Smartphone Addiction Essay

The article states, “Fifty percent of teens feel they are addicted to their mobile devices...A larger number of parents, 59% said their teens were addicted. The poll involved 1,240 interviews with parents and their children, ages 12 to 18.” Wallace and other parents interviewed for the story, are convinced that teens are practically attached to their phones, even the teenagers admit this statement it true.

EVIDENCE : Half of teens now feel “addicted” to their mobile devices – and 60 percent of parents agree with

Cell phones and the computers are similar to each other in many different ways. One of the most common similarities is the internet aspect. With everyone connected to the internet, the adverse effects can spread throughout like a virus. “A Nielsen study released in 2010 indicated that texting was the primary reason for purchasing mobile phones and that text communication had become a "’centerpiece of mobile teen behavior.’" The modern smartphone of the 2010s is a powerful computing device, and the rapid and ongoing development of new applications provides users with a growing number of ways to use mobile phones for recreation, productivity, and social communication” (Issitt 2016). In the following Issitt states, “however, as smartphones have become more common, concerns about the detrimental effects of smartphone use have also increased.” (Issitt 2016). Issitt expresses the large growth of people with smartphones has its positives and negatives. The positives being the ability to communicate, but the negative being the effects on relationships with one another. An example of the negative side of things is the lack of interaction with people. People are more likely to call or text instead of interacting with one another. The lack of interaction can ruin relationships, or make people feel unwanted. In the article “Eurasian Journal of Educational Research,” the writer states that the internet, “can transform into an addictive instrument in excessive usage situations.” (Gunduz 2017). The statement explains the issue of the unnecessary use of the internet as a growing addictive process that is taking over more and more

Technology is a fun way to stay entertained, and can also be useful in completing many everyday tasks. It is most certainly something that has revolutionized the way we do many things, but has also taken over our everyday lives. Could this form of entertainment qualify as an addiction? If so, how similar is the addiction of technology to the addiction of drugs?

Ana Homayoun, author of Social Media Wellness: Helping Teens and Tweens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World, wrote an article in The New York Times about the conflicts parents face with allowing their children to have smartphones. She gives insight on how to minimize the risk of smartphone addiction by establishing guidelines and monitoring children's use.

Technology has impacted and influenced how people function and devote their time immensely. With the creation of smartphones, computers, and social networks, people have adopted them into their lives and use them daily, which creates a dependence on these devices. An immoderate dependence upon technology is a state that humanity has come to in today’s age that permits people to believe that they essentially cannot function without it. The fear of not having one’s cellphone or being in a position where one’s cellphone cannot be used, whether it be because of a dead battery or having no signal, is known as nomophobia. This phobia can be described as a cell phone separation anxiety. Even though technology

That feeling of when one has momentarily misplaced their smartphone creates a sense of panic that can only be compared to withdrawal symptoms of someone without the source of their addiction. Richtel brings up an interesting correlation between the decline of drug use in teenagers and the rise of using smartphones becoming the status quo. This question is something that is entirely probable when the thought of behavioral addiction comes into play. Social psychologist Adam Alter who was interviewed by Claudia Dreifus in her article, describes addiction as “something you enjoy doing in the short term, that undermines your well-being in the long term — but that you do compulsively anyway”. Smartphones are something that most people use as a way of passing the time or for procrastination. This dependency is built over time with the smartphone; for example, while 30 minutes scrolling through Instagram occasionally seems harmless, it becomes habitual when this is the thing you reach for every time you have a free minute or two. Slowly we as a society, and most especially teenagers who have only known this their entire lives, have become dependent on the convenience of

A reporter for CNN, Kelly Wallace, addresses her concern about the future generation in her article, “Half of Teens Think They’re Addicted To Their Smartphones.” After pointing out factual information from a variety of polls and reviews about mobile device usage, she expresses her panic over digital addiction. Not only does she mention teens suffering from this potential “public health threat,” but parents are added in as well. As Wallace collects information from various surveys, she also gathers opinions from parents and a digital detox expert named Holland Haiis. Throughout all the statistics Wallace mentions in her article, she also discretely mentions the importance of rules and boundaries. Regardless, the increasing amount of use

Everywhere you go teens seem to be glued to their phones, tablets, or computers. Technology is an addiction that does not seem to be going away any time soon. According to the Washington Post, teens can spend up to seven or more hours on their digital devices a day and the usage is still increasing. Not surprisingly enough, more than a third of all teenagers own a cellphone, ranging from a smart phone or just a plain old-school flip phone. But can spending all that time on their computers and smart devices be such a bad thing? Today’s easy access, always on world presents a wealth of opportunity for teens as students, but also challenges them to retain them essential humanity and unique personalities.

A study has shown the teenage demographic is now addicted to a new narcotic: smartphones. In Kelly Wallace’s article, “Half of Teens Think They’re Addicted to Their Smartphones,” it is becoming a worry to some parents that their teen is heavily addicted to their cell phones. Parents across the United States have opinions about the addiction. About more than half of parents that were surveyed believed that their child was addicted to their phones. Even though some parents may see it as an addiction, it may be a little less severe. In the article it states, “A 2011 review of 18 research studies found that Internet addiction might affect between zero and 26% of adolescents and college students in the United States, according to Common Sense Media.”

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.

Luigi Gallimberti, et. al discusses in their article “Problematic Cell Phone Use for Text Messaging and Substance Abuse in Early Adolescence (11- to 13-year-olds),” that problematic cell phone use (PCPU), is associated with psychological distress, low self-esteem, depression, drug abuse, insomnia, and thoughts of suicide (356). The overuse of cellphones can really detriment a person mentally and could cause them to arrive at one of these issues stated. An issue also arises when a person with a cell phone addiction is in school. They tend to remain unfocused while on their phones and they don’t participate during class. In a sample, the students who had better test grades were less likely to have a problematic cell phone addiction (Gallimberti, et. al 360). This finding confirms the positive association between cell phone addiction and poor performance in school. In schools, it was concluded that this overuse of cellphones was positively connected with deficient school performance in teens with an average age of 15.7 years old (Gallimberti, et. al 360). Aviad Hadar studies in his article “Answering the Missed Call: Initial Exploration of Cognitive and Electrophysiological Changes Associated With Smartphone Use and Abuse” that cell phone addiction was studied to be linked with reduced attention, changes in how someone processes, stores, and applies information about other people and social

Technology has become a great benefit to us but many people have taken it too far. According to researcher and surveys taken all over the world shows that a large number of people may have become addicted to their technological devices and are not able to make it through a day without their cell phones or other technological devices. Many have concerns that people would rather use these devices than to have a face to face conversation. The addictions of technological devices are on the rise. Although these devices were meant to make our lives easier there have been many problems to arise ranging from health risk, relationship problems, classroom, church, and work interferences. Statistics show that cell

What is the definition of addiction? It is the uncontrolled use of a habit-forming drug or uncontrolled and unhealthy behavior. It results from an illness triggered by brain changes that occur after using some drugs or after engaging in some extremely pleasurable activities (Kowalski). When most people first think of addiction, drugs or alcohol come to mind, a cell phone normally wouldn’t. People do not realize that cell phone addictions are around us daily. Since cell phones are such a norm in today’s society, it is not something that would cross your mind. When is there not a time when you walk into a restaurant or a cafeteria and every teenager or college student is looking down either texting or using social media on their cell phones? The answer, always. Cell phones take hold of us all the time and becoming this addiction that no one can let go of. Cell phones are not necessarily bad, but they are being used too much and it takes away from college students person to person interaction, academics, even affecting their health and much more.

Symptoms of this dependence include anxiety when away from the device, social media addiction due to ease of access, and sedentary behaviors (Lepp et al., 2014). This excessive use is extremely prevalent in the college scene due to how much hinges on their devices. Social media, school, communicating and entertainment all hinge on the smartphone which in turn promotes its use creating a cycle that leads to the addiction that most students are oblivious about. This device has a plethora of effects that range from a decrease in quality academic performance to a complete disatisfaction with life (Lepp et al., 2015). Can this behavior be able to be controlled or stopped using the right interventions? The following text will explore the symptoms and effects of high smartphone usage amongst college students, and see what intervention proves to be the most effective in solving this social issue.