Generation, Collection, and Recycling of Used and End-of-Life Mobile Phones

Author(s):  
Yong-Chul Jang ◽  
Seunghun Lee ◽  
Hwidong Kim

Mobile phone use has exponentially grown worldwide from a few subscribers in the 1970s to more than 6 billion in 2013. As mobile phones are frequently replaced and upgraded, enormous volumes of mobile phones are retired each year. Mobile phones and accessories typically contain a variety of valuable elements as well as many toxic chemicals. The toxic substances may cause serious human health problems if they are not properly managed. Thus, environmentally sound management of used and end-of-life mobile phones is an issue of growing concern around the world. Although a large quantity of mobile phones are disposed each year, only a small fraction of these phones are collected and managed, and collection programs occur primarily in developed countries. Considering the potential environmental impacts of used and end-of-life mobile phones, understanding the current knowledge of the management of mobile phone waste is critical. This chapter reviews the generation rates, collection systems and recycling, and the impacts of obsolete mobile phones, based on review of available literature and research conducted by a number of leading and pioneering scholars in the field.

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Vicente ◽  
Inês Lopes

AbstractResearch on mobile technology adoption has focused predominantly on young adults, and little attention has been paid to older people. But with rapidly aging populations in most developed countries, and evidence from many studies that older adults are as capable of adopting and using mobile technology as everybody else, the academic, business and technology industry worlds are devoting more attention to this group. Research has already demonstrated that older people differ from young people in their perceptions, preferences and usage of mobile technology, but there are also differences within the older adults group regarding mobile technology adoption. Using data from a mobile phone survey, this study identifies segments of mobile phone users among older adults based on their attitudes towards mobile phones, and describes the underlying differences between these segments in terms of key values towards mobile phone communications, mobile phone use, and socio-demographics. The analysis led to the identification of three distinct segments, designated as “Apathetic”, “Social and hedonic” and “Busy and active”.


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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang-Suk Lee

This study investigates the realistic conditions of ‘digital Korea’, especially as they are exemplified by the Samsung SDI scandal in South Korea. Samsung SDI, the world's largest plasma TV maker and a subsidiary of the Samsung Group, has fallen under suspicion due to using illegally cloned mobile phones to track the location data of some activist workers who tried to organise a union. The study stresses that this example of mobile tracking represents the shady side of mobile phone use created by management's excessive desire for labour control, and confirms that mobile tracking techniques make possible the spatial expansion of the scope of power. The spatial vocabulary of power is not totalitarian, but dispersed and nomadic in action, and resides in the space of ‘flows’ constructed by electronic impulses. This study discloses that, for private corporations, mobile tracking facilitates a form of efficient, invisible labour control over ‘targeted’ workers, even outside the workplace. It concludes that the control of labourers in Korea has been reinforced by the confluence of business interests, the under-developed political system and a societal lack of interest in privacy.


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.


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