2008 Volume 18 Issue 2 Pages 1-9
This study aimed to examine what communication education should be in view of the perceptions and realities of mobile phone e-mail use among nursing students. Questionnaires were completed by 1,270 nursing students from eight nursing schools consisting of different educational groups in A Prefecture. Using factor analysis, we identified the following six factors：“mental effects based on the contents,” “carefree development of closer ties with friends,” “anticipation of an increase in one’s personal relationships,” “the feeling that emotions are controlled better,” and “restriction by being called at any time.” A sixth factor, “daily dependence on the mobile phone,” was also identified.
Scores for “mental effects based on the contents of the e-mail” and “anticipation of an increase in one’s personal relationships” were significantly higher among high school students. The frequency of mobile phone e-mail use with family members living together and friends using only the e-mail function on the mobile phone was highest among this group. Scores for “daily dependence on the mobile phone” were highest among college students. This finding suggested that there were numbers of registered addresses for college students, but there was a smaller number of transmissions and receptions and less average phone use per month.
