Journal of Humanities, Language, Culture and Business (HLCB)

Vol. 3: No. 11 (January 2019) page 57-66 | www.icohlcb.com | eISSN: 01268147

THE IMPACT OF SMARTPHONE USE ON FAMILIAL

AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ADOLESCENTS
Siew Pei Hwa
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Bandar Sungai Long, Cheras, 43000 Kajang, Selangor
E-mail: siewph@utar.edu.my

Abstract: The research has undertaken a survey research to analyse the impact of
smartphone on young people’s social life, especially the impact of mobile technological
communication on the familial and social relationships among students aged 11 to 18 years
old in Malaysia. The results of linear regression analysis reveal that there were positive
impacts of the frequency of mobile communication use on familial and social relationships.
The research findings of descriptive statistics indicate that while the face-to-face encounters
were more common than online encounters within a family, the online encounters were more
common than face-to-face encounters within a group of friends among adolescents in
Malaysia. In a nutshell, the findings in present research indicate, where the smartphones had
increased the “closeness” within families, and had also fostered social cohesion within
friends among the adolescents. The findings also found that the more use of mobile
communication technologies had diminished the face-to-face communication of young
Malaysians with their friends, but not the family.

Keywords: smartphone, familial relationship, social relationship

2019 JHLCB

Introduction
Rapid technological advancements have radically changed the ways in which people
communicate, shop, bank, and work. Our lives have become increasingly immersed in
technology. We are moving into an era when mobile devices are not just for talking and
texting, but can also access the Internet and all it has to offer (Lenhart et al., 2010). Stewart
(2013) noted that it’s hard to go anywhere without seeing someone using a phone or the
Internet to connect with others; everywhere people are texting, emailing, writing blogs and
tweeting. Much of our communication is now online, and many of us find our smart (or
mobile) phones have become an essential part of our connectivity and everyday organisation.
Lenhart et al. (2010) added that as smart (or mobile) phones have become more available,
they are increasingly owned and used by children and teens. Drago (2015) noted that smart
(or mobile) phones have had a drastic impact on the way individuals communicate.
Regardless of one's gender, age, ethnicity, career or financial status, most people own a smart
(or mobile) phone. Smart (or mobile) phones are no longer just a privilege but now have
become a necessity. In today's society, smart (or mobile) phones have become an addiction
and affect our daily lives, causing face to face communication to become less prevalent.
Drago (2015) claimed that smart (or mobile) phones have become an integral part of the way
that people communicate with one another and many studies had proved that it has
increasingly taken the place of face-to-face communication.

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Islam, Habes and Alam (2018) claimed that the relationship between Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs), particularly mobile phone technology and social
capital is heavily debated. The interaction between ICTs and social capital in organizations or
society at large have caught both researchers’ and policymakers’ attention (Yang, et al.,
2008).

Smart (or mobile) phones allow their users to stay in touch with people both near and far,
maintaining the relationships they have with family, friends, and acquaintances wherever
they may be (Miller, 2015). The connection to others that the smart (or mobile) phones
facilitate can effectively remove a user’s isolation in the world (Fortunati 2005 as cited in
Miller, 2015). It is becoming increasingly easy and inexpensive for teenagers to contact
friends and access information via their smart (or mobile) phones (Reid & Reid, 2007). The
increasing smart (or mobile) phones penetration rates in the country more among youths,
prompted this research to investigate the potential impact of smart (or mobile) phones on
youth’s social life, especially the impact of their use of mobile technological communication
on the family relationship and social interaction with friends. Emphasis is placed on mobile
use patterns of students aged 11 to 18 years old in Malaysia. The research has been guided by
a desire to measure the state of affairs around smart (or mobile) phones and youth in
Malaysia––how many, how much, how often, with whom?––and to better understand how
smart (or mobile) phones fit into and enhance (or detract from) family relationship and
friendship.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 discusses research questions
and hypotheses, while section 3 describes the research methods. Section 4 presents the
research findings and discussion. Section 5 concludes the paper.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

On the basis of the literature review, the following research questions (RQs) had been posed
in this research:
RQ1: To what extent the mobile communication impact the young Malaysians’
relationship with the family and social interaction with friends?
RQ2: Does the more use of mobile communication technologies by young
Malaysians decreased the amount of time they spent engaging in face-to-face
communication with their family and friends?

The following two hypotheses were derived from RQs 1 and 2:

H1: The mobile communication has significant impact on the young Malaysians’
relationship with their family and friends.
H2: The more use of mobile communication technologies spoils face-to-face
communication of the young Malaysians with their family and friends.

Research Methods
This research project employed a questionnaire survey method, which has the advantage of
allowing a larger coverage of potential participants. The surveys had been administered to
2,110 students aged between 11 to 18 years old with different demographic background and
own/ use a smartphone. They were recruited using a purposive sampling technique from
selected primary and secondary schools in Malaysia. The samples involved in the research
were purposively selected because it is believed that the experience of the participants is
imperative to obtain valuable smartphone and Internet use related information. Students aged
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11-18 years old were selected due to the relationship of this generation with digital
technologies. Statista (2017) found that 93.0 percent of Internet users in the age under 25
were accessing the Internet daily than older age groups. From the 2,110 questionnaires
distributed, a total of 165 questionnaires were removed due to failure to obtain complete
results on the surveys or did not return. This correlated to a response rate of 92.2 percent.

Research Findings and Discussion

The research findings show that there were 1,620 of the 1,945 respondents (83.3 percent)
who owned a smart (or mobile) phone, while the rest (325 students or 16.7 percent) were
sharing a phone with other smartphone owners, mostly their family members included
parents, brother/ sisters, grandparents, and relatives such as uncles/ aunts.

Research findings for the testing of null hypothesis 1 (H01)

A linear regression analysis was used to test the null hypothesis 1 (H01), which intended to
study the impact of the frequency of mobile communication use on familial and social
relationships. Linear regression analysis was used when the value of a dependent variable
(familial or social relationship) was predicted based on the value of an independent variable
(the frequency of mobile communication use). The results are shown in Tables 1 (for familial
relationship) and 2 (for social relationship).

An attempt was made to fit a regression model to the data collected from the survey among
students and a significant linear relationship was observed between the frequency of mobile
communication use and familial/ social relationship. An R2 value of 0.088 (for familial
relationship) or 0.151 (for social relationship) was observed in these cases. Since the R2 value
is 0.088 (for familial relationship) or 0.151 (for social relationship), approximately 8.8
percent of variation in the familial relationship (or 15.1 percent of variation in the social
relationship) was explained by the frequency of mobile communication use, which is very
small (see Tables 1 and 2). A reasonably weak correlation was observed between mobile
communication and familial (R=0.297) or social (R=0.388) relationship (Colman & Pulford,
2008; Phanny, 2014). The results indicate that the frequency of mobile communication use
correlates positively with familial and social relationships, which reflects as higher frequency
use of mobile communication is likely contribute to better familial and social relationships.

The ANOVA tables as shown in Tables 1 and 2 report how well the regression equation fits
the data i.e., predicts the dependent variable (familial or social relationship). The ANOVA
tables indicate that the regression models predict the dependent variables significantly well
(familial relationship: F (1,1943)=188.439, p<0.001; social relationship: F (1,1943)=345.218,
p<0.001). From the ANOVA tables, F values are significant (p<0.05) indicate that, overall,
the regression models statistically significantly predict the outcome variables (i.e., it is a good
fit for the data), which means the dependent variables (familial and social relationships) are
more reliable. The regression model coefficient tables as shown in Tables 1 and 2 provide the
necessary information to predict familial and social relationships from the frequency of
mobile communication use. The B coefficients indicate how many units of familial or social
relationship increases for a single unit increase in each predictor (the frequency of mobile
communication use). For examples, 1 point increase on the frequency of mobile
communication use corresponds to 0.301 points increase on the familial relationship scale (or
0.413 points increase on the social relationship scale). The values in the "B" column under
the "Unstandardized Coefficients" columns, as shown in Tables 1 and 2 is to present the
regression equations as:
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Familial relationship = 28.502 + 0.301 (the frequency of mobile communication use) or

Social relationship = 24.736 + 0.413 (the frequency of mobile communication use)

Table 1: Regression results between the frequency of mobile communication use and familial relationship

Model Summarya
Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square
Estimate
1 0.297b 0.088 0.088 7.699

ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 11169.098 1 11169.098 188.439 0.000b
Residual 115164.940 1943 59.272

Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 28.502 0.445 64.081 0.000
Mobile Communication 0.301 0.022 0.297 13.727 0.000
a. Dependent Variable: familial relationship
b. Predictors: (Constant), the frequency of mobile communication use

Table 2: Regression results between the frequency of mobile communication use and social relationship

Model Summarya
Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square
Estimate
1 0.388b 0.151 0.150 7.815

ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 21083.102 1 21083.102 345.218 0.000b
Residual 118662.653 1943 61.072

Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 24.736 0.451 54.789 0.000
Mobile Communication 0.413 0.022 0.388 18.580 0.000
a. Dependent Variable: social relationship
b. Predictors: (Constant), the frequency of mobile communication use

Importantly, it is noted that the B coefficients are positive numbers; higher frequency use of
mobile communication is associated with better familial or social relationship. In other
words, the Coefficient tables as shown in Tables 1 and 2 report the coefficients for the
frequency of mobile communication use helps improving familial and social relationships
significantly. The p-values were found to be highly significant (familial relationship:
β=0.297, p<0.001; social relationship: β =0.388, p<0.001) (see Tables 1 and 2). As a rule of
thumb, a B coefficient is statistically significant if its p-value is smaller than 0.05. The beta
(β) coefficients show the relative strengths of the predictor (the frequency of mobile

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communication use). A low significance value of less than 0.05 for the frequency of mobile
communication use is somewhat strongly impacting the familial and social relationships.

From the regression equations, it is observed that the frequency of mobile communication use
have a positive impact on enhancing students’ familial and social relationships. Therefore,
there was strong evidence to reject the null hypothesis 1 (H01). There was a positive impact
of the frequency of mobile communication use on familial and social relationships. The
findings have corroborated hypothesis 1 (H1) that “the mobile communication has significant
impact on the young Malaysians’ relationship with their family and friends”.

The overall results proved that better parent-children relationships were fostered by the smart
(or mobile) phones, as well as mediate strong links with friends and other community
members. Smart (or mobile) phones enable the students to contact their family and friends
anytime and anywhere in order to keep up with them, when they needed someone to talk to or
be with as well as talk about their problems sometimes, and when they were concerned about
them. In a nutshell, smart (or mobile) phones has improved the familial relationship and
increased the “closeness” within families among the surveyed students. Likewise, it was
found that the use of smart (or mobile) phones improves social cohesion and social
relationships; mobile communication fosters social interaction within friends among surveyed
students. Through communication with family and friends on smart (or mobile) phones, they
also feel less lonely and less tense, as well as get away from pressures and responsibilities.

Besides, the findings in this research that indicate a positive impact on family relationships
are congruent with numerous past studies (e.g. Alderson, 2012; Khan, 2011; Liu & Leung,
2017; Tamme & Siibak, 2012). Apart from that, the findings that show a positive impact on
social relationships yield similar findings to other earlier studies (e.g. Islam, Habes & Alam,
2018; Lee, 2009; Vidales-Bolaños & Sádaba-Chalezquer, 2017; Yang, Kurnia & Smith,
2011) which found that the use of mobile phones improves social cohesion and social
relationships. In conclusion the present research and earlier studies that revealed similar
findings that mobile communication had significant positive impact on familial and social
relationships have demonstrated that the mobile phone was often used to enhance social
cohesion, especially by connecting their family members and friends. The mobile phone
provided a direct and private communication channel between parents and children, and
between users and close friends.

Research findings for the testing of null hypothesis 2 (H02)

The hypothesis 2 (H2) intended to study whether or not the use of mobile communication
technologies spoils face-to-face communication of youth with their family and friends. Two
sub null hypotheses were formed from the main null hypothesis 2 (H02), as follows:
H02a: The more use of mobile communication technologies spoils face-to-face
communication of the young Malaysians with their family.
H02b: The more use of mobile communication technologies spoils face-to-face
communication of the young Malaysians with their friends.

H02a was validated through the frequency of 11 communication methods used by

respondents, whereas H02b was validated through nine communication methods using
descriptive statistics.

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The research findings show that majority (88.0 percent) of the students spent time in person
with their family (i.e. had face-to-face communication), followed by talked to their family on
smartphone (86.3 percent), send instant text messages on mobile messaging apps to their
family (82.0 percent), and talked (voice calls) to their family on mobile messaging apps (80.0
percent). The findings also indicate that email is falling into disfavour with less than half of
the students (46.2 percent) sent email to communicate with their family which do not allow
immediate contact on smartphones, or when they are away from computers. Besides, in
regard to the communication methods which students used at least 3 hours daily (the total of
frequently and very frequently) to communicate with the family, the research findings reveal
that the face-to-face encounters were more common than online encounters within a family.
Nearly five in 10 teens (46.3 percent) spent at least 3 hours daily with their family in person,
while less than four in 10 teens had used landline and other mobile communication
technologies for at least 3 hours daily. Only 12.0 percent of the teens in the research reported
that they never spent time with family in person.

Apart from that, the research findings indicate that majority (88.8 percent) of the students
sent instant text messages on mobile messaging apps to each other, followed by talked to
friends on their smartphone (88.7 percent), and talked (voice calls) to friends on mobile
messaging apps (85.0 percent). The findings also show that there were 82.7 percent students
that spent time with friends in person, i.e. doing social activities outside of school. Similar to
the form of communication with family, the findings also indicate that email is falling into
disfavour with 51.3 percent students that sent email to each other. Meantime, in regard to the
communication methods which students used at least several times per week (the total of
frequently and very frequently) to communicate with the friends, the online encounters were
more common than face-to-face encounters within a group of friends. Nearly three to five in
10 teens spent at least several times per week on voice calls (33.1 percent) and text
messaging (46.8 percent) on mobile messaging apps with their friends, while less than three
in 10 teens had spent time at least several times per week with friends in person (28.5
percent). Only 15.0 percent of the teens in the research reported that they never talk to friends
on mobile messaging apps (i.e. voice calls), as well as less than 12.0 percent of teens never
talk to friends on smartphones (11.4 percent), and never sent instant text messages on mobile
messaging apps to each other (11.2 percent).

Hence, looking at the research findings, it can be concluded that the findings had partially
corroborated hypothesis 2 (H2). The findings do not corroborate the sub hypothesis 2a (H2a)
that “the more use of mobile communication technologies spoils face-to-face communication
of young Malaysians with their family”. It is postulated that mobile technological
communication methods still do not replace face-to-face communication for many teenagers
in their communication with family. However, the findings have corroborated the sub
hypothesis 2b (H2b) that “the more use of mobile communication technologies spoils face-to-
face communication of young Malaysians with their friends.” The research findings
suggested that mobile technological communication methods have gradually replaced face-
to-face communication for many teenagers in their communication and interaction with
friends. The research findings also show that face-to-face communication among children and
teenagers is being squashed out by mobile messaging apps. Text and voice messaging were
the main tools of communication as well as talking on mobile messaging apps (voice and
video calls).

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Present research shows that the use of smart (or mobile) phones has positive impact on
familial and social relationships in which mobile phones do provide people with the feeling
of being socially connected - to strengthen family bonds and maintain friendships, especially
when they are separated. The research findings indicate that the use of smart (or mobile)
phones has changed human interaction. Mobile communication has gradually replaced face-
to-face communication for teenagers in their communication with friends. In the past studies
(e.g. Bian, 2012; Bian & Leung, 2014; Chen, 2007; Elsobeihi & Abu Naser, 2017), there
were strong positive relationships between mobile phone use and communication motives
with friend as well as family. Findings in the present study found the more use of mobile
communication technologies had diminished the face-to-face communication of young
Malaysians with their friends, but not the family. Findings in this research that differs than
the work of past studies on the mobile communication with family may be due to this
research examining younger teens living at home, whereas the past studies investigated late
teens (e.g. college students) who are moving out of parental homes and adjusting to new
living environments. They are not under the direct control of parents while living way from
home. As college students are typically away from home, meaning that college students
likely use the technology differently than teenagers living at home.

The past studies focused on late teens showed how prevalent the mobile phones and Internet
are in maintaining family ties even across physical distances as indicated by Chen (2007). As
stated in Nakamura (2015), mobile phones can be used to connect with individuals who are
otherwise unable to engage in face-to-face communication for geographic or social reasons.
The contemporary college students can interact with family almost anywhere through mobile
phones. Ling (2004 as cited in Chen, 2007) found that the mobile phone allowed parents and
children to retain connections during periods of spatial distance. Citing Palen and Hughes,
Alderson (2012) found that for older children, including those away at college or at work, the
mobile phone enables them to maintain emotional connections with family members while
away from home. In this instance, the mobile phone serves to maintain a feeling of family
togetherness even when separated. Chen (2007) also stated that college students have a
pattern of frequently connecting with their family via the mobile phone for seeking support
and information exchange when they are away from home. Chen’s findings indicated that the
primary use of mobile phone technology by college students appears to be for satisfying
students' practical needs and for maintaining strong familial bonds as seen with younger
children.

Parents of the subjects in current attempt might see these younger teens as needing parental
protection and guidance, indicating that younger children only used the mobile phone as a
way to coordinate family events and keep parents informed of the children's whereabouts
(Devitt & Roker, 2009; Palen & Hughes, 2007 as cited in Alderson, 2012). However,
drawing on the work of Green and Ling, Chen (2007) noted that children sometimes avoided
parents’ monitoring by not answering their mobile phones (making excuses by claiming that
they did not hear the mobile phone ring or the battery was dead) or by telling lies to their
parents. Smale (2011) argued that mobile phones present the potential to connect the family
when they are separated, but mobile phones also present the potential to separate the family
when they are together.

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Conclusion
Ahn and Shin (2013) noted that face-to-face communication facilitated both avoiding social
isolation and seeking social connectedness, whereas the social use of media facilitated only
seeking connectedness. Since face-to-face communication represents both avoiding social
isolation and seeking connectedness to others, the amount of time spent on face-to-face
communication may reduce social isolation as well as increase connectedness. According to
Myers (2013), in the technologically ever-advancing world, mobile phones can either help
people remain socially connected or can contribute to social isolation by substituting for face-
to-face contact. Citing past studies (e.g. Kraut et al., Nie, and Putnam), Ahn and Shin (2013)
added that media use may consume a substantial amount of time sacrificing face-to-face
communication, thereby diminishing actual social interaction. Stengel (1971 as cited in Jones,
2017) noted that social isolation has been found to correlate with a high suicide rate. Thus,
understanding the way people use smartphones is crucial as it can be beneficial for
implementing an early detection of social anxiety and loneliness. Early detection of social
anxiety and loneliness might be useful to prevent substantial impairment in personal
relationships (Gao et al., 2016).

This research project will contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of ICTs on the
development of youth in Malaysia. It will offer new insights into the extent to which the
smartphones use affects the lifestyle and social engagement on Malaysian youth. The
research findings are useful to the regulatory and/or policy makers as it moves forward to
drafting policies necessary to govern youth development related affairs in the area of ICTs.

Acknowledgements
The work is part of the research that was supported by Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC)’s Networked Media Research Collaboration Programme
(NMRCP) Cycle 4/2016 project.

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