TISS-UNICEF study on smartphone use by adolescents

An exploratory study Youth Subcultures and Smartphones: Exploring implications for Gender, Sexuality and Rightsundertaken by TISS, Mumbai and supported by UNICEF, Maharashtra which looks at the psychosocial and sociocultural impact of cell phones on adolosecents, particularly the girl child has been released. The study - which comes at a critical time when there is so much debate surrounding the area of adolescents and young people in the digital space - looks at safety, surveillance, sexual and gender identity assertion, cyber patriarchy and the moral panic components of this impact.

Leading Women's Studies expert & TISS faculty Lakshmi Lingam, Isha Bhallamudi and Neomi Rao who have worked on the study were present when internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker and Dean of the School for Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Anjali Monteiro unveiled the study. “The study has engaged with youth and families to gain insights into perceptions of impact of smartphone technology on urban adolescents and perceptions around use of mobile phones. There is a need for development of progressive policies that enhance online safety, reduce risks and empower youth – women and men to participate fully and equally,” Lingam said.

Acknowledging how among contemporary innovations that have changed the way we live, work and love, the contribution of mobile phone technologies (cell phone and the latest smartphones) are phenomenal the study establishes: “The reach of people to information and communications is changing the scope of businesses and the limits of physical distances. Coupled with information technologies, mobile phone technologies are likely to revolutionize social relations and interactions. Youth who are one of the largest users form the group that with potential to redefine social norms, practices and beliefs and have a far-reaching impact on social structure,” and adds, “Owning a mobile phone brings a sense of identity, personhood, privacy and freedom.”

The study points out how a smartphone's features convey the user’s modernity, style, affordability and accessibility. “It facilitates independence and privacy of an individual. It enables youth to coordinate, initiate and maintain relationships,” it says and adds, “Crucially, mobile media allows adolescents and young people to move beyond physiological/ geographical barriers in their construction of the self and how they wish to be seen. This significant act in perceptions of the self (and consequently of communities) is often accompanied by a transformation in how people express and perform various aspects of their life. This also gives rise to the possibility of subversion and emancipation from surveillance and from rigid social norms, which often leads to conflict as young people struggle to establish independence and freedom from authority.”

While the study says cyberbullying by and of adolescents is rising, it also points out how the lack of clarity on whether the prevalence is higher than that of non-cyber bullying. It also underlines how mobile phone addiction is not well defined. Admitting to education, skill-gathering and health benefits, it also points out how while adolescents want to stay connected, they recognise risks of data surveillance. The study shows how mobile phones are seen by parents as tools to control and 24x7 monitoring, adolescents are finding newer ways to subvert and defy such controls. “Mobile phones help adolescents experiment with their identities, and social relationships; rewrite scripts of femininity and masculinity; redefine norms of dating, romance and sex,” finds the study which also adds, “Acute moral tension over girls taking control of their sexuality, has led to village bans and family surveillance on women’s use of mobiles across India - seen as bad influences from 'the West'.”

The study also found that while boys are more likely to get new smartphones, girls and women are often handed down an old phone when other family members got a new one.

BOX: The study points out how the same mobile revolution heralded by the markets and projected as hip, happening and sexy, the sexual revolution it brings in its wake is generally viewed through moral anxieties and health implications. This is important given that Indians (54% under 25 and over 70% under 35 years) form the 2nd largest mobile phone users in world. The study says of the 371 million Indian smartphone users total about 50% of smartphone users are under age 25.