IBIMA Publishing Journal of Mobile Technologies, Knowledge and Society http://ibimapublishing.com/articles/JMTKS/2016/109393/ Vol. 2016, Article ID 109393, 22 pages DOI:10.5171/2016.109393 Research Article The Effects of Mobile Devices on Children Social Communication Behaviours in Oman: An Assessment of Parents’ Happiness and Awareness Jalila Al-Balushi and Hafedh Al-Shihi Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman Correspondence should be addressed to: jalila albalushi; [email protected] Received date: 28 March 2016; Accepted date: 8 June 2016; Published date: 21 July 2016 Academic Editor: Muna Sultan Al Abri Copyright © 2016. Jalila Al-Balushi and Hafedh Al-Shihi . Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 Abstract This research aimed to assess the impacts of mobile devices on children’s social communication behaviours in Oman. It endeavored to examine parents’ awareness of the risks of mobile devices on children, and their happiness about their children uses of the mobile devices. To achieve this, the research carried out an exploratory study on the Omani parents to assess their perspective on the effects of mobile devices on their children social communication behaviours. Advanced neural networks analysis was performed to assess key variables as possible predictors of the study’s main variables (Parents’ Happiness and Parents’ Awareness). Parents’ age was found common predictor of both key variables. A comprehensive model that depicts all predictors of the study’s two main variables is presented at the end. Keywords: Social Communication, Mobile Effects, Children, Parents. Introduction 2015), the Internet users across the world are now 3,366,261,156 billion. In fact, mobile The recent improvements in communication devices have put a great impact on technology have enabled billions of users in individuals (example; teens, schools age, the developed and developing parts of the youth) to join this technological globe to join those already using mobile phenomenon. The usage of mobile devices devices (Mieczakowski et al., 2011). has almost doubled over the past few years. According to the statistics provided by (Stats, According to (Statista, 2016), the number of _______________ Cite this Article as: Jalila Al-Balushi and Hafedh Al-Shihi (2016)," The Effects of Mobile Devices on Children Social Communication Behaviours in Oman: An Assessment of Parents’ Happiness and Awareness", Journal of Mobile Technologies, Knowledge and Society, Vol. 2016 (2016), Article ID 109393, DOI: 10.5171/2016.109393 Journal of Mobile Technologies, Knowledge and Society 2 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ mobile phone users worldwide in 2016 their children’s social communication expected to reach 4.61 billion. Oman is one of behavior. The parents’ ability and willingness those developing nations that have a vast to monitor, share and control their children’s penetration in using mobile devices. use of online media has to face many According to the Telecommunication challenges due to the portability of Regulatory Authority in Oman (TRA, 2015); personalized and private nature of smart the total number of mobile subscribers has phones, which is entailed from the normal been 6,428,707 during 2015 in Oman, a mobile phones. (Mascheroni and Ólafsson, figure that is almost the double of the total 2014). In Sweden, young parents, aged number of population. between 25-45 years are providing their children with an accessibility to the Internet Nowadays, most children acquire portable via mobile devices (Holloway et al., 2013). devices (example: laptop, smart phone, Other studies show that parents are less tablet, etc...) which can easily be connected concerned about their younger children to the World Wide Web (Buzzi, 2012). A using the Internet than the older ones study conducted in the United kingdom (McPake et al., 2010, Wagner, 2013, Brouwer shows that almost one- third of the 3-4 years et al., 2011). old go online “using a desktop PC, laptop or notebook , 6% go online via a tablet and 3% More research is needed to shed light on this via a mobile phone”. The use of mobile issue and to investigate parents’ role and devices has created several problems for the perspective. There are many research studies people of different ages. The presence of that focus on studying the usage of mobile mobile communication technology has devices by older children and teens, see for affected the structure of human relationship example (Holloway et al., 2013) but younger (Turkle, 2012). "The mobile phones can children are under researched especially interfere with human relationships, an effect with the risks associated with the use of that is prominent when individuals are mobile devices. Accordingly, this research discussing personally meaningful topics" assesses parents’ awareness about the effects (Przybylski and Weinstein, 2013). A mobile of mobile devices on their children's social device encourages access to applications communication behaviors. It also (Shuler, 2009) anytime and anywhere, which investigates their happiness of the use of increasingly makes it difficult for parents to their children of mobile devices. This (physically) monitor their children’s mobile problem is being viewed from parent's device use (Campbell and Park, 2008). A perspective, investigating children aged study conducted by (Ravichandran, 2009) between 6 and12 years. shows that the mobile usage weakens family relationships. Another study done by Literature Review (Przybylski and Weinstein, 2013)says that mobile devices have an effect on the quality The use of new electronic media by children of face to face interaction. The usage of smart and youth has been growing due to the phones has affected the psychological traits entertainment and communication facilities including social interaction, anxiety (Lee et provided by these devices. (Kirwil, 2011, al., 2014) . A study done by (Boxer et al., Lange, 2014) show that the actual use of 2015) shows that technology has reduced the electronic devices already begins at the age growth of children. of 7–11. The parents, guardians or the caretakers equip their children with those Parents are scarcely cognizant of the risks devices, assuming that these devices support regarding the usage of mobile devices by their development, learning process and their children and it is very crucial to make observation skills (Tomczyk and Wąsiński, those parents aware of the impacts of mobile 2014). Sometimes the reasons parents devices and the Internet in particular upon provide their children with smart phones is ______________ Jalila Al-Balushi and Hafedh Al-Shihi (2016), Journal of Mobile Technologies, Knowledge and Society, DOI: 10.5171/2016.109393 Journal of Mobile Technologies, Knowledge and Society 3 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ to persuade them to eat (Genc, 2014). There also many additional risks related to the use are obviously benefits and risks at the same of mobile devices. Some of them are ‘‘happy time. The benefits may overcome the risks, slapping” (Sieci, 2012, Chan et al., 2012) and may not be recognized until years later which means " aggressive or degrading (Rosenberg, 2013). video(s) are taken by a bystander and then forwarded to other people’s phones or There are many risks or negative impacts posted on a website" (Grigg, 2010), ‘‘cyber associated with the use of mobile devices by baiting” (Davison and Stein, 2014, Nixon, children. "Cyberbullying" is one of them 2014) which means "the intention of (Schrock and Boyd, 2008, Levy et al., 2012). harassment" (JIOW, 2015), ‘‘hating” (Delgado Cyberbullying as a term is defined as and Stefancic, 2014), "improper use of media "attempts to use emotional harm and social in education" (Chudý et al., 2015, Glassman embarrassment through the use of instant and Burbidge, 2014), "perilous contacts messaging, emails, social media, and text through the Internet" (Blau, 2011), "child messages via cell phones." (Berson and grooming" (Nair, 2006). On the other hand, Berson, 2002, Henson, 2012, Twyman et al., young users of social media use the Internet 2010). Another study done by (Mascheroni not only to communicate with the known and Ólafsson, 2014) shows that younger people, but also with the unknown, and this children are exposed to a higher rate of harm could lead to the possibility of sharing (21%). Some other statistics show that the sensitive data with them such as: age, "smartphone users (17%) and tablet users location of residence, e-mail address, (15%) have a greater experience of any form personal pictures, profession, hobbies and of cyber bullying than children who do not other confidential information (Tomczyk and use mobile devices (8%)". Another study Kopecký, 2016). mentions that the social networks are responsible for creating an environment for In this research, the aim is to assess the cyberbullying especially for girls and young effects of mobile devices on children social children (O'Neill and Dinh, 2015). communication behaviors\skills. Several studies focused on assessing social Another risk associated with the use of communication skills among children with mobile devices by children is "sexual autism or other special needs in general messages". Prior studies showed that (Hansen et al., 2014, Nesterova et al., 2015, children are using mobile phones and the Shukla-Mehta et al., 2009). In order to assess Internet