Social Interactions with Cell phone Usage

1
Social Interactions with Cell phone Usage
Interview based Qualitative Usability Study

• Presented by Divya K.Nair Mahsa Emamitaba

2
Outline

• Introduction to the role of cell phone usage in
  social interactions
• Description and Scope of the Interviews
• Affinity Diagram
• Major Findings
• Deductions
• Appendix

3
Cell phone usage in social Interactions

• Problem domainThe study focuses on the social
  interaction features provided by cell phone like
  direct calling, text messaging etc.
• Medium of the study
• Interviewing participants (cell phone users)
  regarding their interactions using cell phone
• Anticipated Objective
• The study recorded various metrics and degree
  of interaction of participants while using cell
  phones.

4
Description and Scope of Interviews

• Number of Interviews conducted 6
• The time spent on Interviews half an hour/person
  appr. (total time taken3 hrs)
• Interviews involved 4 males and 2 females
• Status of participants 2 females married, 2
  married males,2 single males
• Age of participants early 50sm, late 30sm,
  late 20sm
• early 40sf,
  early 20sm, late 30sf
• Employment status of participants all are
  working
• Type of cell phone Nokia, Motorola, Fido
• Type of phones Motorola, Nokia, Fido

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Through the Looking Glass!

• Approximate number of calls
• Duration of different calls
• Purpose of calls
• Social situations preferred/avoided
• Use of additional cell phone features for social
  interaction
• Billing
• Advices for future feature enhancements for
  social interactions
• Motivation for upgrading cell phone
• Degree of Closeness achieved by cell phone usage

6
Metrics

• Age
• Gender
• Marital status
• Time
• Occupational status
• Social situations preferred/barred
• Preferences to features

7
Results of the Interviews

• Early usage
• -- All the participants used cell phones
  first when they were single
• -- 4 of the participants started using cell
  phone at the age range(15-20) when
• they were doing undergrad and mainly
  because it was trendy
• -- 2 of them used at age range 30-40 due to
  business and to be available to
• others.
• Current usage
• -- 4 of the participants are now married
  and most of them use cell phone to talk
• to family
• -- 5 participants now engage in company related
  jobs an 1 in restaurant
• business
• -- Females use cell phone to talk to family
• Frequency/Time for cell phone usage
• -- 2 of the participants make an average
  of 2-3 calls/day involving 2-5 min
• conversations
• -- 1 participant makes an average of 20-25
  calls/day with a duration of 5 min
• maximum since he is involved in
  restaurant business
• -- 1 participant makes an average of 5-10
  calls/day with a duration of 2-40 min
• since she drives a lot and prefers to
  talk to family while driving

8
Results of the Interviews contd.

• Privacy to call (caller-id facility)
• -- Most of them are not concerned about
  their privacy because they
• talk mainly to family
• -- 1 prefers it since involved with business
  and the an other prefers it
• because it gives a bit of time for
  preparing your mood
• Less Preferred Situations
• -- Most of them do not prefer using it in
  subway, theatres and work
• Billing
• -- Most of them who dont have unlimited
  plans try to limit their calls
• according to bills while those with
  unlimited plans do not care about it
• Owning multiple cell phones
• -- Most of them do not own more than 1 cell
  phone ever except for the
• -- Participant involved with restaurant
  business use 1 for business and the
• other for family

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Results of the Interviews contd.

• LAN/Cell phone Preference
• -- Most of the participants preferred to use
  LAN phones because of ease of
• handling receivers, less radiation and
  clarity
• -- One participant uses it because she uses
  another language to communicate
• to her family while at job
• Motivation for upgrade
• -- 3 of the participants are not concerned
  about upgrading since they use cell
• phone for urgent purposes and talk to
  family
• -- 1 likes to upgrade for getting better
  plans
• -- 2 of them prefers it since their company
  provides them free of cost
• Text Messaging over Calling
• -- 4 of the participants use texting for
  different reasons including communicating
• other without troubling to call,
  avoiding long distance calls, when does not
• want to talk a lot
• -- 2 of them do not like using text
  messaging now because of the pain in typing, but
  they used
• it frequently when they were younger to
  pass jokes and instant status among friends

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Results of the Interviews contd.

• Preference for extra features enabling social
  interaction
• -- Except for 1 participant who preferred
  video chat, all others preferred not to
• have any extra features because most of
  them use it for emergencies,
• talking to family, thinks email as a
  better means of social interaction.
• -- 1 of them used to install brand new
  features when he was younger to get an
• impression among friends
• Enhanced social interaction after cell phone
  usage
• -- Most of them think it positive for
  enhancing social interaction because it made
• them more available, call any time,
  communicating current status,
• catching up with friends etc.
• -- One of them thinks that it helped her
  when she was younger but now that
• much now since she hardly makes any calls
  and gets important calls only from
• family

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Results of the Interviews contd.

• Dislike
• -- Most of the participants hated radiation
• -- Other aspects were issues of privacy,
  unwanted text messages,
• browsing, charging problem, generated
  heat during long conversations
• Life Saver
• -- In all cases, cell phone is preferred for
  emergencies like driving, accident,
• hospital emergencies etc.
• Long distance facility
• -- All participants except one do not use
  cell phone for long distance calls due to
• extra charge and less comfortability,
  they preferred using calling cards from
• LAN, internet chat, emails etc.
• -- The 1 participant was involved with
  restaurant business and used long
• distance calls 70 of the time for
  business in getting clients
• Preferred feature for social interaction
• -- Most of the participants liked the
  calling feature the most because of convenience,
• ease of accessibility
• -- 1 participant liked the caller-id image
  feature and alarm the most

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Results of the Interviews contd.

• Any new preferred feature that could enhance
  social interaction
• -- All of the participants were happy with
  the calling and the messaging
• features, while 1 participant like to
  install video chat feature to see his friends
• while chatting
• Problems with cell phone providers
• -- 4 of them had problems with cell phone
  providers concerning extra
• unnecessary charges, charging long
  distance while a few k.m away,
• contract problems.
• -- 2 of then were happy because they were
  getting a lot of free features
• provided by the company

13
Affinity Diagram
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Conclusions

• Most of the participants, as they get older and
  start having families, restrict their calls to
  families and close friends and their degree of
  social interactions decreased.
• Most of the participants used cell phone because
  of the ease of attending emergencies and
  conveying their current status to families and
  catching up with a few older close friends except
  for the participant involved in business who used
  cell phone mostly for business reasons
• All the participants avoided cell phones in
  noisy situations like subways, theatres etc.
• If the companies try to offer free new phone
  services, the participants were eager to upgrade
  their phones
• All the participants complained about radiation
  and their preference to use LAN phones mostly for
  long conversations because of ease of handling,
  no charging and radiation problems
• 5 of the participants felt that by having a cell
  phone, they became closer to friends especially
  when they were younger except one who was
  concerned about privacy as well as less chance of
  meeting in person
• Most of them calling feature the best because of
  the ease of usage and helps to talk from anywhere
  
• 5 of the participants liked emails, chat and LAN
  more for social interactions than cell phones
  except for one participant who really needed it
  for interacting with a lot of people for
  improving business
• All of the participants complained about unwanted
  text messages and promotion calls as they felt it
  as a nuisance while concentrating in other
  important talks