Although students may feel less vulnerable at night when they are carrying a cell phone, they really aren’t. A recent study led by Jack Nasar at Ohio State University sowed that women are especially attached to their cell phones which provide a false sense of security to them at night. Women become more likely to venture out into dangerous areas and can ultimately become even easier targets for criminals. A recent survey was done involving 305 students at a college campus and 40 percent of the students said that they would feel better about walking somewhere after dark if they had their cell phone with them. The problem is, a criminal who decides to attack a college student who is using their cell phone would not be likely to remain at the scene very long afterwards, nor would they be inclined to leave the person with their cell phone after the attack. The cell phone really doesn’t provide any realistic protection against an attack which would likely take place over the course of a short minute and quickly move to an entirely different location in a matter of two or three. If anything, the college student is likely to be less safe with a cell phone because they aren’t really paying attention to what is going on around them a they walk. This provides a false sense of security which then results in a greater amount of crimes.

Dr. Nasar conducted the survey with others such as Peter Hecht of Temple University in Philadelphia and Richard Wener of Brooklyn Polytechnic University in New York. The results of the study were printed in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

Source: Ohio State University