Mobile Internet Use Research Articles

Pathological Internet use, cyberbullying and mobile phone use in adolescence: a school-based study in Greece.

Purpose This study investigated the prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) and cyberbullying and examined profiles of adolescents with increased risk to develop pathological behaviors. Methods In this cross-sectional, school-based study, 8053 students of 30 middle and 21 high schools (12-18 years old) were invited to participate, based on a multistage stratified random sampling technique. The Internet aiddiction test (IAT) was used along with information on socio-demographics, Internet activities and cyberbullying experience. Results Five thousand five hundred and ninety students participated (response rate 69.4%). Pathological Internet use (IAT ≥50) was found in 526 (10.1%), while 403 (7.3%) experienced cyberbullying as victims and 367 (6.6%) as perpetrators during the last year. In multivariable models, the odds of IA increased with online hours on mobile phones and Internet use during weekends, Internet café visits, chatrooms usage and engagement in cyberbullying. Cyberbullying victims were more likely to be older, female, Facebook and chatrooms users, while perpetrators were more likely to be male, older Internet users and fans of pornographic sites. A perpetrator was significantly more likely to have also been a victim [odds ratio (OR) = 5.51, confidence interval (CI): 3.92-7.74]. Hours of daily Internet use on a mobile phone was independently associated with IA and cyberbullying (OR) 1.41, 95% CI 1.30, 1.53 and OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.01, 1.21, respectively. Conclusions Cyberbullying is associated with IA and the hours spent online on a mobile phone affected both conditions. The increasing Internet access through mobile phones or other devices should be accompanied by the appropriate education of both parents and adolescents on safe Internet use.

Segmentation and explanation of smartphone use for travel planning based on socio-demographic and behavioral variables

PurposeDue to the advances in smartphones, many companies in the tourism industry have launched mobile applications intended to reach their target audience. Design of these smartphone strategies requires identification of the profiles of individuals that use tourism services. The purpose of this paper is to explore the predictors of smartphone use for travel planning.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve this goal, the authors carried out a hierarchical segmentation analysis selecting a group of different socio-demographic (gender, age, education level, marital status, occupation, and income) and behavioral (length of smartphone use and number of yearly leisure trips) variables to explain the use of these devices to search and book tourism products. The study is based on an online survey of 618 Spanish travelers.FindingsSmartphone use for tourism can be primarily explained according to the users’ degree of daily experience of mobile phone internet use. That is, a spillover effect can be identified from the context of everyday mobile phone use to travel planning. Age, gender and the number of yearly vacations can also be distinguished, to a certain degree, through the use of smartphones. Specifically, there is an inverted U-shape quadratic relationship between the variable of age and the behavior of a potential tourist.Originality/valueThe authors conducted a segmentation study selecting a series of different socio-demographic and behavioral variables with the greatest discriminant power to explain the use of these mobile devices for travel planning. The paper concludes with compelling implications for management.

Understanding Mobile Service Substitution and the Urban-Rural Digital Divide in Nigeria

Across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Internet penetration has lagged behind developed countries. Within countries in SSA, this divide exists between urban and rural areas with the offline population largely in rural areas. Mobile technologies have been identified as a means of leapfrogging the relatively expensive fixed Internet access and bridging the gap between the connected and unconnected populations. Furthermore, over-the-top services – that allow users to make calls and send messages over the Internet – and social networks have been a driver of Internet traffic in SSA. Using panel data from January 2016 to June 2017 of the billing records of 2 million unique customers retrieved from a mobile carrier in Nigeria, this study seeks to understand the urban-rural digital divide and how the relationship between cellular voice and mobile Internet varies across this divide. The results show that the increase in total minutes of voice calls, and the total volume of data used by the sample over time, is largely driven by an increase in the average volume used per person. Urban users have a significantly higher use of mobile Internet than rural users. The result showed mobile Internet is both a substitute and a complement to voice calls. The substitution was weaker for males, older users, those living in the South West region and those with a longer tenure on the network. Urban users also had a weaker substitution compared to rural users, while urban female users had a higher substitution than rural females.

Erratum to: Seeking Medical Information Using Mobile Apps and the Internet: Are Family Caregivers Different from the General Public?

Family caregivers play an important role to care cancer patients since they exchange medical information with health care providers. However, relatively little is known about how family caregivers seek medical information using mobile apps and the Internet. We examined factors associated with medical information seeking by using mobile apps and the Internet among family caregivers and the general public using data from the 2014 Health Information National Trends Survey 4 Cycle 1. The study sample consisted of 2425 family caregivers and 1252 non-family caregivers (the general public). Guided by Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS), we examined related factors' impact on two outcome variables for medical information seeking: mobile apps use and Internet use with multivariate logistic regression analyses. We found that online medical information seeking is different between family caregivers and the general public. Overall, the use of the Internet for medical information seeking is more common among family caregivers, while the use of mobile apps is less common among family caregivers compared with the general public. Married family caregivers were less likely to use mobile apps, while family caregivers who would trust cancer information were more likely to use the Internet for medical information seeking as compared to the general public. Medical information seeking behavior among family caregivers can be an important predictor of both their health and the health of their cancer patients. Future research should explore the low usage of mobile health applications among family caregiver population.

A latent class analysis on adolescents media use and associations with health related quality of life

PurposeRecent studies linked adolescents' media use to a variety of physical, psychological and social impairments. However, research neglected that adolescents’ media use is complex and includes various combinations of activities such as mobile internet browsing, calling, online gaming or use of social network sites. MethodsThe aim of this study is to use latent class analysis in a sample 895 Swiss adolescents to classify different media usage types based on eleven media use variables. Subsequently, associations of these classes with health related quality of life (HRQoL) as measured by the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire were assessed using multivariable regression models adjusted for relevant confounding factors. ResultsFive distinct media use classes could be identified: Low Use, Medium Use, Gaming, Call Preference and High Social Use. The Low Use class reported highest and the High Social Use class lowest HRQoL on the KIDSCREEN scales Moods and Emotions (mean adjusted scores: 55.1 (95%CI: 53.8; 57.0) vs. 49.1 (47.5; 50.7)), Self-Perception (51.8 (50.3; 53.3) vs. 48.0 (46.7; 49.28), Parents and Home Life (53.3 (51.7; 54.9) vs. 48.6 (47.2; 50.0)) and School Environment (52.7 (51.3; 54.0) vs. 49.3 (48.2; 50.7)). On the subscale Social Support and Peers the pattern was reversed. The Low Use class indicated least and the High Social Use class most well-being (48.5 (47.0; 50.0) vs. 53.8 (52.4; 55.3)). ConclusionsLatent class analyses is a fruitful approach to differentiate between various media usage types and is expected to better characterize and evaluate potential causal associations between media use and HRQoL.

Seeking Medical Information Using Mobile Apps and the Internet: Are Family Caregivers Different from the General Public?

Family caregivers play an important role to care cancer patients since they exchange medical information with health care providers. However, relatively little is known about how family caregivers seek medical information using mobile apps and the Internet. We examined factors associated with medical information seeking by using mobile apps and the Internet among family caregivers and the general public using data from the 2014 Health Information National Trends Survey 4Cycle 1. The study sample consisted of 2425 family caregivers and 1252 non-family caregivers (the general public). Guided by Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS), we examined related factors' impact on two outcome variables for medical information seeking: mobile apps use and Internet use with multivariate logistic regression analyses. We found that online medical information seeking is different between family caregivers and the general public. Overall, the use of the Internet for medical information seeking is more common among family caregivers, while the use of mobile apps is less common among family caregivers compared with the general public. Married family caregivers were less likely to use mobile apps, while family caregivers who would trust cancer information were more likely to use the Internet for medical information seeking as compared to the general public. Medical information seeking behavior among family caregivers can be an important predictor of both their health and the health of their cancer patients. Future research should explore the low usage of mobile health applications among family caregiver population.

Exploring Influencing Factors towards Intention and Use of Mobile Internet for Youth Consumers in Bangladesh

This paper investigates the factors played significant role to use mobile internet services. A research framework was developed to testify the statistical relationships and a survey instruments were employed on mobile internet users to collect data from 413 students from five Universities. The UTAUT model of technology acceptance and use has been utilized as theoretical framework to measure the effects of the factors that account for intention and use of the mobile internet. A multiple regression analysis is carried out to determine the attributes that affect the intention and use of mobile internet. The study reveals that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived risk, and personalization appear significant among the six attributes to influence behavioral intention and behavioral intention and facilitating conditions perform significant factors to influence actual use of mobile internet. The findings may provide feedback and contribute to the improvement of service providers' strategy and marketing program.

M-Commerce: A Necessity for Future India

<em><span>Innovation is the change that unlocks new value. With the increased use of mobile internet and innovative smartphones, the business has transformed from direct selling to mobile selling in India. People now-a-day have become ‘mobify’. Use of tablets, smartphones and i-pad has become common for a common man. The next generation e-commerce, m-commerce enables buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices which not only provides convenience but also speedifies the quality and quantity of transactions. Mutual Funds are the most preferred financial investment in today’s scenario. M-commerce will help the Mutual Fund Industry to reach greater heights with advancements in technology. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current status of mobile commerce in India with special reference to Mutual Funds and to establish m-commerce as a necessity for Future India. The researcher has used analytical approach to undertake this study. A questionnaire was prepared and data was collected regarding the financial preference of investors and also the mobile internet users in India. The study concluded that technology based smarter ways of doing business will be the natural favourites for doing business in Future India. India’s growth through financial sector and m-commerce will contribute towards shaping India for a better tomorrow. And by 2020, m-commerce will be the most preferred place for marketers, content creators and advertisers to reach out target audience. </span></em>

Smart Clothing: Connecting Human with Clouds and Big Data for Sustainable Health Monitoring

Traditional wearable devices have various shortcomings, such as uncomfortableness for long-term wearing, and insufficient accuracy, etc. Thus, health monitoring through traditional wearable devices is hard to be sustainable. In order to obtain healthcare big data by sustainable health monitoring, we design "Smart Clothing", facilitating unobtrusive collection of various physiological indicators of human body. To provide pervasive intelligence for smart clothing system, mobile healthcare cloud platform is constructed by the use of mobile internet, cloud computing and big data analytics. This paper introduces design details, key technologies and practical implementation methods of smart clothing system. Typical applications powered by smart clothing and big data clouds are presented, such as medical emergency response, emotion care, disease diagnosis, and real-time tactile interaction. Especially, electrocardiograph signals collected by smart clothing are used for mood monitoring and emotion detection. Finally, we highlight some of the design challenges and open issues that still need to be addressed to make smart clothing ubiquitous for a wide range of applications.

Cloud-assisted Industrial Systems and Applications

In recent years, cloud systems can provide flexible and onneed basis processing of vast amounts of data, as well as provisioning of other value-added services using Internet technologies. Cloud-based approaches will be applicable to all aspects of modern industrial systems, their applications and interactions in the large-scale systems. It is very necessary that more flexible infrastructure is designed to enhance performance, reliability and scalability in complex industrial systems. However, the majority of current cloud systems and the corresponding techniques primarily aim at the internet-based applications. The complex industrial systems give rise to some new issues and challenges to cloud computing since they are significantly different from those service-oriented and internet-based applications due to their inherent features (e.g., workload variations, process control, environment configurations, resource requirements, and life-cycle management, etc.). This special issue features six selected papers with high quality related to cloud-assisted industrial systems and applications. In the first article entitled BSmart Clothing: Connecting Human with Clouds and Big Data for Sustainable Health Monitoring^, Chen et al., investigate the novel sustainable health monitoring via smart clothing, one of development trends in healthcare industry. The innovative design of smart clothing facilitates unobtrusive collection of various physiological indicators of human body. In order to provide pervasive intelligence for smart clothing system, mobile healthcare cloud platform is constructed by the use of mobile internet, cloud computing and big data analytics. The authors introduce various design details, key technologies and practical implementation methods of smart clothing system. The paper also provides some novel applications powered by the proposed architecture, such as medical emergency response, emotion care, disease diagnosis and real-time tactile interaction. Especially, the ECG signals collected by smart clothing are used for mood monitoring and emotion detection. Finally, the authors highlight some of the design challenges and open issues that still need to be addressed to make smart clothing ubiquitous for a wide range of applications. External resource allocation is a very important issue in cloud-assisted industrial systems and applications because of that to solve the internal resource allocation problem, the user’s needs must first be ascertained to provide the required amount of resources. In previous work, the authors have proposed DEA to analyze the various parameters in the cloud resource allocation problem. However this method is too idealistic. In the paper entitled BLearning-based Data Envelopment Analysis for External Cloud Resource Allocation^, Cho et al. use Q-learning to train the input and output of DEA items so that DEA does not run the whole user’s data for a user every time. In this way, the authors proposed approach can provide an acceptable policy as well as much computation time can be reduced. * Jiafu Wan jiafuwan_76@163.com

Mobile and more productive? Firm-level evidence on the productivity effects of mobile internet use

Mobile internet access allows for flexibility with respect to working time and working place. We analyse whether employees' use of mobile internet access improves firms’ labour productivity. Our data set contains 2143 German firms and refers to the year 2014, when high-speed mobile internet was still at a relatively early stage of diffusion within firms. The econometric analysis shows that firms' labour productivity significantly increases with the share of employees with mobile internet access. Our instrumental variables approach suggests that mobile internet use does cause higher labour productivity.

The Value of Mobile Communication for Social Belonging

This paper deals with the relevance of mobile media in shaping online activities and patterns of interaction and its relation with industrial stakeholders and individual users' perspectives on the technology. The concepts of mediation and mediatization, as well as the processes of belonging and social cohesion are discussed and operationalized in the context of an empirical study. Data from mobile internet adoption and use will be discussed in the light of the above mentioned theoretical approaches. Two complementary views are approached –mobile internet stakeholders' and users'– encouraging a discussion on the interdependencies between individual adoption patterns and market derived determinants in a socio-cultural environment where technology adoption and diffusion happens. Results will provide contributions for the understanding of this type of technology adoption processes and the increasing importance of mobility in cultural and social practices, promoting an exciting discussion on the centrality of media nowadays and the current transformation processes society is undergoing.

Battle of the Internet Channels: How Does Mobile and Fixed-Line Quality Drive Internet Use?

This article studies whether and how mobile Internet networks compete with traditional fixed-line Internet networks by examining the how the quality of local fixed-line Internet service influences mobile Internet adoption and use. An empirical analysis shows that local fixed-line Internet speed is negatively related to mobile Internet adoption and use; if the local fixed-line connection is insufficient, consumers tend to go online using their mobile phones. Further, better local mobile Internet coverage increases the likelihood of adopting and using the mobile Internet. Neither fixed-line nor mobile Internet speed has significant impacts on mobile offline services, such as taking photos or videos. In some circumstances, competition between the two channels is stronger, such as among younger consumers and those who live in areas with lower fixed-line Internet speeds. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for policy makers, consumers, and mobile service providers.

Avoidance or boredom: Negative mental health outcomes associated with use of Information and Communication Technologies depend on users’ motivations

Previous research shows that high Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use is associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and overall psychological distress; however, there are few relevant studies on this topic. The current study was conducted to explore the relationship between Internet and mobile phone use and mental health. In Study 1, participants were given questionnaires to assess their manner of mobile phone and Internet use and their levels of depression and anxiety. There were strong positive relationships between lower mental health and problematic ICT use, especially when people turned to ICTs to avoid negative experiences or feelings. However, when participants used ICTs merely to escape boredom, no link was found between ICT use and mental health problems. Study 2 was completed to observe how students utilize their mobile phones to cope or escape from feelings related to an anxiety-inducing situation. Results indicated that the mobile phone may offer a small “security blanket” effect, lowering the initial negative reaction to stress, although the pattern of stress over the course of the experiment was the same for participants in all groups. Our findings suggest that long term utilization of ICTs as an emotional coping strategy may have a negative influence on mental health and/or exacerbate mental health predispositions.

Seeking sex partners through the internet and mobile phone applications among men who have sex with men in Taiwan

ABSTRACTIt has become popular for men who have sex with men (MSM) to use mobile-phone geosocial networking applications (mobile apps) to find sex partners. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Taiwan to compare the sexual and substance-use behaviors of MSM seeking sex partners through the internet and mobile apps. Of the 1060 participants, 65.8% used the internet via computer and 37.7% used a mobile app to find sexual partners, while 30.3% used recreational drugs or alcohol in the previous 6 months. MSM who exclusively used mobile apps to seek sex partners were significantly more likely than MSM seeking sex via computer to be older, to have used recreational drugs or alcohol, and to have sex with HIV-positive partners. Additionally, using mobile apps to seek sex partners was significantly associated with having sex with online partners through either mobile apps or computer-based internet use (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 7.12 [3.87–13.11]), self-reporting as HIV-positive (AOR, 2.24 [1.12–4.12]), using recreational drugs (AOR, 1.67 [1.21–2.32]), having disclosed HIV status to sexual partners (AOR, 1.44 [1.03–2.02]), and having sex with HIV-positive partners (AOR, 1.81 [1.06–3.10]). In conclusion, the mobile apps may serve as a feasible platform for HIV-positive MSM to find other HIV-positive partners.

Problematic Mobile Phone and Internet Use: A Comparative Study between Saudi and Egyptian Female Adolescents

Objective: To compare the prevalence of problematic mobile and internet use among Egyptian and Saudi adolescent females. Methods: A cross sectional study was done on 538 Saudi and 802 Egyptian adolescent students. Participants responded to questionnaires on patterns of mobile phone and internet use. Young Internet Addiction Test (YIAT) and the Mobile Phone Addiction Scale (MPAI) were used. Results: Saudi students showed higher rates of mobile and internet addiction, longer duration of mobile use, longer length and higher number of calls, longer time of internet use and more frequent internet use per week. A significant weak positive correlation was found between YIAT scores and MPAI scores. Conclusion: This study indicated the need for future studies to address the related risk factors of both problems among adolescents in both countries.

Design of a Digital-Based, Multicomponent Nutrition Guidance System for Prevention of Early Childhood Obesity.

Interventions targeting parenting focused modifiable factors to prevent obesity and promote healthy growth in the first 1000 days of life are needed. Scale-up of interventions to global populations is necessary to reverse trends in weight status among infants and toddlers, and large scale dissemination will require understanding of effective strategies. Utilizing nutrition education theories, this paper describes the design of a digital-based nutrition guidance system targeted to first-time mothers to prevent obesity during the first two years. The multicomponent system consists of scientifically substantiated content, tools, and telephone-based professional support delivered in an anticipatory and sequential manner via the internet, email, and text messages, focusing on educational modules addressing the modifiable factors associated with childhood obesity. Digital delivery formats leverage consumer media trends and provide the opportunity for scale-up, unavailable to previous interventions reliant on resource heavy clinic and home-based counseling. Designed initially for use in the United States, this system's core features are applicable to all contexts and constitute an approach fostering healthy growth, not just obesity prevention. The multicomponent features, combined with a global concern for optimal growth and positive trends in mobile internet use, represent this system's future potential to affect change in nutrition practice in developing countries.

Introducing mobile internet as a learning assistant for secondary and higher secondary students

The growth of introducing mobile learning has dramatically reshaped teaching and learning processes in education (Hwang & Chang, 2011; Marwan, Madar, & Fuad, 2014; Wu, Hwang, Su, & Huang, 2012). The use of smart phones offers a powerful learning environment and can transform the learning and teaching process so that students can deal with knowledge in an active, self-directed and constructive way (Cheon, Lee, Crooks, & Song, 2012). At present the smart phone is considered an important means to promote new methods of instruction (teaching and learning). It can be used to develop students' skills for cooperation, communication, problem solving and lifelong learning (Gikas & Grant, 2013). By adopting mobile internet, we can offer high quality education. Chhachhar, Makhijani, Khushk, and Maher (2013) identified four distinct faces of quality education, which can be supported by ICT: learning by doing, real time conversation, delayed time conversation and directed instruction. Higgins and Associates (2003) and Rau, Gao, and Wu (2008) suggested that the use of ICT and mobile internet could improve performance, teaching, and administration, have a positive impact on education as a whole. The information and communication technology (ICT) revolution brings specific challenges to education systems around the world. Due to its easy accessibility this means of education using ICT has become very popular all over the world. In this present world the smart phone is part and parcel of the modern communication system. With the benefits of the internet service, especially mobile internet service like 3G and 4G, the worlds’ information is on hand to everyone. This paper intends to present an idea about mobile internet based education all over the globe and its applicability in Bangladesh along with investigating the developing progress of ICT in educational institutions and educational organization related activities and provides comprehensive recommendations to build better learning in Bangladesh in the near future.

Mobile use of the Internet using smartphones or tablets by Swiss people over 65 years

More and more older people are using smartphones or tablet computers; for many it is a viable substitute for a normal mobile phone, or even an entry into the new digital age. With mobile devices, older people can use mobile Internet at home or on the move. Smartphones and tablets allow mobile access to information and communication, so it provides a mobile guide for older adults in their daily lives. But what is the level of acceptance and use of mobile Internet in the older population, and what factors influence the use of these devices? This paper examined older Swiss peoples’ acceptance of and attitudes toward the use of smartphones and tablet computers, as well as mobile Internet. A representative study was conducted: a Swiss survey of 1,037 people aged 65 and older. 56% of the older people interviewed used the Internet in the autumn of 2014. 32% of the interviewed owned a smartphone and 26% a tablet computer. Between the age groups and the sociodemographic groups a divide by the mobile devices was found. 34% of Internet users also use mobile Internet. The data showed that, beside lower age, technological affinity and general attitude towards the Internet are positively associated with the use of mobile Internet. The research also showed that many mobile Internet users describe the use of their smartphone as a resource for coping with daily living.

The impact of mobile Internet usage on mobile voice calling behavior: A two-level analysis of residential mobile communications customers in Germany

Worldwide, the number of people owning a smartphone is growing rapidly. These individuals are able to make voice calls and browse the Internet with the same mobile device. Hence, for mobile network operators (MNOs) the question to what extent mobile Internet (MI) use substitutes or supplements or does not affect established mobile voice (MV) calling gains economic relevance. Unfortunately, the literature on usage interdependencies between these two mobile communication service categories is scarce. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between the monthly number of outgoing MV minutes and monthly MI data traffic in a sample of 11,614 residential postpaid subscribers over 25 months from October 2011 to October 2013. Actual consumption and customer data was extracted from the billing system of the German subsidiary of a multinational MNO. Multi-level analysis of the time-varying and -constant study variables reveals large heterogeneity between sample subjects with regard to their MI–MV associations. At the mean/median monthly level, the demand for conventional MV telephony decreases within the time window under investigation. However, for the majority of customers the relationship between the usage of the two service categories is complementary. Subscribers who are most likely to replace at least some of their MV minutes by MI traffic (1) are heavy MV users in the initial period (October 2011), (2) are heavy SMS users within the time window under study, (3) are male, (4) are older, (5) have a longer tenure with the MNO, (6) have not opted for a MV flat rate, (7) started operating their current handset more recently and (8) are currently not equipped with an Apple iPhone. Implications of the findings for MNO strategies seeking to respond to market changes and for future research are discussed. This study contributes to the literature regarding substitution, reinforcement or neutral effects of MI usage on established mobile communication services.