A Study Of The Influence And Use Of Cellphones By Dongxiang’ Women

With the advent of information age, cellphones have become one of the indispensible communication media. People are using and enjoying the conveninence smart cellphones bring everywhere and everytime.Using the method of field work, this article takes Zuitou Villiage, Dongxiang Autonomous County for an example, aiming to find out the using condition of cellphones in the female group of Dongxiang minority and the changes and influences came along. This article is divided into 5parts.The first part introduces the Dongxiang minority and the basic condition of the female group,including landscape, productive method, traditional culture, and female’s family status,educational condition, marriage condition and so on. The second part describes the owing condition of cellphone in the female group of Dongxiang minority, including the functions and the using frequency of the cellphone. The third part discusses the the changes and influences that cellphone brought on the female individual and the family life. The fourth part mainly investigates the opinions of female individual, traditional women, male group and opinion leaders towards female using cellphone to surf the Internet.The fifth part summarizes the limits of the cellphone using in the female group according to the former four parts, and puts forward the relevant views.After research, the author finds that most Dongxiang’s women have their own cellphones.Howerver due to high illiteracy rate among women of Dongxiang nationality, those who can not read use only the phone call function of a smart cellphone. Women who are able to use the communication and internet function of a smart cellphone are treated as a different group. They believe that a smart phone can help them improve and develope while in the meantime, bring them confusion and trouble. Because not allowed by the convention, most of Dongxiang’ women use a smartphone to surf the internet on the sly in order to avoid family conflict. A number of women have changed their minds and perception. However such trivial changes still can not manage to advance the reform of social convention.