International students

The issue of immigrant attachment is widely recognised among many immigrants from different nationalities and age groups (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.66). What is interesting in these findings is that there is an increased amount of research in the effects of immigration from the international student perspective (ibid).

Nowadays, well over a million young people per year go abroad to study at a foreign university. The experience of studying in a foreign country, however, leaves a powerful impression on young people that may last all their lives. For most the experience is very enriching, but for a few the experience is negative and they sometimes recall loneliness, homesickness and nostalgia (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.36).

For many people who choose to study in a different culture, it can be quite a heavy experience that propagates a nervous-feeling caused by being in a less familiar environment, away from the support network of the home culture (ibid).

When people experience or live in new environment and new culture, it seems that most of them will suffer culture shock to some extent, which is always thought of as being unpleasant and stressful (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.17).

For international students, it seems that most of them will suffer from problems such as language difficulties, financial problems, adjusting to a new educational system, homesickness, adjusting to social customs and norms, and for some students, racial discrimination (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.63).

The culture shock hypothesis or concept implies that the experience of visiting or living in a new culture is an unpleasant surprise or shock, partly because it is unexpected, and partly because it may lead to a negative evaluation of oneself (Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.18)

Alexander et al. (1981) describes the plight of the international student as being isolated from the host culture and having lost social anchorage in the home culture.

To alleviate some of this pressure, many international students use long distance communication tools to maintain contact with people from their home. What is interesting in these findings is that although statistics are unclear regarding the exact ages of people using communication tools such as Skype due to animosity, the larger population of users are predicted to be from younger generations. This hypothesis is somewhat expected as the two main demographic factors that contribute to internet usage is age and education (http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/Press_Release/press_detail.html, 10.05.2009)

What this can suggest in the design process of a long distance communication device is that it could be designed around the internet and therefore assessable to many younger people living abroad.

The average distance within the UK for homesick students to travel was 364 miles on average for those who reported homesick, and 203 miles for those who reported no homesickness effects.
(Tilburg & Vingerhoets, 2005, p.1