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Telephones - Other
The advantages and disadvantages of owning a mobile phone
By: Wayne Leon Learmond
• Published: December 5, 2013

Long gone are the days when people would search around desperately for loose change in order to use the public phone box. Long gone are the days of standing in queues in all weathers in order to wait for that all-important phone call - if one did not have a land-line phone at home. Mobile phones have freed us from all of the inconveniences of the way we used phones in the past.

The blessing, these days, is the fact that now, communication is instant and we can communicate at any time and in any place. Furthermore, mobile devices, have become much more than just 'phones'. indeed, they have actually outgrown what they were originally meant to do.

The very early days of text messaging on mobile devices - which, in the 1990s, users could only text SMS messages of 160 character limit- was a forerunner to what is around now. Indeed, it was a far cry to the messages people can text in the present day. But in the past, SMS was the height of technology. SMS opened up a whole new world of possibilities - in reference to our mobile phones and how we used them.

Indeed, the bonus of SMS messaging was the fact that messaging was instantaneous, and, above all, free. Of course, the downside of this was that the person being messaged, would have had to have the same phone network as the one sending the message. However, that did not really matter. The public had fallen for their mobile devices in a big way. The novelty of being able to communicate with our family and friends at any time of the day or night, put paid to the people using the public phone box.

These days, the benefits of our mobile devices are such that people are now unable to leave home without them. Indeed, they are used, not just as phones now, but as electronic secretaries. They have now, in fact, become more than the sum of what they originally were. They are Jacks-of-all-trades, in not only enabling people to phone and text, but to play games, music, watch films and do all manner of things on them.

They have become absolutely essential - especially during moments of emergencies. And society cannot now do without them. Yet their benefits are equaled out by their curses. Indeed, mobile devices have become so entrenched within society that something has crept up upon society without us even noticing.

This change in the way people communicate - silently - through text messages - has now become one of the main banes of society. Oral communication is becoming rarer as people, with heads down walk the streets, or sit on the buses all messaging away. Eye contact with another human being has become rare, too. And the English Language, as we once knew it, has now been compromised to such an extent that it is now unrecognizable.

Society, because of mobile phones/devices, has changed, for the worst. People have become less friendly, and suspicion of others who actually have the audacity to speak, is now very high. The other curse that seems to have gone unnoticed about mobile devices is the way they now attach themselves to our lives. Hidden applications which record our every step has now become the 'norm'.

Applications which attach themselves to our devices in order to find out everything about us, obviously has the potential to cause great damage. Who would have thought that during the early stage of SMS, our phones, would eventually have the ability to be able to track our every move?

So mobile phones have now become both a blessing and a curse. Society cannot do without them, it is as simple as that. They have become indispensable to us and this is a fact that has to be faced. However, as they continue to progress and advance, the ever-present danger of spying on our every move in even more intrusive ways is always there.

Furthermore, as society grows even more attached to their mobile devices, they will continue to lose a little of their humanity - in terms of a lack of face to face communication. This is the biggest curse of all, in the advancement and progress of mobile phone technologies. It is a Pandora's Box, in which, even though we could close the lid, we will simply refuse to do so. This is because there are far too many people who have invested their whole life within their mobile phones.

It has become a catch twenty two. Although there are many who may hate the fact that our mobile devices use applications to track our every move, we cannot help but to carry on using them. They have become, not unlike some kind of electronic drug in which people have withdrawal symptoms if they are parted from their phones for even an hour. This is the demon we have summoned up. And it really is to our detriment.
More about this author: Wayne Leon Learmond

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Feature Article of Sunday, 26 June 2011
Columnist: Adjei, Eunice Achiaa
Mobile Phone: A Blessing Or A Curse?
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Mobile phones have become ubiquitous in our society. In fact, telephones have been around for several decades in some form or another tracing back to the invention of telephone way back in 1870s by Alxendar Graham Bell. Alexander Graham Bell's success with the design of telephone came as a direct result of his attempts to improve the telegraph which was the most widely used electronic communication device.

The technology began to take shape in the late 1940s, when the idea of a mobile phone was introduced. Mobile phones are looked upon as a modern invention. However, their origin can be traced to the time when radio messages began to be captured successfully. .

Just about 20-30 years ago, people always wanted a device which could connect them with their families, business associates and loved ones all around the world at any given time possible. But as people always love innovation Motorola made the World’s first ever Mobile Phone. Nobody at that time could imagine that a device like a mobile phone could keep them connected, on the go to their loved ones despite being kilometers away.

Arguably, mobiles phones have become one of the best gifts that humanity has ever received in the twenty first century because of its numerous benefits. It is a fact that having a mobile phone nowadays is a sort of a necessity and it is an inevitable truth that the mobile industry is taking everyone by storm. A mobile phone is a device with so many advantages contributing convenient living for both the old and young generations.

Apart from serving as a great medium in telling lies (i.e. both caller and receiver can be deceived since one cannot tell where exactly the other person is), there are so many advantages to the user. This includes keeping you in constant contact with people you consider important, helps you seek help immediately during emergency cases, and gives a sense of being financially uplifted in the past, lessen your boredom, example listening to your favorite music and as well as watching movies through downloading. Also the mobile phone can be used to take wonderful pictures of both happy sad moments as well as aiding studies through the use of the internets features on the phone.

But, is everything about the mobile phone a blessing? Recently, a division of the World Health Organization (WHO) classified cell phones as a "possible carcinogen." This means that though no definite link has been established between cell phone use and some form of cancer, there's enough evidence that the group believes more research is needed. Other "possible carcinogens," according to the WHO, include lead, exhaust from gasoline engines, chloroform, and coffee. But the report stated clearly that cell or mobile phones radiation might cause cancer to the human brain. The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer has now tied mobile phone radiation to an increased risk for “glioma brain tumors”.

Thirty one scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, spent a week poring over existing studies of which they added radio frequency electromagnetic fields to a long list of "possibly carcinogenic". At the high end of the scale, ionizing, solar, and ultraviolet radiation were classified as "carcinogenic." Wireless phone radiation falls into the third five ranked categories. Given the current state of the available evidence, what do you think? Will you still express contempt to the warnings, or are you worried? Will you change the rules about your kids’ cell phone use because of this? What about your cell phone use? Will you limit your own talking on the cell? One would also prefer to be the new age “Doubting Thomas "who will refuse to believe everything without direct, physical, personal evidence

May be you can consider my advice, though it may be difficult in order not for you to turn the mobile phone into a killing machine as proven by science. Nevertheless these tips from my views may help reduce your radiation exposure, if you really prefer to exercise caution; Use a Headset Headsets will help reduce radiation exposure than from a phone pressed to your ear. Another option is to use your speakerphone (behind closed doors, please). If using the phone without a headset, wait for the call to connect before placing the phone next to the ear Text, Don't Talk Text messaging involves less radiation than does making a phone call. (Just don't text while walking, since bumping your head will hurt you much more quickly than any wireless radiation might.)

Turn It Off Even if you check your work e-mail at midnight, there's little need to keep your phone turned on 24/7. (The science may be unclear on mobile phone radiation, but stress and sleep deprivation clearly harm your health.) Instead of keeping your handset by your pillow for a wake-up call, use a dedicated alarm clock. No calls when charging Allow your phone to charge fully and return calls later. Better still switch it off before you are tempted to pick when a call comes through whilst charging.

Indeed, mobile phones has contributed immensely to our lives but the blessing and the curse of it turned out to be in the way it has enabled us to live in our own virtual community and the disciplinary measures lined for ourselves in the usage of it.

Eunice Achiaa Adjei
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