billion (Twum, 2011), they are very popular with young

people and are commonplace in our educational institutions. These phones are no more just voice

communication tools. Functions like short message service (SMS) or texting have become global

phenomenon. Not many of us keep wallet photos of loved ones. Now we save photos in our mobile

phones and view them on a touch of the screen.

Mobile phones have become an almost essential part of daily life since their rapid growth

in popularity in the late 1990s, Ling (2004). A nationwide survey conducted in 2010 shows that

mobile phones are the most necessary medium of communication for adolescents. It has virtually

affected the society’s accessibility, security, safety and coordination of business and social

activities and has hence become a part of culture of the whole world. Ling (2004), states that

traditional agents of socialization are families and schools. With the expansion of educational

system as a result of the need for highly skilled workers lead to the school system taking increasing

larger responsibilities in socialization. Surprisingly, research on the influence of mobile phone on

our schools today has not been given much attention. There is the conflicting priority of young

people, parents and teachers in relation to the mobile phone device, with teachers more concerned
about issues such as discipline in the classroom and parents worried about means of contacting

their children at every point in time.

According to Ling and Helmerson (2000) the mobile phone is “at cross purpose with the

mission of the school”. While in school students are supposed to take on their prescribed roles as

students with full concentration on their studies and free from contact with the outside world.

However, the mobile phone gives room to combining students’ roles with other roles thus

distracting and disrupting the students’ academic work (Gergen, 2002; Halpen,2003; &Franzini,

2002). In the past when fixed telephones were the norm in schools, there were minimum

distractions and disruptions but presently with the invasion of mobile phone and the eagerness of

parents to maintain contact with their wards, the device is becoming part of the classroom.

The main objective of this study is to know how mobiles phones affects the academic

performance of a student.

The researchers came up with this study to have a deeper understanding on our chosen

topic. How mobile phones affect the academic performance of a student.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study was conducted to know the effects of too much use of mobile phone to students’

academic performance. Specifically, the study attempted to answer the following questions:

1. What are the mobile games/ applications that the respondents addicted to?

2. How can they manage their time between learning and using a mobile phone?

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile phones?

Assumptions:

1. The effect of it is lack of time in doing the school works.

2. The leading mobile games/ applications that they are addicted to are mobile legends and

facebook.
3. They’re going to use it as an educational tool.

4. Its advantage is for communication especially for emergencies and its disadvantage is constantly

distracting.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The results of the study will be of great benefit to the following:

STUDENTS: The results will provide the students with some knowledge on how a mobile phone

affects the academic performance of a student and how it can be avoided. It will give the students

a realization that excessive use of mobile phone can affect the academic performance of a student.

At the end of this study, students would finally know why excessive use of mobile phone had been

a major problem to their academic performance.

TEACHERS: The given data would guide the teachers on what they are going to do with the

students with low grades because of excessive use of mobile phone. They would understand why

students are spending their time on using mobile instead of studying.

PARENTS: Like the teachers, they would also understand why their children are spending time

on playing their mobile phone instead of studying. The given data would help them to formulate

some preventive measures to help their child from low grades because of excessive use of mobile

phone. The findings would also help them learn the actions of their children.

1.4 Scope & Delimitation

This study aims to know how smart phones affect the academic performance of students.

It focuses on the Junior and Senior High School students of La Consolacion College - Biñan S.Y.

2018-2019 and is limited only to those who owns a smart phone. This study will also consider

aspects of the student's personal life such as their time management which could also affect their

academic performance. Each of the voluntary respondents will be given a survey questionnaire to

collect such data.

1.5 Definition of Terms

 Commonness- occurring, found, or done often; prevalent

 Concocted- create or devise

 Cumbersome- slow or complicated and therefore inefficient

 Framework- a basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text

 Timetable- schedule (something) to take place at a particular time

 Versatile- able to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities

1.6 Conceptual Framework

This study aimed to study on How Mobile Phones Affect the Academic Performance of

the Students. The paradigm showed the input-process-output model. The input was the mobile

phones, students and questionnaires. The process was students used the interview method. The

output was Increase knowledge on how mobile phone affects the academic performance of a

student.

1.7 Conceptual Paradigm

Increase
-Mobile Phones knowledge on
how mobile
-Students Interview
phone affects the
method
academic
-Questionnaires.
performance of a
student.

1.8*-9
1.8 Theoretical Framework

A study by (PDF) Analysis of Mobile Phone Impact on Student Academic Performance in

Tertiary Institution (2015), the use of Internet empowered cell phones is a 21st century encounter

which covers different tasks. This examination work analyzes telephone utilization and recognized

the impacts web empowered cell phones have on the scholarly execution of understudies at the

tertiary foundations utilizing the Federal Polytechnic understudies of Ilaro, Ogun State in Nigeria

as a contextual investigation. The examination work was performed to comprehend and

furthermore discover the connection between scholastic execution of understudies and the

utilization of cell phone amid class hours which is general accepted to be a road of diversions to

understudies. The data from this work was completed utilizing organized surveys directed to 45

understudies to get their individual perspectives. Likewise, 15 broad meetings were done

simultaneously to have a grounded information of the understudies with the information

accumulated over the span of this examination. Our discoveries showed that understudies are

impacted adversely, all things considered, by the cell phone since consideration is centered around

talking, music and others while their scholarly exercises are dismissed and left to endure.

Additionally, this examination found that the utilization of cell phone is wild among understudies

which are the main source of poor scholarly execution among understudies.

According to O. Akinwale (2013), over a radio connection while moving around a wide

geographic zone. (Seat Research focus, 2010 it does as such by interfacing with acellular system

given by a cell phone administrator, enabling access to the general population telephone network.

Mobile telephones administrations and examples were appeared such as, calling, sending messages

and exceptionally or taking pictures. However, the cutting-edge telephones bolster wide range

assortment of different administrations separated from making and get calls.