Neo-Confucianism Is a Philosophy Which Was Born TEST1

¶ … Cell Phones (Technology) On Communication

Cell phones and other cellular communication equipment are omnipresent in today's digital age, with roughly 1.5 billion cellular phones used, at present, across the globe; on an average, 75 billion SMSs are sent globally, in a month (Merry, Domlija & Mackenzie, 2005). While the use of cellular communication has greatly contributed to the area of communication, cellular interferences have hampered functioning in various contexts, including driving, parenting task completion, and enrolment in academic courses. Strayer and colleagues (2005) proved that cognitive impairments linked to cell phone usage while driving may be the same as those linked to drunken driving. Impacts of distractions from cell phones have been observed in laboratory as well as naturalistic settings. Here, the word 'distraction' implies the unintentional inattention to the task at hand, which is characteristic of unlooked-for events (e.g. a call on one's cell phone). By contrast, the word 'task-switching' in literature is typically utilized for indicating intentional attention shifts. Furthermore, it is established that communication gadgets pose a cognitive disturbance across all developmental ages, right from teenage to old age. Studies have further indicated that such disturbances impact multiple cognitive elements, including logic, mental arithmetic, and working memory. While a majority of studies have concentrated on the impact of cellular disturbances on the afore-mentioned information (i.e., information storage, encoding, and recovery: working memory; number calculation: mental arithmetic; and pattern identification, among narratives presented: reasoning), not much is known regarding emotional impact on fabricated memories for incidents that didn't take place. False memory denotes remembering an incident differently than the way it actually transpired, or recalling some incident, which never took place (Merry et al., 2005).

Significance

With increased application of ICT (information and communication technology) in the last ten years, social critics voice concerns about individuals' apparent failure to disconnect. Beyond unscientific commentary, however, (Powers, 2010), minimal organized research has been undertaken in regard to the concerns ICT users have in connection with the devices; these include adverse effects of cell phones on personal health and social interaction. This paper will address the above gap, by employing cross-cultural scientific data from multiple existing research reports.

Preview

While cell phones' origins go as far back as the fifties, the technology matured during the last decade of the twentieth century, with the advent of European Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) network, the emergence of numerous transmission networks in America, the Japanese launch of mobile phone operating company, NTT DoCoMo, and parallel growth in the remaining Asian countries, the Middle Eastern nations and the African continent (Ling & Donner, 2009). By the year 2009, nearly 4.7 billion cell phone subscriptions were noted around the world, which is inhabited by around 6.8 billion people. History abounds with cases of new technologies or products that were, at first, enthusiastically accepted, but subsequently proven to have unforeseen adverse effects. Mobile phone technology is also a bipolar example. Cell phones afford users immense freedom to interact with others on the terms they set themselves (with regard to time and place). Nevertheless, the reverse end of this Faustian deal is that individuals find they are always at others' beck and call, struggling against the apparent social requirement of always being available (Baron, 2008; Kahneman, Fredrickson, Schreiber & Redelmeier, 1993).

Wide variations in functionality and price can be observed in the cell phone models of today. Apart from voice and texting capabilities, a majority of cell phones offer features like address books, a camera, a calendar, several ring tones, alarm clock, as well as a radio or MP3 player. 3G smartphones offer video capabilities and access to the World Wide Web. Mobile technology has pervaded all age groups, cultural communities, and economic strata (Ling & Donner, 2009; Powers, 2010). Since their launch, however, cell phones have enjoyed particularly high acceptance among young adults and adolescents.

Review

Smith, Abadie, Isaak, and Senette investigated the impact of distractions from electronic communication in 2011, including texting and cell-phone demands, on false and true recognition, and in particular, semantically linked terms offered/not offered on a screen. Respondents were handed twenty four Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) records; concurrently, absence/presence of text-message and cell-phone distractions were manipulated in the course of study. In this paradigm, respondents examine lists of words that are semantically-linked (for instance, mother, diaper, and crib), associated with an absent critical lure (for instance, baby). There was no statistical variation in measures of false recognition across distraction situations. Signal detection studies revealed respondents better discriminating real targets (i.e., items from the lists presented in the course of study) from real target controls (i.e., items presented only in the course of study) when there were no text-message or cell-phone distractions than when distractions were present. There was no significant variation in response bias across distraction situations, since no differences existed in the possibility of a respondent claiming that an item was "old" (i.e. presented earlier) and not "new" (i.e., not presented earlier). This research work's outcomes are scrutinized in relation to fuzzy trace models as well as activation monitoring (Smith et al., 2011; Kahneman et al., 1993).

Lopez-Rosenfeld, Garbulsky, Calero, Trevisan, Fernandez Slezak, and Bergman (2015) intended to quantitatively ascertain the expense of cell-phone interruptions during face-to-face meetings via an experiment conducted in dyads, among a vast audience during a TEDx gathering. The speaker vividly relates a tale, while the listener must intentionally ignore what the speaker is saying during some portion of the tale (by, say, paying attention to their phone). The speaker doesn't know of this inattentiveness. The researchers demonstrated, through this experiment, that the overall attention paid is a key factor that drives subjective beliefs regarding the tale as well as the speaker. The impacts are chiefly independent on the way attention is divided in time. With the exception of the tale's perceived emotion, every other social element of human interaction is impacted by the period of time the listener listens attentively. Disturbances in everyday interactions among colleagues are very common. Study data must offer an annotation of caution, by specifying that disturbances greatly affect the perception of individuals regarding what is said (i.e., whether or not it holds their interest) and the merits of individuals they come across (Lopez-Rosenfeld et al., 2015).

Gonzales (2014) assumed that significant social exchanges are positively linked to an increase in self-worth; in his view, this phenomenon principally remained unexplored in the digital media context in spite of the popularity of novel, text-based interactions (e.g. email, SMS, Facebook, etc.). Therefore, he attempted to focus on this literature gap. Communication quality, significance, and rate were assessed in non-mediated and mediated networks by employing experience sampling techniques over a random representative of 3649 exchanges. Study outcomes proved that a majority of communication occurred directly (62%). Text-based communication (approximately 22%) and voice communication via mobile phones (14%) were less common modes. Meaningful text-based communication and interactions in person were linked to self-esteem changes, as per a significant and marginally significant result, respectively. Phone-based or direct interactions were less vital for self-worth than text-based interactions; this outcome is in line with studies regarding the latter channel's enhancing impact on social processes. As per the hypothesis of web-enhanced self-disclosure, text-based interactions' psychological advantages arise from improved self-disclosure; this is supported in data, as well. Further research is required for acquiring a keener grasp of the mechanisms that underlie positive association of self-esteem with meaningful text-based communication. Nevertheless, findings indicate the key contribution of digital exchanges to psychological well-being.

Misra, Genevie, Yuan, and Cheng conducted a research in 2014 to explore the link between quality of face-to-face, social communication and presence of cellular devices. Through their naturalistic field research, they discovered that exchanges, which transpired when cellular devices were absent, were much more superior to those taking place when mobile devices are present in the setting. Individuals conversing when mobile devices weren't in the vicinity reported greater empathetic concern, while conversations when cellular devices were present revealed lower empathy levels (Misra et al., 2014).

Weinstein and Przybylski, in their 2012 work, arrived at similar outcomes, proving that the existence of cellular devices in community settings disrupted human relationships. The authors, in two distinct tests, discovered proof of the fact that mobile devices negatively influence bonding, understanding, and quality of discussion; this is particularly observed when people participate in personally significant talks. While a majority of studies have revealed the adverse impact of modern technology on direct, interpersonal communication, one research indicated that use of mobile phones in public may make people more prone to conversing with unfamiliar individuals (Przybylski & Weinstein, 2012).

Kwak and Campbell (2011) analyzed how and whether mobile interactions affected the level of engagement of people in direct conversation with strangers in public places. By considering different kinds of applications of mobile phones, this study discovered that cell phone usage in public did, in fact, trigger conversation with unfamiliar individuals, for users who often depend on mobile phones for acquiring and exchanging news.

Van Valey and Brignall (2005) studied technology's impact on modern-day cyber-youth -- the children who grew up using the World Wide Web as a key component of their daily lives and communication rituals. They found that, on account of the Internet's widespread application in entertainment, education, and social interaction, a significant decline has resulted in direct interpersonal exchanges among youngsters. The authors indicate that the decline in amount of time youngsters devote to face-to-face interactions may, ultimately, significantly influence their social skills development and self-presentation (p. 337). Several other researchers have expressly concentrated on the impact of technology on personal associations.

In her book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other, Sherry Turkle (2012) looked into technological impacts on relationships among family members. After interviewing over 150 adults and 300 youngsters, Turkle discovered that kids frequently complain that their parents are obsessed with technology. She learnt that there are numerous kids who feel their parents pay more attention to their cell phones than to them, frequently putting off holding face-to-face conversation with them until they are done responding to their email messages.

Chief Microsoft Research scientist, Baym, doesn't concur with the aforementioned popular opinion of the scholarly community, that technology has an adverse effect on face-to-face interactions. Instead, Baym is of the view that studies indicate digital communication improves relationships; further, research evidence reliably proves that increased conversations with others through devices will make one more likely to hold face-to-face conversations with them (Adler, 2013).

Latest technological developments have considerably influenced how people interact. In Drago's 2015 work titled, The Effect of Technology on Face-to-Face Communication, earlier research works were evaluated, field studies carried out, and a web-based survey administered, for assessing the extent of people's engagement with their mobile phones, other gadgets, and one another, in face-to-face meetings. Findings indicate that technology adversely affects face-to-face conversation's quantity as well as quality. In spite of society being aware of the fact that technology has drastically decreased direct interaction, over 62% of people monitored on Elon University's campus continue using their cellular devices in others' company.

Conclusions

Areas of Agreement

One of the principles of communication is that it starts with a handshake -- a formal statement that indicates two parties are ready to interact with one another. One can draw from the above principle that inattentiveness during the first instant of (or early into) the conversation must bring about a worse opinion of the listener (impoliteness with regard to sustaining the protocol of hand-shaking). On the other hand, inattentiveness towards the conversation's ending doesn't break the communication protocol; rather, the speaker might believe the tale was boring. This idea can be supported by using dancing as a metaphor. If an individual is invited by another for a dance, but doesn't accept the offer, the latter (i.e., emitter or the individual who makes the invitation) might come to the conclusion that the recipient was impolite. On the other hand, if the recipient accepts the offer, but ends up breaking the dance, the emitter may reach the following natural conclusion: the dance didn't prove good enough for sustaining his partner's attention. Consequently, he lays the blame on the dance (i.e., the tale or message) rather than on the individual he was interacting with (Drago, 2015; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2012).

Then again, one may reason that -- as has been noted in other cognitive areas -- perception dominates retrospective views towards the encounter's ending. Van Valey and Brignall (2005), for instance, discovered that individuals, in retrospect, favor a treatment wherein a lower dosage follows a predetermined quantity of pain, over one where no pain follows. In other words, respondents don't hoard the overall amount of distress; rather, they generate beliefs on the basis of portions of their experience, dominated principally by the previous episode. In the above study, if this principle dominated data, one would expect respondents' views to be influenced by the time-based division of attention (i.e., experience would receive a worse ranking when the speaker is neglected during the tale's culmination) and not so much by the overall quantity of attention. Study data, however, indicates that the division of time of attentiveness contributes triflingly to variance of the story's and conversational partner's subjective perception (Turkle, 2012; Drago, 2015).

A quantitative assessment after a 4-minute-long face-to-face meeting reveals that the overall quantity of attention represents the key driving force for subjective beliefs concerning the message (i.e., the tale to be related) and the individual one is interacting with. The impact is perceived on receiver as well as emitter, and is largely independent on the way attention distribution occurs in time. Disruptions commonly occur during everyday conversations with kids, and among peers. Research must offer a word of caution, hinting at the effects of such windows of inattention on the story teller as well as message recipient (Turkle, 2012; Campbell & Kwak, 2011).

Mobile conversations have transformed the way individuals orient to time and space; this has deeply impacted how people coordinate with each other. Technology's application for coordination between individuals helps soften their schedule, allowing flexibility, to a great extent, while making any arrangements. Donner and Ling (2004) state that as cell phones become widespread, they complement, as well as vie with temporal social coordination. Rather than being dependent on robotic time keeping, cellular technology enables direct contact, which, in many instances, is more flexible and interactive compared to temporal coordination. Weinstein & Przybylski (2012) classify such application of cell phones by using the term "micro-coordination," suggesting that it involves numerous dimensions, which include: basic logistics (for instance, redirecting already-begun trips), schedule softening (for instance, calling an individual to inform them that one is running late for an appointment with them), and progressive activity refinement (for instance, completing the fine points of flexible plans). The above instrumental applications of cellular phones alters coordination patterns in several social domains, including work, peer groups, and families.

Mobile interactions have also served to alter familial coordination patterns, particularly in families wherein both parents hold jobs or are otherwise busy. Cell phones enable families to ascertain, convey, and handle unscheduled domestic errands. Additionally, they lend parents aid in monitoring and coordinating family activities, via mobile communication. One of the participants of a 2004 study conducted by Donner and Ling cited fine examples of the kinds of messages family members (particularly parents) exchange with one another: "Can you drop one of the kids to her music classes?," "Can you pick her up from class?," "Can you get milk from the store?" etc. Other interviewed parents also offered several similar examples. Misra and coworkers (2014) call this particular application of mobile technology "remote mothering," explaining that though it poses the advantage of flexible management of household duties, it may have a negative outcome of emphasizing gender inequalities by tying females further to their household duties.

It is imperative to bear in mind that all effects of cell phones aren't essentially positive. For instance, studies depict covariance between cell phone usage and adolescent criminality. Heavy cell phone users are overrepresented in the category of people engaged in different forms of deviant behavior (theft, brawling, drugs and alcohol consumption, to name a few) (Ling & Donner, 2004). In the above instances, there is no essential linear association between cell phone usage and deviant behavior. Instead, it is people who employ mobile communication (particularly voice calls, and not text messaging) excessively heavily who most likely engage in deviant behavior. Moreover, literature reveals a wider correlation of cell phone usage with sexuality. This relationship is relatively more linear. In other words, with increased usage of cellular communication, a generally similar increase is observed in the tendency to engage in sexual activities. The precise mechanism that fosters such a correlation hasn't been comprehended properly. It may be that the increased ability of arranging trysts enhances the ability of engaging in sexual activities. Integrating this with the more general aspect of media impacts, one can easily perceive that heavy utilization of cell phones appears to facilitate sexuality in over-eager adolescents (Powers, 2010; Kuznekoff & Titsworth, 2013).

Important Areas of Disagreement

Though some individuals may voice concerns regarding the fact that cellular communication replaces direct interaction among peers, research findings indicate otherwise. According to research reports, technology usage is, in truth, associated with enhanced direct sociability (Adler, 2013). This consequence of cellular phone usage may, at least partly, be ascribed to the value of technology as a social coordination resource. For demonstrating this point, a research subject in Kwak and Campbell's 2011 experiment on social networks narrated a circumstance wherein cellular communication substituted the conventional practice of friends hoisting giant flagpoles to get together at a yearly jazz festival. According to the participant, all one needs to do now is call one another and decide on a meeting spot. This proves how point -- to-point cell phone-based (or possibly person-to-person) communication, in effect, impacts our behavior directly. To cut a long story short, the media impact of cellular communication represents an advanced social coordination form.

Kwak and Campbell (2011) discovered that voice calling, for certain cell phone users, is linked positively to civic affairs and community participation, though this relationship is dependent on the characteristics of individual social networks. This research area continues to be in the embryonic stage, and thus, conclusions regarding how cellular communication weakens or improves engagement in formal civic activities and community groups cannot be confirmed. It is, however, evident that technology is able to play a forceful part in political shifts by other means. Together with other technologies, cell phones are being increasingly utilized for creating "unexpected waves of cooperation," or "smart mobs," which can bring about rapid political and social transformation (Merry et al., 2005). Among the chief examples is that of the ousting of Joseph Estrada, President of Philippines, in January of 2001. Incensed by governmental authorities' refusal to look into corruption charges, the people of Philippines arranged a mass protest, using their cell phones; the protest lasted for a period of four days, ending with Estrada's removal from office by the military, which supported protesting citizens. Other instances of the application of cell phones for effecting sweeping, swift changes in countries' political climate have been witnessed in nations like Spain and South Korea, among others (Baron, 2008; Merry et al., 2005). Integrating these instances into the media impact context, one can note how a channel of communication is utilized for directly inspiring fellow activists to take part in large-scale action. No vague relationship exists between public attitudes and the transmitted message. There is, rather, a sound connection between the inter-personal viral dissemination of the given message from one individual to another, through their cell phones. The outcome, in case of the aforementioned social demonstrations, was that message recipients forwarded the message to others, as well as took part in the campaign.

Methods of Resolving these Disagreements

The techniques to resolve these disputes would address drawbacks in different researches. A recent survey by Drago (2015) adopted convenience sampling, and thus, generalization of results to a broader population isn't possible. Moreover, this study might be marred by bias, as its sample comprised self-selected participants. Another likely bias may be present, owing to the fact that only Facebook users could access the survey; students not regular in using or checking their Facebook account were excluded from the study. A severe gender bias was also observed -- 86% of participants were female, though the student body at Elon comprises roughly 60% of females.

Scientists, however, aren't always in agreement about research conventions. When differences transpire, actions can, inappropriately, be viewed as misconduct in research. A better means of resolving such a misunderstanding would be by having an open, honest dialogue concerning the choice of statistical analysis employed in the research, instead of making a misconduct accusation. When this sort of solution isn't possible, informal arbitration through peer mediation might have been valuable (Resnik & Stewart, 2012). There are other disputes which entail disagreements regarding research conventions themselves. One key issue in the technique of clinical trials is about whether to apply an on-treatment or intent-to-treat approach to report study findings. In the latter approach, respondent data, randomized to multiple trial groups must be reported; this includes respondents who have dropped out, or are pulled out for failing to meet study requirements. This approach's rationale is its ability to control for non-adherence- and withdrawal- related biases. If a respondent fails to adhere to study conditions, or voluntarily quits, owing to the emergence of intolerable negative impacts or an aggravation in his/her condition, it is crucial to incorporate this information in the ultimate analysis, for study risks to be understood properly (Gupta, 2011). The other approach (on-treatment), which reports information only for respondents who have effectively completed the study, might underreport risks of the treatment method. However, a number of researchers are of the opinion that this approach is better than the intent-to-treat one in certain instances, as it offers an improved understanding not only of risks, but of treatment method effectiveness, as well. Incorporating data from respondents who quit because of non-compliance can lead to underestimating of treatment efficacy, as their out may have been better, had they complied to conditions (Resnik & Stewart, 2012).

The gravest conflicts take place when scholars are in disagreement over the basic concepts or hypotheses that underlie their discipline. In this case, scientists might disagree on several research conventions and techniques. Such conflicts will likely transpire when any field undergoes scientific revolution, or rapid transformations, or is split into numerous groups. In such cases, no central paradigm may exist that is accepted by a majority of discipline members; also, normal scientific tradition may be absent (Resnik & Stewart, 2012).