Peer-relationship and mobile phone dependency
Adolescents are in a transitional period where they are neither
self-sufficient, and hence not adult, nor completely
dependent, and thus not children(Cobb 2001). In this critical
transitional stage, they are increasingly alienated from
their parents, seeking to be self-sufficient and independent(Dolgin
2010). Meanwhile, they would turn to their
friends for support, entertainment, values/perspectives or
self-worth. Adolescence is the critical developmental stage
when peer relationship, more than anything else, plays a
key role in many ways in daily life. In recent years, the use
of mobile communication has become an indispensable
means to interact and communicate with their friends for
adolescents(Oksman and Turtiainen 2004). While mobile
communication with friends provides the emotional support,
self-worth or psychological stability, it is often abused by
youngsters, resulting in negative effects.
Studies found that cell phone use after bedtime was
very prevalent among adolescents; they would stay up late
engaged in chatting or text-message exchanges with their
friends(Kamibeppu and Sigiura 2005), causing the increased
levels of tiredness or lethargy after one year.
Studies presented that some adolescents experienced insecurity
or nervousness since they had thought that they could
not reach their friends and live without their own cellphones(Chang,
Song, and Cho 2011). This study aims to
investigate whether adolescents’ usage of mobile communication
with their peers could result in phone dependency,
which would cause many negative developmental conse