Cellphone Technology

Parents often struggle with communication between their adolescent children and themselves. Teenagers and their phones are often inseparable. Teenagers use their phones for everything. That is how they are easily reached by anyone. In 2008, it was reported that 79% of teens owned a cell phone (Weisskirch, 2011). This allows for more parents to communicate and keep track with their teens. That is important because many times, as children get to certain ages, they began to go places without their parents, and this can cause parents to worry about their safety. Cell phones serve as a portable means of communication. Parents will not have to worry about their child or their whereabouts. They can simply pick up the phone and call their child and make sure that everything is okay. Many cell phones have built in tracking services too. This can serve as a way for parents to keep track of their child and make sure that they aren’t getting into any trouble or dangerous situations.

The communication aspect of cell phones is what influences the relationship between the teens and their parents. Being able to contact your child whenever is a great thing for parents, but doing it excessively will cause teens to become agitated and secretive. A survey was done and it was determined that parents experienced greater communication and closeness when the teens initiated the calls and the calls were more about social topics. Teens found greater conflict when their parents contacted them about school work or to track their locations (Weisskirch, 2011). Teens would rather contact their parents and talk about what they want to talk about instead of their parents contacting them about what they deem as a negative topic. This can be difficult for parents because their main thought is to contact their child when they believe that they need to either get information or tell them some information. Teens want to initiate the conversation on their own terms. This does build a better relationship between parents and teens.

Cell phones also allow families to become more organized. This is done by making sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to important events or things getting done. Many families have started to create group text messages. This helps with making sure chores get done and knowing who will perform what task. If a parent sends their child to the store to pick up some groceries, they can send them a text with a grocery list and their teen will know what is needed and won’t forget anything. This can take the place of notes being left around the house and it also ensures that any message is received and seen by their teen.

There is always a fight between teens and being socially accepted by their peers. In Japan, students have become very dependent on their Keitai, which is a Japanese phone. Many of the students reported that being able to email on their Keitai was useful for their friendships (Kamibeppu & Sugiura, 2005). Many students that participated in the survey stated that they found themselves not being able to live without their Keitai and that they use their Keitai to send emails to their friends more than 10 times a day. Even though this was done in Japan, many of our teenagers experience the same affects. Cell phones are used to keep in contact with friends outside of school. This is how teens build relationships when school is out, including weekends and summer break. This is their main source of communication. They are able to get to know people, and in return, they feel more socially accepted.

Teens also struggle with peer relationships. They are very dependent on the relationships between them and their peers. They want to build friendships with others. This can cause them to become dependent on their phones. If teens feel that their peer relationship attachment is poor, they will look for ways to satisfy that need. They will do this by establishing and maintaining peer relations via social networking services activities on their cell phones (You & Lim, 2019). This means that when teens feel that their peer relationships aren’t what they want to be, they will use social media to help build those relationships. This is done on their cell phones and this cause a dependency on the phones. This goes along with teens feeling socially accepted with their cell phones. They use their phones to build those friendships and this, in return, make them feel better about their social standings.

Cell phones have become a huge distraction between couples. Many times, couples are together physically, but not mentally due to one or both of them being on their cell phones. This is known as phubbing in the article, and it has an impact on the satisfaction of the relationship. A relationship is considered satisfying when both parties are physically and mentally available to their partner. This means that when they are together, they are giving each other their undivided attention. Phubbing causes problems in relationships (Roberts & David, 2015). People don’t want to feel ignored when they are in the presence of someone else. This causes a negative feelings within those relationships. People allow their phones to be more important than the people that should matter most. This is where the problem comes in. The phones aren’t the issue, but the constant use and dependency on them is what causes the issues. This can make your significant other not feel wanted or needed. The use of the cell phones cause conflict within the relationship.

Relationships can be negatively impacted by cell phones because they can allow trust to be broken by individuals. Many times, cell phones can be used as a way to be unfaithful to your partner. It also can serve as a means to be accused of things that you aren’t doing. If your significant other feels that you are spending too much time on your cell phone, it can cause issues within the relationship. This will cause couples to place restrictions on the usage of them. Many couples like to dictate who their significant other can and cannot communicate with on their cell phone. They also like to establish what they feel is appropriate use and what they feel is not. Many couples set rules in place and this helps them to avoid the repercussions of monitoring calls and texts that may be considered inappropriate (Miller-Ort, et al, 2012). This can help eliminate issues that may arise from the lack of trust. If couples don’t set the rules in place, they can end up doing things that can cause conflict within their relationship. There is a direct correlation between the satisfaction with cell phone usage and the relationship (Miller-Ort, et al, 2012). If couples are satisfied with how they are using their cell phones, their relationship will be in good standings. If they are having problems with their cell phone usage, then they will have issues within their relationship. This is a major impact on their relationship.

Cell phone usage is a huge part of our lives every day. Many people will consider it to have a direct impact on our interpersonal relationships. Many people believe that having a cell phone is more beneficial than harmful. This can be true due to the benefits of being able to have an open source of communication at all times, however, when it is used in excess, it can be very detrimental to our relationship and often times our health. Our health and relationships are link together and cell phone usage can impact both in many different ways. Learning how to use your phone in a positive way, along with in moderation, can be exactly what we need to eliminate some of the negative impacts and boost the positive impacts. We can’t allow it to take over our life, but enhance it like it was created to do.

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