Impact of Cellular Phones on Modern Society

Final Paper

Most people in today’s society rely on cell phones for everything. Essentially due to the fact that many cell phones can do just about anything; from checking your stock to connecting to the web. Certain people prefer more accessible features, while others believe a phone should be used for verbal communication. These days phones are a life source to many people, they use them for playing games, talking to relatives, send out important information, and conducting business. We claim that cellular phones are the number one gadgets that impact our work and personal lives. Firstly, in order to have a full conversation with a person, you must give them full undivided attention. Over centuries, a way of communication has changed throughout time. Before technology came out, people were communicating verbally in person. Since then, technology has gone a long way. From writing and sending letters, that took days to reach a destination, to pulling your smart phone out and calling your cousin across the seas and having a conversation while using the camera to see each other. Cell phones are incredible gadgets that were invented to impact people’s work and personal lives. However, this technological gadget being a great one, it has a downfall to it. Cell phones cause people to loose attention to what is going around them. In Alone Together, by Sherry Turkle, the author focuses in one of the chapters on an element regarding attention. She discusses how due to cellular phones, parents are not paying attention to their children or vise-versa (Turkle 266). Attention is not only lost with parents and children, but with everybody. Cell phones changed the way of communication and our everyday life by losing the main aspect of life, which is attention. Attention is the act or state of applying the mind to something (Merriam-Webster). Usually when parents have children, they give them the most attention they can because when it would help shape their confidence and self-esteem. Giving children full attention would also establish that you respect their views and feelings. It has also been established that children would be able to develop their creativity and social skills. If you don’t give your child full attention then you might miss something in their life time or even help destroy their social skills because they see their parent spending their entire leisure time on the phone, and they would think and learn that this is a good thing. As Turkle stated “These teenagers grew up with parents who talked on their cell phones and scrolled through messages as they walked to the playground. Parents texted with one hand and pushed swings with the other” (Turkle 266). These parents did not give those children full-attention when it was the best. When interviewing Kathy Jovanovic, she stated “Playing with [Dragan] when [he] was at the young age was the best time. It was only [Dragan] and I. There was nothing I missed he did, from bloody knees to eating dirt” (Kathy Jovanovic). Since she was there, she told him and spanked him that eating dirt is not good. The only reason Dragan learned not to eat dirt was because his mother was paying attention to him while playing and thought him that eating dirt is bad. But today, many parents get their attention taken away from cell phones and miss out on things their children do. Experiencing this interview and the reading, we could see that the “number one gadget” has impacted our personal lives. Turkle shows great examples of how parents loose attention due to cell phones. Another great example Turkle writes “Children have always competed for their parents’ attention… Previously, children had to deal with parents being off with work, friends, or each other. Today, children contend with parents who are physically close, but mentally elsewhere” (Turkle 267). This is true because parents are with children physically, but mentally somewhere else because they are paying attention to their smart phones rather than their children. When interviewing Brian Daniel, architect for Walsh Group and father of two beautiful daughters, he stated “On occasion, I will find [Bricelyn and Hayden] calling my name 2 or 3 times while I answer an email” (Brian Daniel). Brian showed a great example of what Turkle was trying to say because Brian was physically with his daughters, but mentally he was paying attention to answering an email. Furth more, Bricelyn (age 6) and Hayden (age 5) also showed a great example because their father was not paying attention to them, and they had to shout at him in order they can retrieve his attention. Brian also stated “I try to be very cognizant of the attention they need and how much more important they are then work email” (Brian Daniel). So as much he wants to pay attention to his little girls, he finds himself in a situation couple of times a week when his cell phones takes that attention from the girls. Not only has the cell phone impacted our personal lives, it has impacted our work as well. Many people use cell phones to keep their life organized, between work and personal lives. When it comes to the dark side of cell phone ownership, roughly one in five cell owners say that their phone has made it at least somewhat harder to forget about work at home. There have also been many instances that involve weekends to give people their undivided attention or focus on a single task without being distracted (The Best of Mobile Connectivity).
There’s study done by Aaron Smith with Pew Internet & American Life Project, showed some fascinating results. Citizens from higher income households are more likely to say that their cell phone makes it easier to schedule their daily routine, and to be productive throughout the day. At the same time, cell owners with a household income of more than $75,000 per year are significantly more likely than other cell owners to say that their phone makes it harder to disconnect from the demands of the workplace. Some 17% of these high-income earners say that their phone makes it “a lot” harder to do this. Overall, nearly one third (29%) of high-income cell owners say that their phone makes it at least somewhat harder to disconnect from work at home and on the weekends (The Best of Mobile Connectivity). This study shows that the work class in the United States on the day off work has been contacted through their cell phones regarding their work. So these gadgets have impacted their work lives by making them available 24/7. This interruption can be avoided by not giving your cellphone number at work; however the employees are required or decide to give it in case of emergency. In case any emergency happens and the boss decides to give their employee a call, that emergency call grabs their attention for work related things, and instead of giving the attention to the children, they give it to work related things. All in all, the cell phone technology has impact on our work and personal lives, and that impact is giving more attention to the gadget rather than our work or family.
Secondly, many people of the young and old experience nervousness with their cellular devices because they do not want to feel disconnected from their friends or family. Sherry Turkle discusses and explains how forms of anxiety is closely linked to the way we behave with our smart phones (Turkle, 241). This is especially important for adolescents that have to accept separation every day from home (Turkle, 243). People can feel alone if they don’t carry their smart phones with them because the feeling of being disconnected from others can be vexing. People that experience anxiety with their smart phones become very anxious and tense if they aren’t able to read their messages because they must know what’s being sent to them (Turkle, 243). It is common for many teenagers to have their phones with them at all times because they always want to stay connected with their friends and family when they’re not home (Turkle, 243). Although from our findings during the interviews we conducted, there was a small form of anxiety present with one person that we interviewed by the name of Dana. The small form of anxiety was presented not because of text messaging but as a result of not receiving emails since Dana explained that she communicates more from that. She connects more easily through her email account from her smart phone with people and organizations; when there are not any emails from those individuals she will often feel disconnected. There are many other situations that involve anxiety such as an example used in the book Alone Together involving a sixteen year old teenager girl who feels her online connection helps with her anxiety about boys (Turkle, 253). Depending on the particular situations, this could have some negative effects on a person because they will constantly feel the need check their phones in order to identify what’s being sent to them. Another example of the nervousness people can experience with their smart phones is the amount of information they share online about themselves (Turkle, 251). People experience anxiety with their privacy online because of the fear that anybody could be stalking on their profiles from a social network (Turkle, 251). Teenagers and adults never know who could be looking at their information, pictures or posts sent from their internet connection on their phones. This concern about privacy is very crucial because it could put people in jeopardy in preventing themselves from earning a potential job or a fear for their safety (Turkle, 256). This is a negative impact that has been imprinted on teenagers and adults because their mobile devices are tethered to themselves and has shaped people’s actions. As stated in an article from CNN Money, “They’re the first thing we pick up right after our car keys, and they’re changing our behavior” (Goldman, 1). We believe this quote is a valid claim since cellular technology has progressed so radically it’s altering the way people act and think. People have become so attached to their smart phones that it’s becoming an issue since it enhances people’s nervousness to always be connected and know what’s being sent them. People become so concerned with obsessing over their cellular phones, whether someone is trying to connect with them through a message or over the social media. This anxiety feeling is a contributing factor to why many teenagers and young adults feel the need to text while driving; they must know who’s messaging them even if it involves taking a huge risk (Turkle, 171).
Finally, the art of conversation is crucial in society because younger generations are becoming more familiar with text messaging their conversations rather than face to face interactions (Irvine, 1) This is becoming a problem in society since many people feel there’s no need to call but rather type your thoughts in a message (Irvine, 1). This’s not just a habit that young teenagers engage in but adults contribute to this factor as well for various reasons. Some people argue that texting is easier since you don’t have to immediately respond to a message and engage in a full conversation (Turkle, 187). Although others argue that texting and emailing other people is their preferred method of communication due to exhaustion and over complicated schedules (Turkle, 188). In the interviews that we conducted regarding verbal communication versus text messaging; the group of people interviewed preferred texting rather than communicating verbally on their smart phones. They feel that text messaging is an easier form of communication that does not require them to engage in a full length conversation that might drag out too extensively. Talking on the phone also depends on the situation and whether it is family, friends or business related. In our findings during the interviews, people are more likely to engage themselves into conversations with their family because most individuals in the family aren’t adjusted to text message communication. When it comes to communicating with friends it’s more likely that text messaging would be the preferred choice of communication because it is simple. We also feel that there is a dividing line on how we want to engage in our conversations from our smart phone as well; usually since we are always busy we prefer to text our friends when we have the acquired leisure time. However when it comes to family, preferably we would engage in a verbal phone conversation since the previous generation is not that knowledgeable or interested in texting or other smart phone features to communicate. This also causes the issue for the younger generations not fully engaging themselves with their families because they are preoccupied with their smart phones (FitzGerald, 3). Communication is not as verbal with cellular phones since many people want to speak through typed text messages. An interesting quote from News Time’s online article states, “They’re also texting their friends instead of taking the time to have oral conversations with them” (FitzGerald, 3). This quote is intriguing since it fully explains that people of all ages are living in a fast paced world where verbal conversation is no longer a functional way to communicate. As smart phone technology increases, everything about that device becomes faster and convenient including its impact on how people choose to communicate to one another. There is nothing wrong with choosing to text or verbally speak on your cellular phone, however this is becoming problematic for individuals that depend highly on sending typed messages rather than utilizing their communication skills. In conclusion, seeing the ways people use their cell phones today, we conclude that these portable gadgets have impacted our work and personal lives. Although many people say they use their phones for productive things, we believe that most people are buying smartphones so that they can basically spend all day every day being what we call "iTards." We believe smartphones are actually making people less smart and, dare we say, stupid! We really do. For example, when we did the in class activity to answer five questions without using our cell phones, we barely got two of those answers correct. If we were asked these questions ten years ago, the class would have gotten them all correct. After all, as much as these “cell phones” are smart and helpful, they lessen our intelligence because of our dependence on them and overall waste our leisure time.

Works Cited
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