Project: Mobile Phone Usage in the Philippines

The Philippines is known to be the leading country of in terms of using SMS, basically the texting capital of the world. One has to wonder, what separates the Philippines from other texting popular countries?

This paper will explore the mobile phone in the Philippines and its role in the daily lives of Filipinos. The research will follow the hypothesis that Filipinos use SMS, or texting and their cell phones as a major role in day-to-day activities more so other countries where the mobile phone is popular. It will explore the different purposes and sectors of life that the mobile phone plays a role in, looking back historically as well as currently. It will involve looking at past literature and studies of the impacts of mobile phones in social and economical sectors. This will provide a working background and will set the scene for it's current forms of usage.

To further support my thesis, the methodology I will use will be constructing a survey to distribute amongst a "sample of convenience" to Filipinos concerning their day-to-day usage of the mobile phones. In addition, I will select a few individuals from this sample to interview. Questions would include their opinions on their reliance on SMS and their mobile.

In addition to my surveys and interviews abroad, I would increase variance by applying similar methodology to a sample of people here in the United States as a way of comparison.

I expect that through comparison we will learn that a developing nation such as the Philippines and their reliance on the mobile phone, more particularly SMS texting will prove to demonstrate the importance of ICTs abroad and their potential to advance development, socially and economically. And if said resource is applied educationally and in greater abundance, the gap between the have and have nots is one step towards closing.