If you use a cellphone to connect with people, as sheer possession of the device would suggest, you are probably not as much of a “people's person” as you think. In fact, you may be downright self-centred.
This paradox emerged from a recent study entitled “The Effect of Mobile Phone Use on Prosocial Behaviour”, in which “prosocial” is defined as action intended to benefit another person or society as a whole.
The study, released on Wednesday by members of the University of Maryland's Robert H Smith School of Business, showed that cellphones may make users less inclined to perform philanthropic acts, on account of them being too self-interested.
Cellph(ish) users
“After a short period of cellphone use the subjects were less inclined to volunteer for a community service activity when asked, compared to the control-group counterparts,” says the university's school of business. The study also proved that cellphone users became less interested in solving word problems, even though the correct answers would translate into a donation to charity.
The authors of the study, marketing professors Anastasiya Pocheptsova and Rosellina Ferraro, and graduate student, Ajay T Abraham, cite previous research in their verdict, that cellphones inherently create feelings of connectivity to others, fulfilling the basic need humans have to belong. This, in turn, states the study, reduces the user's desire to actually connect with others or to take part in any humanitarian or “prosocial” activity.
While college students in their early 20s were used as the subjects for the study, researchers say they expect a similar pattern would occur with people from other age groups, “given the increasing pervasiveness of cellphones”.
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