Telecommunication_Current_Issues

CONTENT 2 2.1 Select a current issue that is in the news on the selected industry. Give your personal view on how you would overcome this issue. State your reasons. Currently the most discuss topic in telecommunication industry is about misuse of mobile phones among students in Malaysia. The mobile phone culture has crept deeply in Malaysia off lately. Previously mobile phone is only a trend but now it is one of the most essential tools in today’s scenario and comes handy at many times not only to adults but also students. But when the misuse outpars the uses, those things prove to be a menace. The first generation of the mobile phone was built with basic features such as voice call. Today, mobile phones are equipped with other features that allow further communication and entertainment such as the Short Mobile Phone Message Service (SMS), MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) player, games, internet and videos. These additional features attracted people across all walks of life including the younger generations, and consequently led to the increase in the number of mobile phone users in Malaysia. In a study by Abdullah (2004), Malaysian students claimed that owning a mobile phone is an essential part of their life. This is not surprising as the younger generations are digital natives (i.e., individuals born in the technological era) and will naturally be easily attracted to any technological gadgets. The younger generations furthermore, took the mobile phone not just as a tool for communication but, also as a way to express themselves and, more importantly to look hip and cool. About 80% profiles on social networking site, Orkut, have students mentioning mobiles in “five things I can’t live without” category. And majorities are the people in the teens. I agree with their opinion about its necessity. But when it comes to the question of schools, I don’t find any reason for children to carry it with them. It is proving to be a threat on the primary and secondary education provided in schools as there are a lot of cases where students disturb the etiquette of the classes. Answering calls, listening music, playing games and sending short message service (SMS) during classes, capturing and sending obscene photographs, and various MMS cases. To overcome this issue, parents should play a major role in controlling the misuse of mobile phones among students. They should determine a house rules such as discuss ground rules for their children for how to use or not use the mobile phones. Parents can set boundaries for mobile phone usage such as in the car, at restaurants, during special events (family gathering) and etc. Parents also has to ensure that they willing to limit their behavior. Other than that, family policy that prohibits sharing words or images that would be embarrassing others should be created. Besides parents, government and schools also should reinforce a usage of mobile phones policies during school hours and at school-sanctioned activities or policy of banning on carrying of mobile phones by students and teachers to classrooms. Although the mobile phone has brought many benefits in its users’ life, intense use of this communication device may cause harm to student’s health including his or her psychological well being. Studies from different countries such as Thailand (Kawsaki et al, 2006), Korea (Jee Hyun, Doo-Heum, Seung-Ho & Jaehak, 2008), Norway (Ling, 2005) have found that students who are preoccupied with their mobile phone tend to experience psychological disturbances. According to Jee Hyun et al. (2008) in their recent study involving 595 Korean students found that excessive use of the hand phone causes students to have depression, higher interpersonal anxiety, and lower self-esteem. And in an earlier study by Van den Bulck (2003), he reported that addictive mobile phone usage could cause disturbance in students’ sleeping pattern because they tend to get engaged in text messaging and feel anxious when not receiving replies from their friends even during the night when they are supposed to be sleeping. This addictive behavior tends to cause students to stay up late at night and thus disrupting their daily routine and concentration in a classroom. Several studies have shown that addictive behavior and lack of sleep is detrimental to one’s psychological health and functioning. Besides that, most of the teachers are complaining of increasing of students discipline in class. It is because most of the students use to talk and texting on the phone during class hours. They do not pay an attention and missed out on lessons that had been taught on the blackboard. Finally, the usage of mobile phone might cause a health hazards on students. A study recommends that mobile phones should only be given to children sixteen years and above. It is because the brain of children below the age of sixteen is too sensitive to withstand the effects of mobile radiations. The radiations can cause cell damage to children because the tissues in their brain and body are still developing and the absorption of radiation can cause children to have severe health issues.