The Overuse of Smartphones in Today's Society

Many times our fears of what is unknown to us are often the strongest fears we hold as human beings. However, what if it was the fear of things we already know that were the most powerful and influential in our lives? In modern society, many hold within themselves a deep-seated fear of the technology that the world has become so revolved around. Additionally, it has recently become debatable whether or not this technology has become a hindrance to members of the so-called iGeneration, born between 1995 and 2012, who have grown up in a world surrounded by technology. Truly, the members of older generations, including millennials who have had themselves split off from the apparent technology obsessed generation of the youngest millennials, have expressed their concern as to whether or not these vast differences in generations have to do with the unhealthy use of technology. Among those to have analyzed this phenomenon is writer Jean M. Twenge who in her article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?,” utilizes the study of a modern 13 year old girl named Athena to exemplify a plethora of determinants that technology has imposed on young people and the slow deterioration of everything from independence and social skills to a decline mental health due to technology use. Many of Twenge’s statements reveal the belief that many members of iGen are unequipped to handle adulthood and are even less happy because of the technology that has played a significant role in their lives

In her article “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, Jean M. Twenge discusses the effects on “generation i” with rising smartphone and social media usage. In the article, she provides multiple statistics to support her claims on what’s happening with the “i generation”, and generations past through social media use. She concludes that while smartphones have some positive social impact on the generation (like lower teen pregnancy rates), there has been real damage to the generation as well. I have concluded that, our generation has been more negatively impacted through smartphone usage than positively impacted. This is a strong point to make but, through my own experiences and, after reading Twenge’s article I find myself thinking about what smartphones have done to us as a growing generation. I have witnessed firsthand numerous downsides to having a smartphone that Twenge reports on.

Over the last four decades, mobile devices have become the trademark of our society.cell phones and other mobile devices have inundated our society At any given time; we can see drivers talking or texting in a moving vehicle. According to Brenner (2013), 87% of American adults and 78% of teenagers own a cell phone. The scary part is that almost two-thirds of

phones these days have it all. Add instant connectivity to people across the globe, and it’s

When I go to the doctor's office to receive my annual checkup, one of the first questions I am inevitably asked is “how many hours of screen time do you average per week?” In a nutshell, this is how my generation is perceived by others and is how we will be remembered unless a behavioral change occurs. I believe the problem of smartphones and technology is being severely underestimated and may have an active role in the downfall of mankind. Government regulation clearly has no impact and this sector of the economy is too lucrative for companies to shy away from ($478.7 billion in annual global sales). Smartphones are an engineering feat, arguably one of the greatest inventions ever, but they also

Odds are, that in your pocket right now, is one of the single most advanced pieces of technology. But how did it get there? Your smartphone is the culmination of a movement that started more than fifty years ago. Although, technology as a whole has grown more in the past fifty years than in the past two thousand years. It all started with the creation of the personal computer. The first desktop computer to be mass produced and sold nationwide was the MITS Altair 8800 in 1975. However, interest in computers was very high before that point in time. In fact, several technology companies and industries already took shape before that point. These desktop computers, as well as mega computers marked the beginning of an era. This era is one that

Our smart phones, tablets, and other electronic devices are distracting us. While looking at their smart phones, people have actually fallen into water fountains at the mall. Others have walked into icy rivers in the middle of winter while texting or have even jumped into them to rescue a fallen phone. These devices not only put us in danger, but also to those around us. People bump into and hurt others on the sidewalk while playing Candy Crush or tweeting. Now it has come to the point where no one would blink an eye if a student is shot on a crowded train full of commuters.

Too many people get killed daily from texting and driving and too many are killed daily. So many young people have lost their lives from texting or going in snapchat, it’s not just from driving, it could be from crossing the street and not seeing traffic. We are too distracted from technology these days we don’t worry about the reality, we are only worried about what is on our phones. We could miss our kids first steps due to staring at that screen and commenting and sharing posts on facebook instead. You have a big class assignment due tomorrow and the first thing you do when you get home is turn on your Xbox or Playstation and start playing video games until it’s too late to try and do your homework. During work you’re on your phone texting your friends planning a party for the weekend instead of doing what you’re supposed to be doing when you’re at work. Technology has distracted us to the point where we are texting and driving, skipping school work, getting distracted from work, and not worried about reality anymore.

Thesis: The usage of cell phones in modern day society has caused quite the problem for citizens in this generation by being a major distraction, causing addictions, and has sadly became the main resource of communication.

As people are out and about in society, it is hard for them to be social with one another. People are avoiding uncomfortable situations by using their phone as a distraction. Often times people in society do not even notice the people or things that are happening around them. “The more advanced technology becomes, the more it seems to have control over our lives” (Nables, 2012). How often is it that you can just walk into a restaurant and not see someone on their phone? People are constantly checking their phone to see if they have received a new message, email, or app notification :

In the article, “Etiquette: Reintroducing real- life to a smartphone-obsessed society”, the author Ian Brown from the Globe and Mail has developed a number of valid arguments on how technology negatively influences society. In particular, he focuses how smart phones have negatively affected individuals’ day-to-day lives. He develops his thoughtful and well-structured arguments through the usage cause and effect, compare and contrast and lastly, examples.

Although technology is a big part in our daily lives whether we are using them for work or for social media, these devices are getting in the way of interaction with families at the diner table, you’re competing with technology for attention, and what you post on the internet could make a bad impression on you as well as your family. You see in today’s generation that everyone has the smartphone. They are constantly checking their phones, and us humans are addicted to today’s technology. Technology has become such a big part of our lives that when we get into the driver’s seat of a vehicle, we instantly put our lives into danger.

The first smart phone was invented in 1992 and came to be called the IBM from Simon. This phone was not released until two years later. The IBM was too expensive for consumers to buy, so this phone was mainly for corporate users and enterprises. The Simon is what revolutionized the ninety’s. There were many features on this phone that included email, fax, Internet, web browsing, and a camera. This was all during the first phase. The second phase began when apple released their iPhone in 2007. This time, the iPhones were made available and sold to the public. This is just a little bit of background information about how smartphones came to be in this world and whom they were sold to.

At first, I was going to analyze and write about smartphones, however I found it more efficient to write also about a particular smartphone to narrow it down from such a broad technological artifact, such as answering who designed it, what for, what their position and the impact they want to have on society was, and their future visions. Therefore, I chose the iPhone as the centerpiece of smartphones I will be analyzing and an emphasis on applications. However, some of this information is relevant and interchangeable to all other smartphones. IPhones and smartphones allow us to access constant information and offer it the way we want it, as it is completely customizable now to fit our learning style. They keep us organized, send information to us in different ways, even shape and offer solutions such as for politics, economies, problems whether individual ones or globally. Smartphones capitalize on shared knowledge and has opened the door to inventors and those who have the knowledge to make our world a more connected place and lives easier by sharing it with us to use. We are able to communicate with other people far off, through space-time compression or shrinking-space to gather news and information.

If I were to ask each of you if you were able to go an entire day without your mobile device, very few can say they`d be able to do so. In fact, in a recent TIME Magazine Mobility Poll, 84% out of 5000 people surveyed in 8 different countires, admitted that they couldn’t go a single day without their phones and a third of respondents admitted that being without their mobile device for even short periods of time leaves them feeling anxious. It is clear that whenever we`re waiting for those last five minutes before the bell rings to every class, our automatic impulse is to reach for our phone. Do you really need to check anything that important? The sad truth is that we have become far too dependent on our phones. The fear that we might miss the latest gossip, or the most recent updates on all of our social webesites seems more like an addiction than anything else. We`ve clouded our vision as to what is really important, and that is-quality human interaction.