Emotional affinity towards cell phones among university students in UAE

Background and objectives: Over the last few decades, cell phones have grown to be an innovative and developing technology in the world. It acts as a tool for communication and emotional interaction among people of various ages. It has become an integral part in our lives making us more dependent. Cell phones have also not failed to lure the young generation. This study aims to investigate the factors that may influence the behaviour of students with regard to cell phone usage, the emotional affinity towards their cell phones and determine the attitude and etiquette followed using cell phones among students. Material and methods: The present study is a cross sectional survey conducted among all the students enrolled in the entry level courses in the Gulf Medical University using a self administered questionnaire, after obtaining an approval from the University Ethics Committee. Data collected was entered in Excel worksheet and analysed using SPSS 20th version. Results and conclusion: The study showed differences between age groups, gender, nationality and number of cell phones used in the reasons for possessing cell phones, emotional affinity, dependence and attitude towards them. These were generally not significant except for fights with parents over talk time and phone bills that were significantly higher amongst Middle Eastern students and fights over poor academic performance were more in <= 18 years age. Differences in the responses received for the etiquettes observed by cell phone users were not significant, except for the avoidance of intimate conversations in public which was more observed by those in age group <= 18 years. (c) 2014 The Authors. Published by Cognitive - crcs under responsibility of the Author(s).