Smith Business Close-Up: Your Cell Phone Makes You Selfish

Thursday, March 15, 2012, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 18, 2012, 7:30 a.m.

Though cell phones are usually considered devices that connect people, they may make users less socially minded, finds a recent study from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Ajay Abraham talks about new research that examines how using a cell phone impacts behavior.

Abraham is pursuing his PhD in marketing and completed the cell phone research with Smith School assistant marketing professors Rosellina Ferraro and Anastasiya Pocheptsova. The researchers found that after a short period of cellphone use, study participants were less inclined to volunteer for a community service activity when asked, compared to the control-group counterparts. The cell phone users were also less persistent in solving word problems - even though they knew their answers would translate to a monetary donation to charity.