Can I Talk to Mickey Mouse Through My Phone? Children’s Understanding of the Functions of Mobile Phones

Mobile phones have become one of the most important and popular media in our daily life. With the progress of technology, the functions of mobile phones are becoming more and more diversified, and some of the new functions seem almost fantastical. As a result, the present study was conducted to examine children’s and adults’ beliefs about the functions of mobile phones. Forty 4-year-olds and thirty-seven adults made reality judgments about real and fantastical functions of mobile phone. Results indicated that 4-year-olds and adults judged fantastical events similarly, but children underestimated the reality of real functions of mobile phone. We also found that, unlike adults, children’s beliefs about both the real and fantastical functions of mobile phones were significantly related with their experience of those mobile phone functions.