The Societal and Personal Impacts of the Smartphone Phenomenon
When the bell rings at 2:20 in the afternoon, students hurry to turn on their cell phones and then rush towards their lockers to get their books and binders. Some celebrate that the day is finally over. Others constantly check their phones for any notifications. Among them exist my friends.
In their world there is no direct interaction with the outside world. Only isolation exists. With their heads bent over the cell phones and their fingers being busy pressing buttons on the screen, my friends have a one-to-one conference with their smartphones while making their real- world friends who try to initiate a conversation bodyguards in black suits. Then, in the long hallway of my school, my friends form a long line as if they were part of Henry Ford's assembly line. Still oblivious to the outer world, they perform a cycle-press Send button, wait for replies, and respond. As one of such bodyguards, I merely stare at my obsolete phone, pretending to carry out the cycle as well.
Over the past decades the world has become a place where people prefer miniature and efficient devices to enormous and clumsy electronic items. One of such inventions is a smartphone. When first introduced, it was not so much different from the pre-existing cell phones in the market. However, after Theodore George Paraskevakos combined the cutting-edge computer technology to the conventional phone functions, the history of cell phones faced a remarkable turning point-presenting a clever but addiction-inducing gadget.
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Even though the product is available in any places and at any time for giving information to its users and soothes the lonely by acting as a toy, it tends to preoccupy their lives with its overwhelming power. These people, deprived of practicing social skills such as eloquence and confidence, become seemingly autism-suffering patients. Those who cannot afford to purchase smartphones feel insecurity and low self-esteem.
In addition, the dominance of smartphones leads to increased individualism and lowered cooperation. Especially young generations who communicate through text messaging and accumulate their knowledge via mainly images show impatience and misunderstanding during the face-to-face interactions, including business negotiations. That is, easily distracted to their cell phones, they have difficulty reaching compromises. These negative symptoms contribute to a split among the members in a locality.
Further, sharing ideas and facts through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook on smartphones establishes a big wave of support for or a smear campaign against a specific party. In fact, during the 2008 election, Barack Obama took advantage of this phenomenon through which young adults shared and strengthened their endorsement for him. Therefore, any propagandas broadcast by politicians are not persuasive when people twitters on smartphones.
The introduction of a smartphone brought many benefits-giving access to conveniences such as rapidly collecting opinions and information—and disadvantages causing unproductivity in a company or division in society. Personally, without a smarphone I feel excluded from my friends; but I can endure it. What worries me is where this world is headed to. I fear that advances in communication technology would create social mutants—having bent spines and losing verbal ability.
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The Societal and Personal Impacts of the Smartphone Phenomenon. (2023, Apr 19). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/the-societal-and-personal-impacts-of-the-smartphone-phenomenon/
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