scholarly journals Feeding in the Digital Age: An Observational Analysis of Mobile Device Use during Family Meals at Fast Food Restaurants in Italy

Author(s):  
Allison Kiefner-Burmeister ◽  
Sarah Domoff ◽  
Jenny Radesky

Caregiver mobile phone use while monitoring children is a behavior of increasing prevalence. Family mealtimes have long been considered a time in which parents and children connect emotionally and model eating behaviors, but prior studies have documented less parent-child conversation and more negative parent reactions to child behavioral bids at the table during parent phone use. Research on this topic to date is sparse and focuses only on US populations. The current study used non-participant naturalistic observation to record data on parental mealtime device use and family interactions while dining with children in a fast food restaurant in Italy. Thirty seven families (individuals observed = 129) were observed at a restaurant for the duration of their meal. Qualitative analysis of field notes indicated that mobile phones are frequently used by caregivers during feeding interactions. A novel observation in the current study was different patterns of use by parent gender and age. Mothers appeared to divide their attention between phone and child, whereas fathers evidenced more continuous mobile phone use during which there was lower responsiveness towards children during the meal. Younger parents more frequently used mobile phones, compared to older parents. Parents who missed child bids for attention were all phone users during the mealtime.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafna Lemish ◽  
Nelly Elias ◽  
Diana Floegel

Research suggests that parent–child communication is rapidly changing as a result of the massive adoption of mobile devices and their penetration into interpersonal interaction within the family. Accordingly, this study aims to develop a more nuanced understanding of the impact of mobile device use on the quality of parent–child interaction in early childhood, based on ethnographic observations of 60 families at two playgrounds in the United States. The research findings suggest that parental behavior can be classified along a continuum of high engagement, divided engagement, and disengagement, often dependent upon whether and how parents use their mobile phone. Though mobile phones were not the only distracting factor during playground visits, their use was more highly correlated with parents’ disengagement from their children as compared to other distractors. Parents’ mobile phone use also corresponded to two main consequences for their children: safety concerns and emotional concerns, both resulting in missed opportunities for social learning. The results of this study call for closer attention to parental uses of mobile phones in public spaces.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-235
Author(s):  
Florence Oloff

This contribution is interested in the interactional management of mobile phone use in face-to-face encounters. Early observational studies of mobile phone use have emphasized the tension between the participants’ presence in “public” spaces and their “private” activities on mobile phones. This assumed dichotomy and possible conflict between different communication involvements will be revisited by using a conversation analytic approach to mobile phone use in video recorded everyday encounters among friends and family members. Three examples of self-initiated text messaging or calling will illustrate how and on which sequential (or other interactional) grounds participants frame their mobile phone use for co-present others. More specifically, the analysis will discuss how participants format and respond to announcement sequences or their absence, and how they can orient to the phone users’ accountability.


SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A5-A5
Author(s):  
A Gozar ◽  
A Seixas ◽  
L Hale ◽  
C Branas ◽  
M Barrett ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Mobile phone use at night is associated with worse sleep quality. It may also be associated with daytime productivity, possibly via anxiety. Methods Data were obtained from the Sleep and Healthy Activity, Diet, Environment, and Socialization (SHADES) study, including N=1007 adults age 22–60. Mobile device use in bed was assessed as the frequency that participants reported: a device in the bedroom, use of the device in bed, texting, emails, internet browsing, calls, and/or social networking in bed, being woken up by the device in a planned (alarm) or unplanned (alert/call/message) way, and checking the phone at night. Each of these were coded as “never,” “rarely,” or “often.” Work productivity was assessed with the Well-Being Assessment of Productivity (WBA-P; scores 0–22 measure productivity loss). Regressions with WBA-P score as outcome and mobile phone variables as predictors were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and income level. Post-hoc analyses included GAD7 score to examine the mediating role of anxiety. Results The presence of a device was not associated with productivity loss, but frequent use (“often”) was (B=1.26,p=0.01). Increased productivity loss was also seen in those who frequently (“often”) sent texts (B=1.20,p=0.008), browsed internet (B=1.14,p=0.01), emailed (B=2.09,p<0.0005), called (B=1.42,p=0.004), and used social media (B=1.26,p=0.004). Productivity loss was associated with being woken by a call/alert “rarely” (B=1.20,p=0.001) or “often” (B=1.72,p=0.005), but not by alarm. Checking the phone at night “rarely” (B=0.89,p=0.01) and “often” (B=1.73,p<0.0005) were also associated with productivity loss. When anxiety was entered into the model, all relationships except those with frequent emails and calls in bed became nonsignificant. Conclusion Anxiety may be the underlying cause for both increased mobile phone usage and reduced productivity. Reducing anxiety levels may indirectly aid in decreasing nighttime mobile phone use and increasing daytime productivity. Support The SHADES study was funded by R21ES022931 Dr. Grandner is supported by R01MD011600


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 381-388
Author(s):  
Hualong Zhang ◽  
Cunbao Zhang ◽  
Feng Chen ◽  
YuanYuan Wei

Using mobile phones can be a source of distraction for pedestrians when crossing streets, it is especially dangerous at unsignalized intersections. To investigate the effects of mobile phone use on pedestrian crossing behavior and safety at unsignalized intersections, we carried out a field survey at three selected locations in Wuhan, China. Then, the pedestrians’ crossing behavior characteristics were statistically analyzed, and a logistic regression model was established to quantitatively analyze pedestrian safety. The results showed that 15.6% of pedestrians used mobile phones when crossing unsignalized intersections and 64.1% of them were young pedestrians. Pedestrians using mobile phones while crossing unsignalized intersections were at higher risk of accident, crossed more slowly, and were less likely to look at traffic status than those not using a mobile phone. Moreover, the probability of conflicts when watching the screen, talking, and listening to music are 2.704, 1.793, and 1.114 times greater, respectively, than those who do not use a mobile phone.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Wyche ◽  
Nightingale Simiyu ◽  
Martha E. Othieno

Increases in mobile phone ownership and Internet access throughout Africa continue to motivate initiatives to use information and communication technologies (ICTs)—in particular, mobile phones—to address long-standing socioeconomic problems in the “developing world.” While it is generally recognized that mobile phones may help to address these problems by providing pertinent information, less widely known is exactly how (and if) a handset’s human–computer interface—that is, its software and hardware design—supports this form of communication. The concept of “affordances” has long been used to answer such questions. In this paper, we use Hartson’s definition of affordances to qualitatively investigate rural Kenyan women’s interactions with their mobile phones. Our detailed analysis provides empirically grounded answers to questions about the cognitive, physical, and sensory affordances of handsets used in our field sites and how they support and/or constrain mobile communication. We then discuss the implications of our findings: in particular, how this affordance-based approach draws attention to mobile phones’ design features and to the context in which they and their users are embedded—a focus which suggests new design and research opportunities in mobile communication.


Author(s):  
Stephen Lwasa ◽  
Narathius Asingwire ◽  
Julius Juma Okello ◽  
Joseph Kiwanuka

As the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is embraced in Uganda, determinants of awareness of ICT based projects remain unknown. The intensity of use of mobile phones among smallholder farmers in the areas where such projects operate is unclear. To address this knowledge gap, 346 smallholder farmers in two ICT project sites in Mayuge and Apac districts were subjected to econometric analysis using bi-variate logistic and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models to ascertain determinants of projects’ awareness and intensity of use of mobile phones. The authors find that education, distance to input markets, and membership in a group positively influence awareness. The decision to use a mobile phone for agricultural purposes is affected by distance to electricity and land cultivated and negatively influenced by being a member of any farmer group. Lastly, intensity of mobile phone use is affected by age, farming as the major occupation, and distance to an internet facility, being a member of a project, having participated in an agricultural project before, value of assets, size of land cultivated, possession of a mobile phone, and proximity to agricultural offices. The paper discusses policy implications of these findings.


Author(s):  
Seung-Hyun Lee

From being a simple communication technology to a key social tool, the mobile phone has become such an important aspect of people's everyday life. Mobile phones have altered the way people live, communicate, interact, and connect with others. Mobile phones are also transforming how people access and use information and media. Given the rapid pervasiveness of mobile phones in society across the world, it is important to explore how mobile phones have affected the way people communicate and interact with others, access the information, and use media, and their daily lifestyle. This article aims to explore the social and cultural implications that have come with the ubiquity, unprecedented connectivity, and advances of mobile phones. This article also focuses on the discussion about people's dependence on, attachment and addiction to mobile phones, social problems that mobile phones generate, and how people value mobile phone use.


Author(s):  
Lai Lei Lou

Although mobile phones have proved to be lifesaving in certain circumstances, wide concerns have been raised about brain tumors associated with their use. This article systematically reviews previous and current research in regards to mobile phone use and brain tumors. Recently, research (more than 10 years mobile phone use or cumulative mobile phone use more than 1640 hours) has been found that the amount of exposure to mobile phone radiation plays a key role in determining the significant associations between mobile phone use and gliomas, and acoustic neuroma. In general, those who use mobile phones for more than ten years, or cumulative call time for more than 1640 hours, have higher risks to develop brain tumors, especially glioma and acoustic neuroma, than those who use mobile phones for less than one year.


Author(s):  
Ali Acilar

Mobile phones are one of the fastest-adopted innovations in history. Globally, mobile phones have rapidly become widespread in most parts of the world, especially among the young generation. Young people constitute an important and significant part of mobile phone users. In this study, the author examined the factors affecting mobile phone use among undergraduate students in a developing country. The research data was collected through a convenience sample of undergraduate students in a public university in Turkey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the underlying factors in mobile phone use. Nine factors are identified from the results of factor analysis such as “Information,” “Attitude,” “Mobility,” “Functional service,” “Entertainment/Relaxation,” “Convenience,” “Fashion,” “Sense of security,” and “Multimedia service”.


2007 ◽  
pp. 252-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mete Yildiz

This chapter presents the current state and future prospects of, and policy issues related to the mobile (m-) government in Turkey at both national and local government levels with a special emphasis to mobile phones. To this end, ?rst, the historical development and major actors of Turkey’s mobile technology market are examined. Following this framework, the current state of government information and services provided by the help of mobile technologies (m-government) is analyzed. Third, several issues related to m-government policy such as health problems that are thought to be caused by mobile phone use and the proximity of mobile phone masts to housing units; the risky behavior of talking via mobile phones while driving and the problems caused by this reckless behavior; problems related to stolen and unregistered mobile phones; and ?nally, the blurring of public and private spheres because of mobile phone use in public places are discussed. Proposed and enacted national legislation on these topics are summarized and discussed. The ?nal section evaluates the future prospects of m-government and integration of electronic government and mobile goverment efforts in Turkey. This section also assesses the possibility of using m-government as a tool for bridging the digital divide in Turkey.


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