~ 898 ~  ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 Impact Factor: 5.2 IJAR 2015; 1(9): 898-905 www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 10-06-2015 Accepted: 13-07-2015 T Tripura Sundari MCJ, Ph.D., MSIS Professor Dept. of Communication & Journalism, Sri Padmavati Women’s University, Tirupati– 517502Andhra Pradesh,India. Correspondence T Tripura Sundari, MCJ, Ph. D., MSIS Professor Dept. of Communication & Journalism, Sri Padmavati Women’s UniversityTirupati – 517502Andhra Pradesh, India. Effects of mobile phone use on academic performance of college going young adults in India T Tripura Sundari Abstract Mobile phones have become the most popular way to communicate with other individuals. While cell phones have become less of a status symbol and more of a fashion statement, they have created an unspoken social dependency. Adolescents and young adults are more likely to engage in SMS messing, making phone calls, accessing the internet from their phone or playing a mobile driven game. Once pervaded by boredom, teenagers resort to instant connection, to someone, somewhere. Sensation seeking behavior has also linked adolescents and young adults to have the desire to take risks with relationships, rules and roles. Individuals seek out entertainment and avoid boredom at all times be it appropriate or inappropriate. Cell phones are used for entertainment, information and social connectivity. It has been demonstrated that individuals with low self – esteem use cell phones to form and maintain social relationships. They form an attachment with cell phone which molded their mind that they cannot function without their cell phone on a day-to-day basis. In this context, the study attempts to examine the extent of use of mobile phone and its influence on the academic performance of the students. A face to face survey using structured questionnaire was the method used to elicit the opinions of students between the age group of 18-25 years in three cities covering all the three regions the State of Andhra Pradesh in India. The survey was administered among 1200 young adults through two stage random sampling to select the colleges and respondents from the selected colleges, with 400 from each city. In Hyderabad, 201 males and 199 females participated in the survey. In Visakhapatnam, 192 males and 208 females participated. In Tirupati, 220 males and 180 females completed the survey. Two criteria were taken into consideration while choosing the participants for the survey. The participants are college-going and were mobile phone users. Each of the survey responses was entered and analyzed using SPSS software. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS - 16) had been used to work out the distribution of samples in terms of percentages for each specified parameter. Keywords: Mobile Phones, College Going Students, Academic Performance, Learning Skills. Introduction India is young. Nearly half of all Indians are under 30 years of age that is 550 million youth which is equivalent of Western Europe and the USA together. India appears to be in the forefront of the developing market for mobile phone (and data) services to young people. India is the fastest growing mobile subscribed base in the world with 950 million users. 81% of India uses a mobile phone, 10% of India uses a smart phone where as 9% of India use a multimedia phone. Surveys and studies from a number of countries indicate that the use of mobile phones in young people is increasing rapidly and starting at a younger age. Almost half of the mobile internet users are between 18 and 25 years. Studies show varying prevalence of use at different ages in different countries. According to the Wireless World Forum, a research consultancy, the number of young people using mobile voice and data services in the Asia Pacific region will be more than double from 71-million in 2004 to 151- million in 2007. India's mobile youth market will grow 300 percent from 2005 through 2007, from 8.3-million to 27.6-million people. This means India will account for 18.3 percent of this large and growing market. India's young people spent US $437-million on mobile telephone services in 2004 and US $856-million in 2005. And by 2007 this expenditure was almost triple to $ 2.5-billion. In India every household item is social. The Mobile is the only item which qualifies to become the first personal, protected and private item of possession. It gives a great high to anyone to own such personal and private item. Ease to early adoption is another significant International Journal of Applied Research 2015; 1(9): 898-905