A Study on Usage of Mobile Phone among the University Students Special Reference to Trincomalee Campus

Abstract

The mobile communication is one of the powerful medium to communicate with most people in the contemporary world. And, today the mobile phones are very popular among the university students. It is becoming a part of the students’ life. The study was conducted in order to determine the usage of mobile phone among the university students. Here, a small sample consisting of students of the Trincomalee campus of Eastern University is presented. The methodology used for this study was a questionnaire survey and the questionnaire was distributed to the students with close-ended and openended questions. Especially the questionnaire included some points like mobile phone features, students’ attitudes regarding the mobile phone usage and for what purposes students mostly use the mobile phone. Here, the major finding of this research was that students are heavily using SMS and voice calling. Next, they are using internet, music/songs and other mobile phone features. Also, female students are mostly interested than male students in the different ways of using mobile phone. Especially, female students spend more time with their mobile phone. As well as, female students are receiving more SMS and phone calls than male students. Furthermore, students are mostly communicating with their parents and with their boyfriend/girlfriend. Notably, most students are talking over the mobile phone at night time than in the evening. So the gender wise, the male and female students have different ways of using mobile phones. So the major finding of this study is that students mostly use mobile phone for their entertainment purpose than education purpose. Furthermore, the students expressed their opinions regarding the mobile phone usage. The study provides useful outcomes not only for the students, but also for mobile development companies, mobile technology, and future researchers.