questions are attached

Excessive screen time on smartphones and tablets has led to the unfortunate development of smartphone obesity. In the article “Impact of Smartphone’s on society,” by Sarwar, M., & Soomro, T.R., they discuss how smartphones can have a negative effect on one’s health, education, social life and human psychology. Many people spend multiple hours, perhaps even most of their day, using a smartphone. They can be used for many things, not limited to, but including; texting, gaming, social media, video and music streaming, etc.. The majority of people spend a minimum of eight hours on their smartphones every day. Unfortunately, this almost obsessive usage brings along with it many issues. It can reduce good, healthy eating habits and in turn lead to unhealthy eating habits, which can be extremely harmful to their health. It has been found that the majority of smart phone users consume three times the standard suggested amount of sugar, mainly because they are interested in eating something that is easily accessible and less time consuming to make or buy. Typically, many junk foods will serve this purpose and most junk foods contain large amounts of sugar and preservatives. In addition to this, since there is a lack of exercise being maintained, it becomes difficult for the body to burn off excess fats, which can in fact, be a leading factor in obesity. The excessive use of smartphones has also lead to poor sleeping habits. Many users will attest to having a significant reduction in number of hours being slept on an average night, solely due to using these gadgets. Lack of sleep can lead to other issues, including exhaustion, making it difficult to function in everyday life. Exhaustion can also lead to poor performance in work or school, as it becomes more difficult to focus and productivity is decreased significantly. Another negative affect of the social media obsession is that this is creating unhealthy, narcissistic behavior, even starting from a young age. It could also exaggerate the need to be accepted by others and lead to self-esteem issues based on what people are seeing on these social media sites via their smartphones. Eye sight can also be affected by constant usage of phones. The constant strain on your eyes to read the small text and the brightness can diminish your sight and damage your eyes. It could also cause headaches. As you can see, there are many side effects that can occur from long term or constant use of phones.

Continued use of smartphones has resulted in anti-social habits among users. In the article “Good Habits Gone Bad: Explaining negative consequences associated with the use of mobile phones from a dual-systems perspective.” By Soror, Amr A., Hammer, Bryan I., Steelman, Zachary R., Davis, Fred D., Limayem, Moez M., it discusses the negative impact smartphones can have on one’s personal and social life. Additionally, it discusses how smartphones can influence our behavior. More than thirteen percent of cell phone users have anti-social behaviors. The manner in which people communicate in person, on a daily basis, has been affected significantly. The one-on-one physical interactions among individuals has been reduced, as many will opt out, replacing this form of communication with telephone calls or even simply sending text message. This causes social relationships to deteriorate day in and day out. There is also the aspect of social media, which is has become one of the main forms of communication between many people. Most social media sites have applications which can be downloaded to smartphones, making them easily accessible. This can cause many issues, a major one also being the deterioration of personal relationships. It is vital for us, as human beings, to have these physical interactions and communications with others. In addition to this, communicating solely through phone call, text messages, and social media can open conversations up to misinterpretation and misunderstanding, which can lead to arguments and again, the deterioration of our personal and professional relationships.

There is a growing thrive to make everyday life and tasks easier and more convenient, however, in my opinion, smartphones have done more harm than they have done good. In the article “The brain in your pocket: Evidence that smartphones are used to supplant thinking. Computers in human behavior.” By Barr, N., Pennycook, G., Stolz, J. A., & Fugesang, J.A., they discuss how people are becoming too reliant on cell phones. Saying that we are often offloading our thinking process on technology. While some of these applications have accomplished the goal of making everyday life easier and more convenient, it seems that there is so much that we are sacrificing in return. It almost begs the questions of, are these sacrifices that we are making really worth it? Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need to thrive and grow as a society. However, I believe there are other, healthier ways we can do this. I don’t completely agree with being so incredibly reliant on smartphones. My worry is that if we become too reliant on them, it will become more difficult for people to function without these gadgets and applications. Technology does have its flaws and there is always a chance that it may fail us at some point, so we need to maintain the ability to live and communicate effectively without them. In addition, we need to take into consideration that not everyone has the resources to maintain a smartphone or even the knowledge of using them properly. So, in a society where this technology is being used as the main form of communications, there are some people who get lost in this. These people miss out on certain opportunities or it becomes more difficult for them to have access to certain programs due to the lack of technology. There should still be an alternative option for these people and while in some cases there are, many companies and such are converting to mostly technology based.

Since starting this research paper, I have been studying my fellow peers, my friends and my family to see how smartphone affect them. I have found that even walking around campus, I see a significant majority of students using their phones. This is also true for many family and friends. Even if you take a trip to the mall, you will see a large majority of people using their phones. It is important for people to take into account that while smartphones can be extremely helpful, they can also cause significant harm to our lives. As a society, we need to focus on utilizing the positive qualities of smartphones, as they are helpful in many aspects and to a certain extent, but also understanding that there should be a limit to how much we use and rely on these gadgets. There is a fine line we need to be cautious of, being able to utilize them without becoming completely reliant on them at the same time. We should also be able to functions just as well without them as we do with the assistance and convenience that they provide for us. In addition, we should use them with the understanding that healthy physical relationships also need to be maintained with good communication. Keeping in mind that it is imperative for us as human beings, to have that one-on-one, face-to-face communication. If we can find some sort of happy-medium between the two, it would be for the better and it would allow society to function more productively.

Work Cited

Sarwar, M., & Soormro, T.R. (2013). Impact of Smartphone’s on Society. European Journal of Scientific Research, 98(2), 216-226.

Soror, Amr A., Hammer, Bryan I., Steelman, Zachary R., Davis, Fred D., Limayem, Moez M. Good Habits Gone Bad: Explaining negative consequences associated with the use of mobile phones from a dual-systems perspective. Information Systems Journal. Jul2015, Vol. 25 Issue 4, p403-427.

Barr, N., Pennycook, G., Stolz, J. A., & Fugelsang, J.A. (2015). The Brain in Your Pocket: Evidence That Smartphones Used to Supplant Thinking. Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 473-480.