A Rhetorical Analysis Of How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds By Nicholas Carr

Do you think that you could go a whole day with your phone in your back pocket without touching it? The author of ‘How smartphones hijack our minds” doesn’t think so. Nicholas Carr uses rhetorical devices such as cited authorities, examples, and uses statistical facts and figures to convey his view that smartphones hijacked our minds. These rhetorical devices are used to reshape your thinking about how much your phones take over your minds and how much they truly affect you without you even knowing. He shares many studies and experiments of students that have taken tests with different controlled variables to see if his statement is factual and that there is evidence that backs it up.

Smartphones have harmfully changed how teaangers behave in the standard academic classroom, making them unable to concentrate. The article “How Smartphones Hijack our minds” by Nicholas Carr provides several studies to show that the division of attention decrease when the phone is near to a person.

Today, smartphones are everywhere. Just about everybody uses them from the time they get up, to the time they go to bed. With this personal tool, a lot of people have seen positive effects from using the device. However, some believe that people are going to far with a smartphone and that now it’s becoming more than a personal companion. This is what Nicholas Carr believes in “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds.” In the essay Carr argues that smartphones are having a negative effect on people’s minds. He strengthens his argument by use of fact, word choice, and emotional appeal.

In the article, Carr refers to tests done be professors on college students. In one experiment, students had to take a test and some were told to either have their phone on the desk, others in their bag or pocket, and the rest in another room. The outcome showed higher scores for those whose phone was in a different room, then those whose phone was in their bag or pocket, then those whose phone was on the desk. Carr found the results “striking” and even went as far to say that as the proximity of the phone increased, the brain power decreased. Another test he refers to is one done in the University of Essex, in England. which was held to study social skills with the presence of a phone. The test revealed that “the mere presence of mobile phones” reduced trust and empathy. A third test he explains in his article is one with a group of strangers. They were told to type statements into a computer. Half were told that what they typed would be deleted, and the other half were told that what they typed would

Studies have found that as the phone use increases, your attention goes elsewhere, “revealing that the more heavily student relied on their phones in their everyday lives, the greater the cognitive penalty they suffered” (Carr 3). The more focus a cell phone receives the more a person will suffer mentally. At UCSD around 520 students were given two standardized tests of intellectual acuity. “The only variable in the experiment was the location of the subjects’ smartphones. Some of the students.. place their phones in front of them on their desks; others were told to stow their phones in their pockets.. others were required to leave their phones in a different room” (Carr 3). The results from this study were conspicuous. It’s self-evident that anyone with phone insight had worst scores than those who didn't have their phones at all or had them in their pockets. Technology has take over us and it is draining our

The article “How Smart-phones Hijack Our Minds” by Nicolas Carr is about the destructive use of smart phones. So many people depend on their smart phones that it damages with the outcome of their work. Smart phones also make it harder to focus and remember since everything is now saved on your phone. The destruction with the phones don’t only occur with everyday activities, but it also affects your relationships and can cause distractions. Overall, the use of smart phones has shown negative effects on people’s minds.

Murphy’s essay tries to convince the reader that cell phones are limiting and distracting. He compared

As much as I regret to admit it, I’m attached to my phone. I’m constantly reaching into my pocket to check the time, make sure I haven’t gotten a new update, or to send a message. I do this even when I’m not talking to anyone! It’s become an addiction, having to make sure I’m not missing anything, and I'm not the only one who has this problem. Seventy-five percent of the world population has a cell phone, and that number will only increase. With the creation of new technology portions of life have become easier. Technology has changed the way we go through life. It’s made talking to people easier, as well as keeping up with the lives of others. However, the effects have affected the aspects of our lives that don’t include technology.

Being tethered to a phone, as opposed to simply having and using one, has become the norm and does more harm than good at times. People, especially teenagers, cannot seem to put the phones down. Some even admit to being addicted to their smart phones and experience anxiety when they are without it. According to Ellen Gibson, author of “Sleep with Your iPhone? You're Not Alone”, more than thirty-five percent of adults in the U.S. have a smart phone; two thirds of those people actually sleep with their phone due to the anxiety they feel from the thought of missing something such as a text, phone call, email, or social media posting. Gibson states “…being away from their phone will almost certainly cause separation anxiety… some people have become so dependent on being able to use their smartphones to go online anytime, anywhere, that without that access, they ‘can no longer handle their daily routine’”. To some, being addicted to a phone is like being addicted to a drug; there is a strong dependency that makes it hard to focus or concentrate on anything else. After speaking with a group of students from Cranston High School in Connecticut, Turkle says “These young people live in a state of waiting for connection. And they are willing to take risks, to put themselves on the line. Several admit that tethered to their phones, they get into accidents when walking” (236). This is an issue that will

We all carry a smartphone. We have what some might call an addiction for them. They are convenient in certain classes and easy to use. They are also our own escape. We can easily talk to

The brain keeps becoming more dependant and reliable on the use of smartphone slowly causing it to start to become more and more intellectually weakened. Thus, the brain becomes more incapable of processing the same thoughts it would before, an addiction with excess amounts of dopamine from the brain being released given off pleasure. Today phones are shaping a person's daily thoughts and ideas when using the device, but even when they aren’t using it either.

When people think of addictions, usually, drugs and chemical substances come to mind. A frequent trend observed in today’s age is not being able to go anywhere without one’s digital device and being addicted to that device, especially one’s cell phone. Adopting a cell phone separation anxiety, is a type of behavioral addiction that is seen more and more today. On average, people are spending about three hours on their phones each day. Alter states, “‘Behavioral addictions are really widespread now...risen with the adoption of newer more addictive social networking platforms, tablets and smartphones’” (Dreifus). As new technologies that cater to people’s wants increase, addiction to these technologies will increase as well. People become so attached to their phones that they will perhaps get distracted from their current situation. In the article “Hooked On Our Smartphones”, the author Jane E. Brody talked about how sometimes commuters or drivers put themselves in a dangerous position when they pay more attention to their phone instead of what surrounds them. The almost

Are we addicted to our cell phones? This is a common question that has arisen in the past several years as our phone technology and capabilities continue to increase. According to recent statistics, 85% of the U.S. population are cell phone users (Chen).We Americans use our cell phones to do just about everything. We talk, text, check our E-mail, surf the Internet, and interact in social networking, all on our phones. Because our phones have become so resourceful to us in our everyday lives, many say that cell phones have become addicting. Cell phones in today 's life have become very addicting to many people, and there are many ways in which to show how they are addicting.

In “Jessie Brown: Who Says Smartphone Addiction is bad thing? The case for constant connectivity” (Brown, 2012), Brown claims that the cellphone is not the problem, in fact, it is the person and how they choose to value their time while using smartphones.

The cell phone has become a centerpiece of everyday life as cell phones are evolving and have been increasing their functionalities. Today, we use them today for many others reasons than what cell phones were originally designed to do. People are using them so often that they are becoming dependent on their phones that they have even become addicted to them. Those who are addicted to their cell phones struggle to stay away from them for a certain period of time and become so indulged in all of the unique things they can provide. With cell phone addiction comes many problems or issues that can occur in an individual’s life. Cell phone addiction has lead to differences in people mentally, physically, and behaviorally.