Those inseparable from their cell phones, beware: Using a mobile device may actually lessen your desire to help others, a new university study has found.
“The Effect of Mobile Phone Use on Prosocial Behavior,” which was compiled by two professors and a graduate student in the business school, found that people who are either using or thinking about their phones are less likely to engage in prosocial behavior — behavior that contributes positively to society.
According to Rosellina Ferraro, a marketing professor and co-author of the paper, doing things such as volunteering or donating to a charity are two ways to fulfill a fundamental human need to connect with other people. But the advent of cell phones, especially smartphones, has also made people feel connected to others. And if they have that basic need fulfilled, Ferraro said, their desire to help others lessens.
“We argued that they’re just not as concerned for anyone else at that point, since they’ve met that need to connect and that need to belong,” she said.
The paper combines the results of several experiments. In one, participants were allowed to use their phones for three minutes and then shown an ad for a charity called “Help the Homeless.” They were asked how likely they were to volunteer at the organization, for various time increments. Participants who used their phones were much less likely to volunteer time than those who didn’t.
The researchers also found that social media websites such as Facebook do not have quite the same negative effects that cell phones do. Researchers said this could be because phones are a way for people to directly connect with others, while social media has a slightly different effect.
“People aren’t always looking to connect, per se, but maybe to post and express something about themselves [on social media sites],” Ferraro said.
The paper will not be officially published, Ferraro said, until additional follow-up research is conducted in the coming months. Namely, the researchers want to explore whether people will be more willing to engage in prosocial behavior after cell phone use if, for example, the charity’s cause has a more direct impact on them.
According to marketing professor Anastasiya Pocheptsova, a co-author of the paper, further research will also focus on how people react in certain social situations after being influenced by their cell phones. Because this study focused primarily on how likely people are to contribute to society — instead of a more mundane effect, such as how likely people are to interact with others after talking on the phone — Pocheptsova said future research will provide more of a general idea of how cell phones affect people.
According to Ferraro, the results of the study could lend a bit more credence to the popular opinion that while technology is beneficial, it may have some downsides, too.
“At this point I’m a little hesitant to say what the big-picture implications are,” Ferraro said. “But it’s just something that I think it’s important to be aware of.”
Students were not too surprised with the results, either. Ali Pastor, a sophomore neurobiology major, bought her iPhone just a few months ago and now views it as both a blessing and a curse.
“I think it’s more of like how society’s become nowadays,” she said. “I think people are so hooked on technology that they forget there are problems in the world that need to be fixed.”
jwolper@umdbk.com
