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Do Smartphones Make People Less Social?

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Do Smartphones Make People Less Social? Everyone knows smartphones are causing us to tune out the world and interact less with others. But is that really the case? We have all seen it first hand: you get into an elevator with a bunch of strangers and everyone pulls out their phone and fixates on the screen. It is the same scene whether you are waiting for a subway, standing in line at the grocery store or sitting in the doctor's office. Worse, you can go into a restaurant and see friends and couples doing the same thing; spending more time with an electronic device than a fellow human being. There is even a term for this called phubbing, "the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention." Someone may say mobile devices change how people interact with another or…show more content…
Someone may have many work colleagues he has never met in person but with whom he has carried out enlightening conversations through email and messaging. Someone may have family members and neighbors in his social media list that live throughout the country, and he has been able to keep up on what they are doing to get to know them, and vice versa. It is absurd to state a smartphone makes one less social if it is used to interact with others, but it is also worth questioning the quality of those social connections people focus on. As to whether smartphones are making people less social, the answer is "it depends on the individual." Ways to use them constructively are what people need. The moral here is that it is not always easy to apply a single answer to a complex question involving differing personalities and pursuits. It is worth examining further how people can use smartphones to evolve while retaining human connections and maintaining the day-to-day slices of life that build the environment
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