The Best Smartphones
let the title fool you. I love my smartphone. I love that I can stay connected with friends and family through email, social media and text. I love that I can play games. I love that I can use an app to house all my rewards cards. I love that I can take pictures and listen to music. And I love that I can do all of this with one device.
But while my smartphone is convenient and does help to make life easier, there are disadvantages to these small devices that some of us don’t realize, and these disadvantages could have a negative impact on your life.
They’re distracting.
Smartphone owners—myself included—become so immersed in a text, email, game, web search, social network or whatever we do on our smartphones that we end up not paying attention to the world, people and conversations that are taking place around us. Employees aren’t paying attention to presentations from their employers, parents aren’t paying attention to their children, and far too many people are reaching for their smartphones while driving in order to read that text or email that just came through. There’s a reason the Blackberry was nicknamed the “Crackberry”—it’s because people have a hard time putting their smartphones down. Just thinking about smartphone distractions makes me think of this old Microsoft commercial for the Windows Phone.
They’re expensive.
You get what you pay for, and since smartphones are able to do much more than your typical mobile phone, it makes sense for them to be more expensive. But smartphones are extremely pricey, and that’s because there are fees for everything. First, you have to buy the phone, which will run you around $300 or more for a brand new device. Then, you need to pay for all the accessories, such as cases and extra chargers. You’ll then need to buy a mobile plan, and these plans are more expensive because you’ll need to buy a data package. You’ll also have to pay for some of the apps that you use. And if you’re one of those people that has to have
But while my smartphone is convenient and does help to make life easier, there are disadvantages to these small devices that some of us don’t realize, and these disadvantages could have a negative impact on your life.
They’re distracting.
Smartphone owners—myself included—become so immersed in a text, email, game, web search, social network or whatever we do on our smartphones that we end up not paying attention to the world, people and conversations that are taking place around us. Employees aren’t paying attention to presentations from their employers, parents aren’t paying attention to their children, and far too many people are reaching for their smartphones while driving in order to read that text or email that just came through. There’s a reason the Blackberry was nicknamed the “Crackberry”—it’s because people have a hard time putting their smartphones down. Just thinking about smartphone distractions makes me think of this old Microsoft commercial for the Windows Phone.
They’re expensive.
You get what you pay for, and since smartphones are able to do much more than your typical mobile phone, it makes sense for them to be more expensive. But smartphones are extremely pricey, and that’s because there are fees for everything. First, you have to buy the phone, which will run you around $300 or more for a brand new device. Then, you need to pay for all the accessories, such as cases and extra chargers. You’ll then need to buy a mobile plan, and these plans are more expensive because you’ll need to buy a data package. You’ll also have to pay for some of the apps that you use. And if you’re one of those people that has to have