The Impact of Keitai E-mail on the Junior High-School Students' Friendship in Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Abstract

The proportion of having keitai (Japanese mobile phones and/or PHS) has increased rapidly also in young children. To research how junior high school students use their own keitai and to examine the impact of using it on their psychology, especially on their friendship, we recruited 651 students, grade 8, from 5 junior high schools in metropolitan area. Each student participant completed a questionnaire that we had made originally. The response rates were 88.8%(N=578) for the participants. The proportion of having their own keitai was 49.3%(N=285) and that of not having it was 50.7%(N=293). We found that they used it much more frequently as an e-mail function than as a phone. Most of them exchanged e-mails between schoolmates, and more than a half of them exchanged e-mails more than ten times a day. Sociable students estimated that their own keitai was useful for their friendship. But they experienced some trouble or started staying up late at night engaged in e-mail exchanges, and they thought that they could not live without their own keitai. Our findings suggest that keitai having an e-mail function play a big part in the junior high-school students' daily life, and its impact on students' friendships, psychology, or health should be discussed among students to prevent keitai addiction.