| The mobile phone has become one of the communication tools most used in theworld. Everyone, both young and old, uses it. The problem that arises is that someyoung people go to extremes in their mobile phone usage. Some of the youth-mobile-phone-addiction problems are: health problems, sexual addiction, family relationshipproblems, poor school results, etc… This study has analyzed the differences andsimilarities between the degree, the reasons, the effects and the influencial factors ofyouth-mobile-phone-addiction among young people from two countries, Burundi andChina. It has also suggested a strategy to use in order to help young people to have areasonable use of mobile phones, and develop good mobile phone use habits. Based ona survey conducted in China and Burundi on young university students, mobile phoneuse was examined. Three theories, namely the Hierarchy of needs theory, the Flowtheory and the Technology acceptance theory have been used in this study for a goodunderstanding of the addiction concept, mobile phone acceptance and its place insomeone’s hierarchy of needs. The research was conducted among students ofChangsha in China and Bujumbura in Burundi. The similarities founded are that in bothBurundi and China, the great majority of the surveyed population say no to mobile-phone-addition, those who are addicted share common features about the addictionnamely; that their parents do not intervene in their mobile phone use, showing themhow to use it reasonably, the lack of other activities because they admit that they mostlyuse mobile phone when they feel bored. The effects are that they communicate less withpeople around them and have less concentration during classes. The common influencefactors are mainly the society, family environment and impulsivity problems. The mainsignificant differences noticed between Burundi and China surveyed populationconcerning the factors influencing the mobile phone addiction are the use of smartphones, where in China most of the surveyed population use smart phones, but inBurundi, few people use them because they are very expensive. Other differences areabout daily mobile phone use time, Internet use through mobile phone, and mobilephone duration of possession, etc…These differences may be explained by the fact thatChina has less power problems than Burundi. In Burundi, daily mobile phone use timeis limited compared to China where power problem does not exist. According to mostof the surveyed people in Burundi, they are sometimes obliged to limit their mobilephone usage to making calls and texting messages and use them less for listening tomusic or playing games, in order to save power on their mobile phones. At night while sleeping, they even turn them off. Another difference is about accepted age of mobilephone possession. This may be explained by the cultural differences between china andBurundi. Indeed, Burundian parents think that someone needs to be mature enoughbefore he/she starts using a mobile phone. In China, even children in primary schooluse mobile phones. The consequence is that too young people become easily addictedbecause they can not control themselves. Regarding Internet use through mobile phones,in China, the great majority of the surveyed people use internet through mobile phoneswhile in Burundi, internet, on phone, is very expensive. Most of the surveyed peoplesay that they are not able to afford it…Even though the great majority of the surveyed population says no to mobile-phone-addition, and knowing the consequences of mobile phone addiction, strategiesmust be taken to help addicted young people and to prevent those who are not yetaddicted from mobile phone addiction. Parents-School-Government-Youth-Involvement (PSGYI) strategy has been suggested to help young people from Burundiand China. It requires the involvement of the government, parents, school and youthitself. Each of them has a role to play and has to work with the remaining partners forthe success of the whole team and the strategy. |
PDF Full Text Request