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Here is a research that I did for my assignment in 2012. I know, it is a bit dated but this is still relevant (I would say even more relevant as mobile phone use has increased dramatically since this research). It will be useful for people who are doing secondary research in Pakistan in particular. It is also useful for people outside Pakistan who are interested in the topic of youth and technology overuse/addiction.
One observation here: when I did this research in 2012, social media apps were not very prevalent in Pakistan. You can add social media use in the usage category.
Another more serious observation: I categorized people who were using mobile phones for more than 4-6 hours to be addicted. Now it has become the new normal. It is alarming, to be honest.
🚨You might have noticed that my blog disappeared from your browsers when you tried to access any post. It was because I changed my URL to https://mise-en-scene101.blogspot.com🚨
One more (lastly, I promise): In 2012, TVC or advertisements were more prevalent than digital marketing. Now, you can interchange the term with digital marketing or social media marketing.
Here it goes...
Linking Mobile Phone Addiction/Overuse of Mobile Phones and Advertisements among Youth in Pakistan
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to (1) find the linkage between mobile phone addiction or overuse and the advertisements/marketing strategies of mobile phone service providers in Pakistan and (2) to confirm the previous research about the linkage of psychological factors and overuse of mobile phones in the context of Pakistan. Mobile Phone Addiction and its psychological connection have been proven by researchers the world over and this phenomenon is also being seen in Pakistan. To find whether advertisements or marketing strategies (schemes, packages, etc.) of mobile phone service providers are triggering this effect, data was collected. a convenience sample of 100 young boys and girls was selected. Medically Proven Mobile Phone Addiction symptoms i.e., Anxiety and Craving, Losing control over use, withdrawal, and productivity loss were linked with the impression of advertisements (TV Commercials) on young people.
Keywords: Mobile Phone Addiction, Advertisements, Mobile Phone Service Providers, Young People.
Introduction
Present mobile phones are descendants of various technologies. Telephony, wireless communication, internet, and computer technologies merged to give us an indispensable tool for communication. From the first mobile phone, demonstrated by Dr. Cooper Martin of Samsung Inc., that weighed almost 1kg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone) to the present sleek, robust technological, and artistic masterpieces that we call smartphones, mobile phones have covered a long distance in a very short time. Now, 4G Phones or the 4th Generation phones promise to give users data transfer speeds up to 100 Mb/s.
In mobile phone communication, there are 3 entities involved: Users, Mobile phones, and Mobile phone service providers. Mobile phones are useless without Service Providers. As the mobile phone subscriber base is growing (4.6 billion in 2010, cf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Phones), so is the number of service providers. In Pakistan, there are 5 Service Providers: Ufone, Telenor, Mobilink, Warid, and Zong. In April 2011, the number of subscribers reached 108 million. To take the greater market share these service providers keep on introducing interesting and low-cost services. The very fact of communication from anywhere and anytime excite people to use mobile phones, icing on the cake are the schemes and packages that compel people to use and overuse mobile phones.
The primary users of mobile phones in Pakistan are the youth ranging in age from teens to twenties to thirties. An estimated 103 million Pakistanis, or 63% of the population, fall under the age of 25 years2. To tap this huge market mobile phone companies are using aggressive marketing strategies without realizing its negative impact that exploits the psychological traits of young people. They use advertisements and promotion campaigns that compel them to overuse mobile phones. This overuse sometimes crosses the limit of sanity and falls into the proven psychological disorder of Mobile Phone Addiction.
Mobile Phone Addiction is a psychological disorder as proposed by sociology researchers and accepted by psychologists as a mental disorder. Some of the Mobile Phone Addiction Symptoms are anxiety and craving, losing control over use, productivity loss, and withdrawal.
Mobile phone use includes Texting or SMS (Short Messaging Service), calls, listening to music and FM, playing games, surfing the net, etc. The heavy usage falls in the category of texting and calling friends and families. Pakistan ranked 3rd world over in SMSs traffic in 2009 with the mind-blowing figure of 151 billion text messages3. This staggering figure prompted the question of why people are using mobile phones for such heavy use. ‘During FY 2011, cellular revenues enhanced by 11% to reach Rs. 262,761 million in comparison with Rs. 236,047 million last year.3’
Previously, similar researches were carried out in different parts of the world that tried to find why people become so dependent on mobile phones e.g., Leung 2004, Ling 2004, Young 1996,1998, 1999, etc.* These were primarily focused on the Internet except Leung 2004, that targeted the mobile phone addiction. These researchers probed the psychological aspects of addicts or problem users. This research tries to explore the other factors i.e., the service providers and their marketing campaigns that compel the youth (people in their teens, 20s, and early 30s) to overuse mobile phones. This population segment was selected because 1) They are an early adopter of new technologies 2) They are the main mobile phone users 3) They are the primary audience of TV Commercials.
Hypothesis
It is hypothesized that Mobile Phone Service Providers are using marketing techniques including advertisements (TV commercials, print ads, radio spots), promotional schemes, and packages to compel young people to overuse mobile phones. This overuse is causing Mobile Phone Addiction. Thus following Hypotheses were formulated:
H1: Mobile Addiction and Advertisement campaigns by service providers are directly linked.
H2: People who are heavy users of mobile phones are those who are heavily influenced by advertisements.
Theoretical Framework
Researches on mobile phone addiction or problematic use of mobile phones were carried out by different scholars the world over e.g., Leung 2007. That proved that there is a phenomenon called Mobile Phone Addiction. Addiction is primarily associated with physical substances (marijuana, cigarettes, tobacco, chemicals, alcohol, etc.). Psychologists have long been arguing that there is a behavioral disorder associated with technology use that is similar to the symptoms of addiction caused by substances. This behavioral disorder doesn’t require a physical substance. Overuse of technology causes addiction-like symptoms e.g., anxiety, craving, loss of control over substance use, withdrawal and escape, productivity loss, etc. Bianchi & Philips (2005) identified symptoms of mobile phone addiction and developed a scale to measure it.4
Louis Leung (2007), a Ph.D. scholar from the Chinese University of Hong Kong furthered the research and tried to probe the psychological profiles of mobile phone addicts. He linked the symptoms with the personality traits of young mobile phone users. For example, people who had more control over their lives and choices were less addicted. Similarly, those who scored less self-esteem scale scored high Mobile Phone Addiction Scale. Leung developed a composite scale i.e., the Mobile Phone Addiction Index or MPAI, that measured the range of addictive use. This scale was based on Young’s (1996) Internet Addiction Scale.5 He modified and enhanced it. The sample population that scored more than 60 % on it were considered addicts.6
The research by Leung (2007), and previous researchers focused on the users and their psychological traits. The other main factors that may contribute to the addiction were ignored i.e., the services and features provided by the service providers that may hook the user for a longer period than intended. This fact compelled the present research that this important factor should be probed further and its linkage, if there is any must be sought out and analyzed.
Independent Variable:
The marketing strategies were taken as the independent variable. The marketing strategies or the efforts made by the service provider companies to increase their profits and sales include advertising campaigns on different media (print, electronic, new), promotional campaigns, schemes & packages, PR activities, etc. However, we focused on the advertising done on TV as this is the most heavily used medium both by the audience and the advertisers. TV advertisements or commercials are used to introduce new schemes and packages that intend to increase sales and profits through an increase in service use. This was taken as independent because all other industries similar to telecommunication industries are using aggressive marketing campaigns to promote their services the world over. In 9 months (January-September 2010) more than 94 billion dollars were spent on advertisements on different media.7 Pakistan has reached the mark of 100 million users. To grab their attention and get the largest share of them, mobile phone service providers have used aggressive marketing techniques.
Dependent Variable
Mobile Phone Addiction or MPA was taken as the dependent variable. Through different research, it has been proven that it is a mental disorder. But not all people are addicted to it. Researchers tried to find out and develop psychological profiles of addicts. So MPA is caused by some other factors e.g., psychological, social, financial background, etc. That is why, it has been taken as dependent on external factors to exist.
Moderating Variable:
Psychology, Social status, Economic conditions, education, demographics, etc., are some of the factors that may cause MPA. It was seen in this research that people who were in their 20s were less prone to Addiction signifying that mental maturity protects users from overusing mobile phone services. They can make a difference between the imaginary use created by the advertisers and their actual use.
Research Question
This research aimed to find the probable link between mobile phone overuse and the advertisements/TV Commercials. Thus, the following research question was formulated:
RQ1: Is Mobile Phone Addiction or MPA in Pakistan directly linked with promotional campaigns carried out by service providers, especially through TV ads?
Explanation of terms used
Craving and Anxiety
The primary symptom of pathological addiction is craving to use the substance. The addict is urged subconsciously to use the substance. If the addict is unable to satisfy his/her urge they feel anxious and show signs of frustration e.g., anger, depression.
Losing control over use
The person loses control over use. It implies that the addict is unable to control the amount of substance used and ends up using more than intended. In terms of Mobile Phones, it is the time spent using different mobile phone features and services.
Withdrawal
The person uses the substance as an escape from the normal social activity. For example, if a person doesn’t want to talk or meet someone face-to-face they occupy themselves with mobile to justify their not meeting him/her.
Productivity loss
The use of substances causes the loss of productive things. For example, a student instead of studying or attending lectures listens to music or secretly texts resulting in poor grades. Similarly, an employee working in an office may find himself engaged in chatting with friends instead of working. This type of productivity loss is prevalent in every field.
Advertisements' Effects
The perception of reality is created through watching TV Commercials. Media pronounce the notion of reality. This effect is usually termed as Larger than life image. For example, a character in an ad jumps from a high-rise building but doesn’t get hurt which is very dissimilar to the reality. But through careful exploitation by the advertisers of the fantasies of young minds, they create an image that is desirable and appealing to the young audience. Although this image is not productive in all situations. Sometimes it presents a distorted view of reality. Advertisers create superficial demands and needs in young impressionable minds. Thus audiences think they need a particular product or service which may not be true.
Methodology & Results
Sampling and Measurement
Convenience Sample of 100 young men and women was selected. The ages ranged from late teens (17-19) to 20s and early 30s. The survey was used to collect data. The tool used for gathering data was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on the work of Leung (2007) that was modified. The questionnaire had 13 questions and 2 parts. The first 8 questions or the Mobile Phone Addiction Index are used to establish the fact that the user is addicted or not. 5 point Likert Scale was used on MPAI with the following scoring: Strongly disagree=1, Disagree=2, Neutral=3, Agree 4 and Firmly Agree=5. People who scored more than 60 % were considered less addicted and fell in the A category. People who scored 80 or more than 80 % on MPAI were considered Addicted. The latter half of the questionnaire formed the Advertisement Impact Scale AIS (Questions no.9 through 13). A 5-point Likert Scale was used on AIS with the following scoring: Strongly disagree=1, Disagree=2, Neutral=3, Agree 4 and Firmly Agree=5.
It was hypothesized that people who would score more than 60 % on MPAI would also 60 % or more on AIS. Out of 100 respondents, results of 90 respondents were selected. 45 male and 45 female respondents gave a very balanced approach genderwise and helped in understanding the pattern of uses in both genders. The respondents were students of undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate programs. Educated people were selected because most of the features require a person to be literate to some extent and to use the mobile to its fullest potential requires skills that can be learned through education e.g., English language skills, typing, exposure to global technology trends.
The Mobile Phone Addiction Index was covered in the first 8 questions of the questionnaire. These questions were used to gauge the Mobile Phone Addiction Symptoms e.g., anxiety, losing control, withdrawal, and productivity loss. Questions 1, 2, and 6 dealt with craving and anxiety, questions 3,4, and 6 dealt with losing control, question 7 dealt with withdrawal, and question 8 was related to Productivity loss. The 2nd part of the questionnaire from questions 9 through 13 dealt with the impact of advertising. 5 point Likert scale was used on this scale (Advertising Impact Index).
On the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI) following categories were made to distinguish normal, less addicted, and highly addicted people. People who scored 50 % or less than 50 percent; their use was considered normal or 20/40 on MPAI and formed category A. B category was made for those users who scored 20-30 on MPAI and were considered as slightly addicted. C was reserved for those who scored more than 30/40 on MPAI.
On the Advertising Impact Scale, 5 5-point Likert scale thus total of 5 questions gave 25 as the highest possible score on this scale. 60% was considered as the limit for normal and abnormal use. Less than 15/25 were considered normal mobile phone users. 15-20 were slightly affected and 20-25 were considered heavily influenced by the advertisements.
Results
45 male and 45 female respondents were asked questions about their mobile use and their perception of ads and images created through ads. This ratio of sexes gave a very balanced approach to data gathering as women who account for more than 50 % of Pakistan were properly represented in the survey.
18 respondents were in their teens, 69 in their 20’s, and 3 in their 30’s. 9 respondents were undergraduates, 28 were in post-graduate programs, and 55 in graduate programs. This population was selected so that all the aspects of the addiction could be analyzed properly. Almost all features of mobile phones require a sound level of education to utilize their full potential. The education level of our sample population was ample to represent all symptoms without any other hindrance e.g., lack of education, unawareness of global technology trends, etc.
On the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI) 46 people out of 90 fell in the A category or people with normal use. 29 respondents fell in the B category with slightly addicted use. 15 showed high addiction symptoms. 10 females and 5 males were highly addicted.
20 people used mobile for more than 4 hours daily which accounts for more than 22 per cent. 23 people used mobile phones for 2-4 hours/day which yielded a percentage of 25.5 of total respondents. 17 respondents used mobile for 1-2 hours/day. 30 respondents used mobile for 1 or less than one hour daily.
The average Score of 14 female respondents on AIS was 13.21. They used mobile phones for 1 or less than 1 hour/day and scored 49% on MPAI. 18 male respondents used mobile for 1 or less than 1 hour per day and scored 13 avg. on AIS and scored 54.16 % on MPAI which is less than 60% on MPAI (value set for addiction confirmation).
15 highly addicted people who scored more than 60 percent on AIS also scored high on MPAI (30/40 on MPAI) and used mobile phones for more than 4 hours. Out of these 15, 7 were males.
Similarly, 43 respondents scored more than 50 % on MPAI scored more than 60 % on AIS, and spent 2-4 hours per day on their mobile phones.
17 male and 14 female respondents agreed with mobile use shown in ads i.e., 34 % of total respondents. 27 respondents tried to copy the characters shown in the ads. 26.6% thought the characters shown in ads as ‘cool’. 45.5% subscribed to different packages and schemes shown/told in ads.37.77 % of respondents considered people who don’t text or use mobile much as ‘boring’.
Table 1. Relationship between Time Spent on Mobile Phones, MPAI, and AIS.
Table 2. Results on Advertising Impact Scale
Hypothesis Testing
As Hypothesized e.g., H1, it was proven that people who used mobile for more than 4 hours per day also scored high on the Advertising Impact Scale (AIS). The limit set for Addiction confirmation on MPAI was 62% or a score of 24 out of 40, yielded by the questionnaires.
20 % of women and a similar number of men used mobile for more than 4 hours. Whereas, more women used their mobile for 2-4 hours/day i.e., 11.7 respondents as compared to 6.97 male respondents who scored high both on MPAI and AIS. People who used mobile for 1 or less than one hour per day also scored low on MPAI.
Thus Hypothesis H1 was also successfully proven as a strong connection between the impact of advertisements and overuse was observed in the data. Similarly, Hypothesis H2 also proves that people who are more influenced by advertisements are heavy users of mobile phones.
The collected data matched with the proposed question i.e., RQ1: Is Mobile Phone Addiction or MPA in Pakistan directly linked with promotional campaigns carried out by service providers, especially through TV ads?
Establishing the link between advertisements and overuse/addiction as proven by the hypothesis, also proves the thesis that advertising and promotional packages and schemes do lead the Pakistani youth to overuse mobile phones which may result in Mobile Phone Addiction.
The link between overuse/addiction(MPAI) and the impact of advertisements (AIS) was successfully established. But, the average score on Advertising Scale was 63.46 % which is slightly more than the set value of normal impact (60%) signifying that advertisements are not the only factor for the overuse of mobile phones.
Conclusion
As hypothesized in Hypothesis 1 and 2, it was proven that there is a significant and visible relation between overuse and the impact of advertisements on youth. Though people who used mobile phones for more than 2-4 hours also scored high on the Advertising Scale it was not significantly high as compared to only 15 respondents who scored more than 20 out of 25 on AIS. This is less than 17% of the total respondents.
Through these statistics, it has been proven that there is a significant link between the overuse of mobile phones and the impact of advertisements. However, the low score on AIS was unexpected. This hints at the possibility of other factors that contribute to the overuse of mobile phone use. Similarly, it was expected that people who don’t use mobile phones much were not disliked by the respondents which is very unusual as the ads portray the image of overuse as desirable things, and those who don’t synch with this trend are ‘boring’. On the other hand, people considered characters shown as ‘cool’ but its converse was not true. This shows that viewers are tuning out some of the effects of advertisements i.e., they accept what they want and tune out what they think doesn’t match with their view of reality.
Overall, it was successfully established that keeping the other factors as constant as the advertisements does have an impact on the overuse of mobile phones. But this is not the sole factor leading to overuse. In previous research (Leung, 2007) overuse/addiction was linked with the psychological traits of the addicts but other external factors were overlooked. The present research has kept the psychological factors constant except for the most influential external factors (advertisement).
Suggestions
Young people should be educated to use media content cautiously. So they can tune out the negative effects of the advertisements.
Regulations must be introduced for more sensible advertising practices by the advertisers.
The advertisers and their client companies must be educated to improve their marketing strategies so that viewers and the youth specifically can be saved from the negative impact of advertisements.
Similarly, other psychological, social, educational, and demographic factors must be corrected so that people can be saved from mobile phone addiction. For example, people who are sensation and fun-seeking are prone to overuse and addiction, they can be educated to channel out and satisfy their fun-seeking interests in positive, productive activities e.g., sports, social welfare activities, etc.
Literature Cited
Gender, Information Technology, and Developing Countries: An Analytic Study (2001) by Nancy Hafkins and Nancy Taggart.
Insights into the Social and Psychological Effects of SMS Text Messaging (2004) by Donna Reid and Fraser Reid.
Linking Psychological Attributes to Addiction and Improper Use of the Mobile Phone among Adolescents in Hong Kong (2007) by Louis Leung.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_Pakistan
http://undp.org.pk/undp-and-the-youth.html
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