See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/236669025

Impact of Smartphone's on Society

Article in European Journal of Scientific Research · February 2013

CITATIONS READS
245 292,391

2 authors, including:

Tariq Rahim Soomro

Institute of Business Management
101 PUBLICATIONS 825 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Big Data, Data mining View project

Google Scholar Visibility View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Tariq Rahim Soomro on 28 May 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

European Journal of Scientific Research
ISSN 1450-216X / 1450-202X Vol. 98 No 2 March, 2013, pp.216-226
http://www.europeanjournalofscientificresearch.com

Impact of Smartphone’s on Society

Muhammad Sarwar
Department of Information Technology, SZABIST
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +971-50-5055285; Fax: +971-2-4045110

Tariq Rahim Soomro

Corresponding Author, College of Engineering & Information Technology
Al Ain University of Science & Technology, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +971-3-7024883; Fax: +971-3-7024777

Abstract

The intention of this study is to investigate how Smartphone‘s are impacting the
society and also how Smartphone‘s are going to transform the culture, social life,
technology landscape and other diverse aspects of modern society. The intention of this
study is to understand all the positive and negative aspects of Smartphone on the society.
The study will primarily focus on impact of Smartphone on business, education, health
sectors, human psychology and social life. At the end, the study will summarize the impact
and conclude based on wide range of impacts that Smartphone‘s have on society. The paper
will also recommend solutions, in order to reduce the negative impacts of Smartphone‘s
and realizes more benefits of this exiting technology.

Keywords: Smartphone, Mobile Applications, Social Impact, Addiction, Health.

1. Introduction
The convergence of communication and computing for mobile consumer devices is on the evolutionary
course to bring interoperability and leverage the services and functions from each and every industry.
In this process of convergence the Smartphone‘s are the leading devices taking the front end and
playing the role of universal mobile terminal. As a marketing strategy the Smartphone term was
introduced in the market, referring a new class of mobile phones that provides integrated services from
communication, computing and mobile sectors including voice communication, messaging, personal
information management (PIM) applications and wireless communication capability [1]. In real sense
Smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced features and functionality beyond traditional
functionalities like making phone calls and sending text messages. The Smartphone are equipped with
the capabilities to display photos, play games, play videos, navigation, built-in camera, audio/video
playback and recording, send/receive e-mail, built in apps for social web sites and surf the Web,
wireless Internet and much more. Due to same reasons the Smartphone‘s now become a common
choice for consumers along with the use in business as it was initially intended for business users only
[2]. The latest surveys show that the popularity of Smartphone‘s is increasing in general public with
the more paces then it is increasing in Corporations. Initially the Smartphone‘s were only perceived for
business use due to their cost and application, but not today, today we are in a frenetic Smartphone
Impact of Smartphone‘s on Society 217

society populated with the Smartphone‘s from many vendors providing a range of advanced
functionalities and services on a piece of hardware [3]. Today Smartphone‘s enable consumers,
advertisers and publishers how to better engage, socialize using the ubiquitous experience this
advanced platform by leveraging it‘s of the firm. The focus of income statement is on the operating
revenues and expenses. User groups of financial reports for decision–making require data related to all
easy to use and availability characteristic [4]. Due to its ubiquitous nature and social acceptance we can
find Smartphone in educational institutes, hospitals, public places and shopping malls etc. [3]. This
paper is organized as follows: next section 2 will review history of Smartphone‘s; section 3 will review
Smartphone growth and usage; section 4 will explore the impacts of Smartphone‘s on diverse sectors
of society; and finally this study summarized the impacts of Smartphone‘s and concludes.

2. History of Smartphone’s
Today‘s Smartphone‘s has been around since last six years when Apple introduced the Smartphone in
mass consumer market, but in reality the Smartphone has been in market since 1993. The different
between today‘s Smartphone and early Smartphone‘s is that early Smartphone‘s were predominantly
meant for corporate users and used as enterprise devices and also those phone were too expensive for
the general consumers [5]. The Smartphone era is divided into three main phases. First phase was
purely meant for enterprises. During this phase all the Smartphone‘s were targeting the corporations
and the features and functions were as per corporate requirements. This era began with the advent of
the very first Smartphone ‗The Simon‘ from IBM in 1993. Blackberry is considered as the
revolutionary device of this era, it introduced many features including Email, Internet, Fax, Web
browsing, Camera. This phase was totally based on Smartphone targeting enterprises [5] [6] [7]. The
second phase of Smartphone era started with the advent of iPhone, the major breakthrough Smartphone
market in 2007. Apple revealed its first smart phone in 2007. This was the time when first time ever
industry introduced the Smartphone for general consumers market [8]. End of 2007 Google unveiled
its Android Operating System with the intention to approach the consumer Smartphone market. The
emphasis during this time period was to introduce features that the general consumer requires and at
the same time keep the cost at lower side to attract more and more customers. Feature like, email,
social website integration, audio/video, internet access, chatting along with general features of the
phone were part of these entire phone [8] [9] [10] [11]. Third phase of Smartphone was mainly closing
the gap between enterprise centric and general consumer centric Smartphone and improvement the
display quality, display technology and on top of that also aiming to stabile the mobile operating
system, introduce more powerful batteries and enhance the user interface and many more features
within these smart devices. This phase logical started in 2008 with the upgrades in the mobile
operating system and within last five year there have been several upgrades in Apple iOS, Android and
Blackberry OS. The most popular mobile Operating systems (iOS, Android, Blackberry OS, Windows
Mobile) and key Smartphone vendors (Apple, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, LG, Sony etc.) are
concentrating to bring features both in operating systems and devices which will provide exciting
feature to enterprise and general consumers. The role of Android has been tremendous during this time
period as it provided a great opportunity to all vendors to build devices using the great open source
Android technology [8] [9] [10].

3. Smartphone Growth / Usage

The adoption of Smartphone‘s has been tremendous in mainstream consumer markets all over the
world. Surveys show that around 42% of mobile subscribers in US use Smartphone‘s, along with 44%
of mobile users in 5 major countries of European Union (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK).
Media usage on mobile– including browsing the mobile web, accessing application and downloading
content saw a major increase and surpassed 50 % in many markets; this introduced the high-speed
networks and increased public WiFi availability in those areas [4]. With the ability to connect on-the-
218 Muhammad Sarwar and Tariq Rahim Soomro

go and use internet and mobile services, mobile users have not only adopted real-time social
networking on their Smartphone at a growing rate but frequency of access has been also increasing day
by day [12]. A UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom, released the following statistics as part of
their study on Smartphone usage in the United Kingdom only [3]:
 37% of adults and 60% of teens admit they are highly addicted to their Smartphone.
 51% of adults and 65% of teens say they have used their Smartphone while socializing with
others.
 23% of adults and 34% of teens have used their Smartphone during mealtimes.
 22% of adult and 47% of teens admitted using or answering their Smartphone while in the
bathroom

4. Impacts of Smartphone’s
Smartphone has impacted almost all walk of human life. The prominent areas, where impacts of
Smartphone are obvious include business, education, health and social life. Mobile technology has
drastically changed the cultural norms and behavior of individuals. The impacts are both at the positive
side and also at the negative side. At one end Smartphone are enabling people to create their own
micro-cultures and engage into activities considered dangerous of society and on the other end
Smartphone enabling people to remain connected all the time [3]. The subsequent sub-sections of this
study provide detailed account on positive and negative impacts of Smartphone on society.

4.1. Business
Smartphone has created new dimensions for business. It is not only the Smartphone vendors enjoying
the business but it also created a new domain for mobile application developing companies, Internet
services provider and other sectors of life to utilize the Smartphone to gain competitive advantages
[13].

4.1.1. Positive Impacts

There has been a drastic growth in broadband and Internet service providers business in past few years
and one of the main reasons for this drastic increase in their business is the ever increasing use of
Smartphone‘s and growth of Smartphone and mobile applications. In a very small duration a huge
number of Smartphone have been sold that provided an opportunity to businesses to invest in mobile
application development and allowed to introduce new business dimensions in market space. As it is
easy to change settings and make customizations on Smartphone, therefore there are several programs
for Smartphone‘s from different vendors including Blackberry, Android, iPhone and Microsoft etc.
Mobile Application Market is another business sector introduced by Smartphone‘s. Different mobile
operating system vendors have their own mobile application technology hence having a different
market for Mobile Applications. The most common one are iPhone application market, BlackBerry
application market, Android market, Microsoft mobile Application market. These online market places
enable users to download useful mobile applications on need basis. Furthermore these market places
also provide some free of cost application and some applications have associated with reasonable cost.
Smartphone‘s also impacted advertising business sector as well. Advertising is an old concept but the
features of Smartphone have made it more effective and no doubt it is an additional positive impact of
mobile application for business. Mobile application publisher, distributor and service provider are
getting large revenue by providing ads as a part of mobile application [13]. Unlike the other computing
advancement in the past, where most of those advancements came directly from security agencies,
armed forces and large research centers and the initial purpose was defense or enterprise use, the
advent of Smartphone and related technology innovations started directly in consumer market space in
its own right. The polarity has reversed in the technology industry and now many exciting
Impact of Smartphone‘s on Society 219

developments in the field of information technology (IT) are appearing in consumer market space first
and only then making their way into other fields [14].

4.1.2. Negative Impacts

The major impact of Smartphone is on PC market. According to a survey by Compete, a web analytics
firm, a large number of people almost up to 65% are using their smart phones to read news feeds, post
status updates, read & reply to messages and post photos. This shows that now people are leaving PCs
and moving towards Smartphone‘s. According to market results in 2011 Smartphone shipments beat
those of PCs, with 73 million more units being sold. Today the Smartphone users having are more
powerful than the most of the desktops we have 10 year back. Smartphone have outsold PCs in 2011
and soon they could replace our wallets as well [15]. Furthermore in last few years PC upgrades have
become less important because developer activity has stagnated on the PC platform [16]. According to
analysts, the long dominated Microsoft and Intel alliance is experiencing bad times due to the rise of
Smartphone‘s and tablets, and the pressure to gain market share in the mobile device market is causing
fractures in long partnership. It is true that still millions of PCs will continue to be sold every year, but
the Smartphone‘s and tablets will see more considerable growth in the future. All companies are taking
forceful steps to power their way into Smartphone market, but still find themselves behind the curve
[17], following figure-1, shows these growth compared to PCs.

Figure 1: Growth of the Gadgets

4.2. Education
The notion and value of education has been exceptional and noble since day one in human history and
the efforts to improve the quality of education has been appreciated throughout [18]. Smartphone‘s
introduced another means for the knowledge lovers to fulfil their thrust and dreams.

4.2.1. Positive Impacts

Use of the Internet has become a part of life of every student and a mean to search for the information
as and when it is needed. These days, use of mobile phones for internet purposes has become a routine
and number of mobile consumer accessing the Internet is surpassing fixed line internet users [18]. The
growing demand of Smartphone, availability of the Internet and high speed mobile browsing is ready
to provide an alternative channel to deliver education services. This will provide an opportunity to the
users to utilize their Smartphone to get educational benefits within their available time irrespective to
their location [19]. Distance education is a learning mechanism that focuses to liberate students from
limitations of time and location, while offering flexible opportunities for education. Distance learning
enables students to utilize their time such that they can continue their education without impacting their
work and family life. The Smartphone with the capability of always connected makes it much easier
220 Muhammad Sarwar and Tariq Rahim Soomro

for the students to avail this type of education facility and makes the Smartphone a perfect fit device
for distance learning [18]. Smartphone within and without the classroom make it easier for students
and teachers to collaborate. Students on sick leave or with health issues, or miss school for other
reasons would be able to attend class through their Smartphone and keep up with their work, rather
than falling behind due to unanticipated circumstances [20]. The education system of developing
countries might unarguably be the most prevalent beneficiary of the mobile technologies.
Smartphone‘s are not just supplementary devices for developing countries, but these devices can play
integral part of in their education systems. The Smartphone provide access to modern society a massive
amount of educational and learning resources. In developing countries Smartphone can easily
compensates the limited access of internet and data access, which in turn help their infrastructure and
education development [19].

4.2.2. Negative Impacts

Along with their fantastic facilities, Smartphone‘s enables students to text, cooperate on social
networking sites, check e-mails, play online games, and even watch TV channels. This is one of the
sources of distraction. This is not only distracting for the student, but it can also become distracting for
other students around them and even sometimes for whole class. In addition, it wouldn‘t be easy for
students to make calls during exams to cheat but it may be easy for pupils in a crowded classroom or
examination hall to use their Smartphone‘s to access information online to cheat in exams. In fact some
surprising statistics are there about the use of Smartphone‘s for cheating in the classroom. The misuse
of Smartphone could be through the use of text message exchange with other students, find answers on
the Internet, using advanced calculator and phone applications, reading notes saved on their phones to
help on the test. Smartphone‘s can encourage bullying and hazing also. Bullying and hazing are very
serious problems in schools across many countries including United States of America (USA).
Smartphone‘s come equipped with camera and video technology, which can be used to record and
photograph bullying and hazing in schools and colleges [21].

4.3. Health
According to a survey almost half of Smartphone users use their phone for access health related
services, figure-2 below shows the in health sector [22].

Figure 2: Use of Smart phone in Health Sector

4.3.1. Positive Impacts

Today Smartphone are the most commonly used devices for communication and almost 27% of the
consumers‘ use Smartphone‘s for online activities. Accordingly surveys more than 10 million users in
USA use Smartphone to search for health information and facilities. There are a huge number of
Impact of Smartphone‘s on Society 221

mobile applications to facilitate the users to manage prescriptions, promote alternative treatment
options, provide price comparisons and validate prescriptions. In near future we see a breed of mobile
applications, which enables doctors and parents to monitor a patient/child blood glucose levels at any
point during the day. Even today several apps are available to track exercise, diet and blood pressure.
This in turn enables the Smartphone‘s to play a key role in health sector [23]. At the moment more than
40,000 mobile health apps available for tablets and Smartphone‘s, and more than 500 health projects
underway worldwide with the emphasis to use Smartphone apps in health sector. The online health
care education portal survey results show that apps such as Runkeeper, access health records
electronically or participate in wellness programs have been taking benefit of mobile‘s health even
without realizing it. Analysis show that the number of people using health related apps is growing
drastically and 2012 surpassed 247 million [24]. There is huge number of Medical and healthcare apps
for Smartphone are, including drug references, medical calculators, reference guides and personal
health and lifestyle applications. A survey was conducted on a small number of US healthcare students,
administrators, providers, and nurses by a software company and the reports shows that almost 83%
use Smartphone‘s to access, 72% use Smartphone‘s to write notes and memos, 50% use it for drug
references, 28% use Smartphone to access clinical decision support tool and 13% to view medical
images. Healthcare is no doubt complex and often requires area of expertise and knowledge and
locating its resources to assist with complex medical issues is somehow challenging. Smartphone apps
are very useful as these apps assist healthcare workers to access specific information in areas of
radiology, neurology, neonatology, pediatrics, and continuing education activities easily [25].

4.3.2. Negative Impacts

The convenience that Smartphone bring in daily life is tremendous, users with a click or simple touch
of finger can access the health and related services anytime and anywhere, but along with the
convenience it also poses several dangers as well. According to a recent article from CNN [26] this
convenience of Smartphone access to health resources can be dangerous if patients start avoiding
personal interactions with doctors for mandatory tasks. According to the article, on average, the
targeted users use to check their phones 34 times a day, but not necessarily that it was really needed to
check emails instead it is habitually checking, which may result, in relying on phone more than doing
things themselves. Another aspect that has been noticed is that lots of parents let their kids carry and
use Smartphone‘s even in their very young age. The convenience offered by these modern devices is
indeed great, but on the other side also there are major issues associated [4]:
 Disconnect kids from the true essence of social interaction. For example, games and other
entertainment applications designed for kids may discourage them from interacting with
other kids and people around them.
 Excessive exposure of these devices in early age can cause poor eye sight for kids.
 The use of Smartphone‘s exposes children to the habit of jumping from one option to another
that trains them to gather small portions of information instead of concentrating and getting
complete information. This habit is harmful for development of brain.
 Online and video games are addicting and kids may easily get addicted and spend hours
playing games and this may be awful when they have Smartphone with them everywhere
they go.

4.4. Psychological Impacts

Impacts of Smartphone on human Psychology are tremendous; there are several ways that Smartphone
is impacting human Psychology.

4.4.1. Positive Impacts

According to a survey on use of Smartphone [27], the Smartphone provides a mean to reduce stress in
busy work life. In today‘s busy schedule Smartphone enables users to interact with their friends and
222 Muhammad Sarwar and Tariq Rahim Soomro

family as and when they get time. Interacting with friends and families, while traveling, waiting on bus
stop enables users to utilize such time to promote their social life. It enables the users to interact and
stay up-to-date with the latest news and development in the political and social circles resulting in
reducing work stress. The concept of "use it or lose it" principle in Psychology is very old and
according to this concept the key to keep your brain functioning in its peak condition throughout your
life lies in its smart use. The smart use of Smartphone will increase your brain function instead of using
the Smartphone only for entertainment it could be used to access useful information, for example,
access the news headlines, latest technology updates, and real time featured stories from respected
news outlets around the world. This knowledge will build mental warehouse of information, and make
the user a better communicator as well. It is also known that some videogames can have positive
impact on people by strengthening their empathic tendencies. Social networking may build social
bonds. Staying connected is easier than ever, and keeping the social bonds active allows reducing
stress and promises social support [28].

4.4.2. Negative Impacts

Addiction to Smartphone (also known as communication addiction disorder), is a serious problem.
According to recent research, the addiction to Smartphone is increasing rapidly. The Ministry of Public
Administration and Security of Korea reported that around 8.4% of Smartphone users in Korea are
addicted to Smartphone and around 10.1% of Koreans overuse social networking sites including
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The addiction to Smartphone can be described as wanting to be in
constant communication with people even though when there is no real need for communication [29].
According to an article, Smartphone addiction is not just a buzzword but researchers have recognized
habitual and compulsive communicating as a serious psychic problem. It is also established that
obsession with our Smartphone is also responsible for significantly altering our brain‘s perception for
the device. While several research across the world have been reasserting how Smartphone dependency
is going to be a real danger in future, some other studies in UK also discovered another aspect to it,
showing that anxiety and withdrawal symptoms in Smartphone users increase when they do not receive
any messages or updates [30] [31]. Most of the time the problem is not with the use of the Smartphone,
but it comes when the device takes over a function that human brain is capable to perform perfectly.
It's like multiplying 5 by 7, resulting the opening calculator in your Smartphone instead quickly
calculating in your mind and getting result 35 or waiting for an elevator to take you to first floor of
building instead of the stairs; the ride may be quicker but your muscles won't get a workout.
Smartphone‘s can be considered as mental elevators, taking the basic and useful functions off the brain
[28]. Another psychological impact is that users check their mobiles almost all the times, while at work
time, with family or even when with friends. Lookout, a mobile security company conducted a study
on Smartphone users in USA and found that 58% of Smartphone users check their phones at least once
in an hour and another 54% of respondents said that they check their phone even while going to bed to
sleep[28].

4.5. Social Impacts

The social life has been drastically changed with the introduction of Smartphone‘s and this domain has
encountered most of the impacts from use of Smartphone.

4.5.1. Positive Impacts

Accordingly to research [32], around 15% of the current world population has some sort of disabilities
and also the number of elderly persons increasing day by day. Furthermore, this research shows that,
by year 2020 more than 1000 million people over 60 years age will be living on this planet [33].
Keeping this in mind and looking into the capabilities of Smartphone, it is apparent that in such a
situation Smartphone will play an important role in the integration process of people with special needs
and elderly age. Smartphone‘s are capable to give this group of people the opportunity to live more
independently. The more they can do by themselves, the better they will feel and enjoy the life.
Impact of Smartphone‘s on Society 223

Smartphone features like, text to speech, GPS and social Websites are some examples, which can help
this group of people to easily remain integrated with society. Using these services and many more
features, the target group of people can easily communicate their needs, seek assistance from others
and remain connected to society [32]. Even in today‘s busy world Smartphone had also made possible
for us to remain connected with our friends and family all the time. Always connected to the Internet
through a Smartphone provides a great instrument for individuals for constant communication resulting
in great safety for children attending schools or going outside. The classic mobile phones provided this
facility for long time but the Smartphone‘s utilizing the same and providing additional convenient
capabilities to communicate with children and know their whereabouts anytime [19]. The Smartphone
has given an opportunity to individuals to act as a journalist at any point in time and real-time
information to society. Smartphone features like the camera, video capture, access to social Websites
and nature of always connected to the Internet enable individuals to capture any video at any time and
share it with friends and family using social Websites and other Internet based options. Even though
the quality of video / image can‘t be that good but the features on social Websites and opinions and
comments make it more absorbing and useful [34].

4.5.2. Negative Impacts

Addiction to Smartphone is major impact on social life. Surveys show that Smartphone addiction is
interfering with our night‘s sleep. According to the survey, 33% of mobile workers admitted that they
check their phones for email and message throughout the night. Nearly 50% of those surveyed said,
they wouldn‘t even think of going to bed without have their Smartphone‘s tucked under their pillows.
This addiction to Smartphone is impacting the social and family life and creating frictions in our lives
[34]. Another aspect is that applications installed on Smartphone enabling image and video editing,
allowing individuals to manipulate the actual content and provide their version of the content. This
shows that most of the time there will be issues with the authenticity of information received through
these channels and it requires further research to ensure its validity and authenticity [34]. According to
another research [35], the organizations expect their employees to respond to the emails immediately
even after working hours, due to that employee feel compelled to respond to official emails. Many
Smartphone users engage in continuous monitoring of their work related emails, which creates
compulsive routines of chronic checking and in the long run it is responsible for increased stress. There
are evidences that Smartphone usage is responsible to blur the distinctions between the work and
family life. The Smartphone causes the employees to take the work into the home domain. As a
consequence, the blurring work and family life might lead to a worsened work–family balance. In
short, the higher integration of the work and home facilitated by Smartphone result in work–home
interference (WHI), which is considered as a potential source of stress that having negative effect on
employee social and family life. Cyber bullying is another major issue the society is facing today. The
advent of Smartphone and the nature of being connected to internet anytime and anywhere is adding to
this issue and making it much severe. It enables student to access irrelevant content while at schools,
enables working community to access social Websites and other irrelevant content while at work, and
enables youth to access the Internet for inappropriate contents. This highlights minimum control from
parents and administration to prevent the users‘ access certain content on the Internet [19]. According
to another report by security industries [36], Smartphone‘s and social networking site are likely to
become the next target for criminal attacks. Security holes on several Smartphone‘s were exploited and
malicious software was found on several Smartphone‘s from different vendors.

5. Conclusion & Future Direction

It is true that Smartphone has a sizeable impact on society and other aspects of life. Clearly the
enormous usage of these devices by consumers demonstrates the volume of this impact. Consumers are
in process of traversing away from the use of conventional cell phone as the Smartphone‘s are
beginning the norm of the society. Manufacturers and marketing can be blamed for this hype, but there
224 Muhammad Sarwar and Tariq Rahim Soomro

is no doubt that Smartphone‘s are brining great features and capabilities to consumers. The key impacts
like enable to be always-connected, addiction to phone, single device with all required features,
business edge, convenient educational features, apps as new technology, entertainment, best utilization
of time, disrespectful behaviour, privacy issues, impact on culture, distraction at work & at education
Institutes and many more provide us both positive and negative sides of the Smartphone‘s. These
positive and negative impacts are secondary, when we look at this existing technology from a different
perspective and that perspective is interpretation and perception of Smartphone. There are several ways
that we can control and minimize the negative impacts of Smartphone in society. ―Education and
Guidance‖: In order to understand the positive and negative impact of Smartphone it is very important
to educate the users on how to use Smartphone‘s smartly. The education should emphasis to enhance
the positive impacts and highlight the negative impacts clearly so that the users can take advantages of
this exciting technology. ―Security and Access Control‖: There are several initiatives from different
vendors to combat the misuse of Smartphone at workplace and at Universities. SAP, Airwatch,
MacAfee and many other vendors provide solutions to control the access of Smartphone within the
workplace and Universities. Such measures are very useful in environments, where security of
information is the top priority. These can also be useful in controlling the access of Smartphone‘s in
Universities to minimize the use of social Websites, minimize the misuse of Smartphone‘s for cyber
bullying, cheating in examinations and tests. These mobile management devices will also enable the
administrators to remotely control the access of these devices check what services are running on a
specific device. ―Polices and Procedure‖: Policies and strict compliance procedure should be in place at
workplace and at Universities to ensure the proper use of Smartphone‘s‘. This will enable users to use
their phones if it is really required and when the use is really important. In summary, Smartphone can
certainly be smart if the vendors, society and technologists understand their responsibility towards
usage of these devices smartly in order to get more benefit in business, education, health and social
life. It is apparent from above facts that the benefits of Smartphone are tremendous and negative
impacts are minor. So it is important to concentrate on how to stop and avoid smartly the misuse of
Smartphone rather trying to stop or avoid use to Smartphone‘s.

References
[1] Pei Zheng, Lionel M. Ni, 2006, ―Smart Phone and Next Generation Mobile Computing‖,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780120885602
[2] Techterms.com, 2010, http://www.techterms.com/definition/smartphone
[3] Nurfit, 2012,‖Smarphone Addiction and Impact on Society‖,
http://nurfitriah.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/smarphone-addiction/
[4] comScore, Inc, 2012, ―2012 Mobile Future in Focus‖,
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2012/2/comScore_Releases_the_2012_Mob
ile_Future_in_Focus_Report
[5] Brad Reed, 2010, ―A brief history of Smartphone‘s‖,
http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2010/061510-smartphone-history.html#slide1
[6] James Niccolai, Nancy Gohring, 2010,‖A Brief History of Palm‖,
http://www.pcworld.com/article/195199/article.html
[7] Wikipedia, 2012, ―Blackberry‖, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry
[8] Hamza Querashi, 2012, ―Apple: from iPhone 1 to iPhone 5 – Evolution, Features and Future
Review‖ ,http://www.thenewstribe.com/2012/07/16/apple-from-iphone-1-to-iphone-5-
evolution-features-and-future-review/
[9] Sam Costello,retrieved on 2012, ―First-Generation iPhone Review‖,
http://ipod.about.com/od/iphoneproductreviews/fr/iphone_review.htm
[10] Chris Ziegler, 2011, ―Android: A visual history‖,
http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/7/2585779/android-history
Impact of Smartphone‘s on Society 225

[11] Mark Prigg, 2012,‖ Microsoft launches Windows 8 Phone software - and hopes apps and
Jessica Alba will help it take on Apple and Google‖,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2225149/Windows-8-phone-software-launch-
Microsoft-hopes-Jessica-Alba-help-Apple-Google.html
[12] Strategy Analytics, 2012,‖ Global Mobile Media Revenues To Touch $150 Billion In 2012‖,
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5206
[13] Md. Rashedul Islam, Md. Rofiqul Islam,Tahidul Arafhin Mazumder, 2010, ―Mobile
Application and Its Global Impact‖, International Journal of Engineering & Technology, IJET-
IJENS, Vol: 10, No:06, http://www.ijens.org/107506-0909%20ijet-ijens.pdf
[14] The Economist, 2011, ―Beyond the PC‖, http://www.economist.com/node/21531109
[15] Trevor Mogg,2012, ―Smartphone sales exceed those of PCs for first time, Apple smashes
record‖, http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/smartphone-sales-exceed-those-of-pcs-for-first-
time-apple-smashes-record/
[16] Sameer Singh, 2012, ―Impact of iOS & Android on the PC Replacement Cycle‖,
http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2012/09/ios-android-pc-replacement-
impact.html#.ULWp3e84vjk
[17] eWeek, September 5, 2012,‖ Intel Microsoft Influence Declining as Smartphones Tablets Rise
Analysts 342948‖, http://business.highbeam.com/137475/article-1G1-301713950/intel-
microsoft-influence-declining-smartphones-tablets
[18] Manoj Kumar, 2011, ―Impact of the Evolution of Smart Phones in Education Technology and
its Application in Technical and Professional Studies: Indian Perspective‖, International Journal
of Managing Information Technology (IJMIT), Vol.3, No.3,
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1109/1109.0937.pdf
[19] Time Pike University of Playmouth, 2011, ―How Smartphone technology effects society‖,
http://1lgroup5.wikispaces.com/file/view/References.pdf
[20] Kara Page, eHow Contributor, Retrieved on October 15, 2012,‖ Why Use Mobile Devices in
Education?‖, http://www.ehow.com/about_6164403_use-mobile-devices-education_.html
[21] CollegeDrees.com, 2011, ―Negative Effects of Smartphones in the Classroom‖,
http://www.collegedegrees.com/blog/2011/01/28/negative-effects-of-smartphones-in-the-
classroom/
[22] Kantar Media, 2012, Healthcare Insights,
http://kantarmediahealthsurvey.com/eNewsletter/2012/june_newsletter_insight.html
[23] Jay Byrne,2010,‖ Healthcare ―Apps‖ Exploding in Mobile, Are You Ready?‖, http://www.v-
fluence.com/blog/459/healthcare-apps-exploding-in-mobile-are-you-ready
[24] Sam Laird, 2012,‖ How Smartphones Are Changing Health Care ‖,
http://mashable.com/2012/09/26/smartphones-health-care-infographic/
[25] Tami H. Wyatt, Patricia Biller Krauskopf, 2012, ―E-health and Nursing: Using Smartphones to
Enhance Nursing Practice‖, http://ojni.org/issues/?p=1706
[26] Elizabeth Cohen, 2011, ―Do you obsessively check your smartphone?‖,
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/28/ep.smartphone.obsessed.cohen/index.html
[27] Koh Teng Chun, Law Shao Yu, Lee Yuan, Leong Zhiming, Justin Lim, 2011, ―An
Investigation into the Positive and Negative Health Effects of Usage of Smartphones on Raffles
Institution Year 1 Students‖,
http://re2011group3.wikispaces.com/file/view/Full%20Analysis.docx/246003831/Full%20Anal
ysis.docx
[28] Susan Krauss Whitbourne, 2011, ―Your Smartphone May Be Making You... Not Smart‖,
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201110/your-smartphone-may-be-
making-you-not-smart
[29] Lee Chang-sup, 2012, ―Smartphone addiction: disease or obsession?‖,
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2012/11/298_117506.html
226 Muhammad Sarwar and Tariq Rahim Soomro

[30] Jayesh Shinde,2012,‖ Smartphones: The root of all evil?‖, http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-

and-PDAs/Smartphones-The-root-of-all-evil_9340.html
[31] Anand Holla, 2012,‖ Obsessed with your cell phone?‖,
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-05/health/30642839_1_cell-phone-smart-
phones-addiction
[32] S. Verstockt, D. Decoo, D. Van Nieuwenhuyse, F. De Pauw‡ and R. Van de Walle, 2009,
―Assistive Smartphone for People with Special Needs: the Personal Social Assistant‖, 2nd
Conference on Human System Interactions,
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=5091001
[33] WHO, 1998, ―Fact Sheet N 135‖ https://apps.who.int/inf-fs/en/fact135.html
[34] Douglas Idugboe, 2011, ―1 in 3 Are Addicted to Smartphones‖,
http://smedio.com/2011/06/03/1-in-3-are-addicted-to-smartphones/
[35] Daantje Derks, Lieke L. ten Brummelhuis, Dino Zecic, and Arnold B. Bakker, 2012,
―Switching on and off. ..: Does smartphone use obstruct the possibility to engage in recovery
activities?‖, European Journal of Work and Organization Psychology,
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1359432X.2012.711013
[36] BBC New Technology, April 5, 2012,‖ Criminals target mobile devices and social networks‖,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12967254

View publication stats