College Students and Smartphone Ownership: Symbolic Meanings and Smartphone Consumption among Nigerian Students
College Students and Smartphone Ownership: Symbolic Meanings and Smartphone Consumption among Nigerian Students

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to understand conception of Smartphones ownership among a sample of 65Nigerian undergraduates aged 17-27 years; and whether their construction of Smartphone ownershipinfluences them to buy/carry one. A qualitative approach to data collection was adopted to elicitinformation among students of two federal (public) tertiary institutions in southwest region of Nigeria.The results show that Smartphone is not simply a technology for communication but, to a large extent,a social symbolic object for its carriers. Symbolic meanings are constructed and attached withSmartphone ownership beyond mere functional attributes. For my participants, carrying a Smartphoneimplies high-taste associated with ‘being cool’, trendy, wealthy. Many seem to believe only those withexpensive taste could own Smartphones. This feeling was so strong that many would rather makefriends with other Smartphone owners than be seen with students carrying regular phones. One of thethemes that also emerged from participants’ narratives is pressure to fitting-in into groups that ownSmartphone; which they say influence their purchase decision.

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