Do
you ever walk in the mall and notice that almost everyone is looking at their
smart phone? “People spend an average of 8 hours 21 minutes sleeping a
day – but spend an average of 8 hours 41 minutes on media devices”
(dailymail.com). It really is absurd how we spend more time on our phones a day
than we do sleeping. We as homosapians use our phones a lot more than we
notice, whether is through texting, social media, calling or taking selfies. The
smart phone is a very useful tool, but like everything, too much of it is bad
for you. People are always on it and do not notice that there is a lot of
negative side effects to it. There is no doubt that we are in love with our
smartphones.
“In 1792,
the telegraph was invented”, which was basically where the phone originated
from (Complete History of Social Media). The phone was created in “March 10,
1876” (The First Telephone Call). During those times the phone was not an
epidemic because the only thing you could do on it was just call someone, but
it eventually evolved into a smart phone. “The first mobile telephone call was
made on April 3, 1973 by Martin Cooper"(mobile phone: Top 20 facts). As
time passed, the phone started to do more things and became more mobile, which
caused people to start getting more and more addicted to it.
There is
three major examples of the threat of this phone epidemic;
1.
Texting and driving
2.
Social media
3.
Children effects
The first
example is texting and driving. As the phones kept getting better, humans
became so addicted that they risk their lives and others on the road by texting
and driving. “In 2011, at least 23% of auto collisions involved cellphones……
that’s 1.3 million crashes” (Texting and Distracted Driving Infograaphic). It
is so absurd that people keep texting and driving knowing the consequences at
risk, which could involve multiple deaths. “The risk of a crash or near-crash
among novice drivers increased with the performance of texting and dialing cell
phones” (Distracted driving…).
Phones in
general are a threat to life when someone is driving. Do you ever drive to the
store and get a text message or a call; what do you do? Most people tend to get
their phones and answer phones as soon as possible. That is why there is so
many crashes caused by cellphones. “The National Safety Council reports that
cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year” (Cell
Phone Use While Driving Statistics ). There are so many commercials and warning
signs on the street warning us about it, but we are still too foolish that we
decide to do it because we think it will take only five seconds to send a
message.
Another
example of a negative effect phones have is the social media. “In 1994, the
first social networking site was created, Geocities. Geocities allowed the users to create and
customize their own web sites”. (How It All Began!). This also evolved and now
we have a lot of social media websites for example Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
and snap chat. Social media has basically changed the way of life for millions
of people. Go to the mall and you will see a line of five teenagers walking
looking down at their phone on social media. People spend so much time on them when
there are a lot of things they could do that is productive. Social media has a
really bad side to it. People believe social media websites are good because they
can communicate with old friends and family, but they do not know that they
spend too much time on them, they pay less attention to their kids, family
members or friends. It can also put people’s self-esteem down, because social
media makes people compare themselves with other people, makes them think their
life is boring because they do not go out as much as their “friend” on
Facebook. That is why teenagers post pictures of certain things because they
either want people to like them or envy them. It could also make you feel like no one likes
you because you did not get enough likes, or because the picture above yours
has more likes. “Without a lot of “likes,” followers, or retweets, teens see
themselves as “not good enough”.” (Social media affects teens’). Even Albert
Einstein saw this epidemic coming, he said, “I fear the day that technology will
surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots,” he
was right because these cellphones are turning smarter and we are turning
dumber.
The last
example is about the effects phones have on children. “It was noted that 56
percent of children between the ages of 10 to 13 own a smartphone. While that
fact alone may come as a shock, it is estimated that 25 percent of children
between the ages of 2 and 5 have a smartphone” (How Do Smartphones Affect
Childhood Psychology). With this research you already know children have smart
phones, but is this good for the children? A personal example is Guadalupe, she
is a 2 and a half year old and she is addicted to her mom’s smart phone.
Everywhere they go she would cry until she gets some type of phone. She has at
least three cousins of her age but she rather be on her phone than play and run
around with them. You can tell she is being affected by it just by the way she
tries to talk to different kids her age. It seriously has a negative impact on
her life.
This
phone epidemic effects the mental growth of these young kids. You know it’s
dangerous to let your three year old run around the house with cofee in his
hands, so you do not let him or her do it. With that in mind, why in the world
would you let the kid use a cellphone that affects their brain development and
could cause them to have brain cancer? “The evidence clearly shows people
who hold the phones too long and close to their body tend to have a higher rate
of this cancer” (How Cell Phones Affect A Child’s Brain). We like to use our
phone to put some YouTube videos for the kids when they are fighting, crying or
screaming to calm them down. The kids get calm, you get relaxed, it seems like
a win win situation right? In reality it is not because the child is the loser
in this situation, because it affects their brain. That shows our absurdity and
our blindness when it comes to this epidemic. The human is so badly under this
epidemic that it comes also affect their relationship and conversation with
their kids. “Dr. Jenny Radesky of Boston Medical Center, became concerned when
she noticed the lack of interaction between parents and children. She had
observed that smartphones and handheld devices were interfering with bonding
and parental attention” (How Do Smartphones Affect...).
The
smart phone epidemic needs a cure as soon as possible. It is absurd that this
“plague” is taking over millions of lives. One could say this is an unworkable
epidemic that we have in our hands, but there has to be something we can do
about it, but what could it be? The best way to deal with this epidemic is to
contain it, because for sure it is impossible to stop it. If we stop it where
it is, would it be good enough? Now
let’s take a look at some examples to contain this epidemic from spreading.
There
is certain problems we can fix to it, for example, texting and driving. Fixing
little things to the epidemic could make a big difference. If we eliminate
texting and driving we eliminate “1.6 million crashes each year” (Cell Phone
Use While Driving Statistics). The law has to be stricter on catching these
blinded people with this epidemic. For example, right now the consequence for
texting and driving “in Austin is up to $500 and in San Antonio, you could be
looking at a $200 fine” (Cell phone use while driving now illegal in two major
Texas cities). It is not enough. If a police officer sees someone endangering
the lives of others, why is he just going to give that person a 500$ ticket?
Are the lives of a married couple with three kids worth 500 dollars? The answer
is obviously no. A good way to try to eliminate this side effect of the
epidemic is to raise the consequences of texting and driving up. For example,
instead of just giving these people a 500$ ticket, the government should raise
it up to 2000$ and at least one week of jail time. With a rule like this people
would be more aware and scared of texting and driving. The people that pick up
their phone while driving a lot, usually think that they can handle texting and
driving and think nothing bad could happen.
With new and stronger rules they would think more than twice before
picking up the phone when driving because they would not want to be fined and
get sent to jail for it.
Social
media is shaping society more than we think. Teenagers are on their phones and
computers all day. They do not realize how much it is changing them and the
people around them, that is why there has to be something done about it. “Teens
spend 9 hours a day on social media. That's more time than teens typically
spend sleeping, and more time than they spend with their parents and teachers.
And the nine hours does not include time spent using media at school or for
their homework” (Teens spend a 'mind-boggling' 9...). That is a lot of time
this epidemic is making teenagers throw away their youth on social media. The
government should make social media websites should change their rules a
little. Since so much time is being spent on social media, they should put a
time limit on every account. One or two hours would be a good amount. This
would help so many people become productive.
Another
major object we have to accomplish is to help reduce the use of cellphones with
kids, because it effects their mental growth and could give them brain cancer.
This one should actually be the easiest one to fix because it shouldn’t be in
the power of the kids, but of the parents. All we have to do is show an open
the eyes of these blinded parents and make them realize how dangerous a
cellphone can be to a child. All the parents have to do is take the phone away
and just buy the kid some toys or take the thing to the park. Now that’s a real
win win situation, the kids will stop bothering you and they will be
entertained for a while. The bonus to this is that, unlike the cellphone, a toy
or a walk around the park will not affect the brain growth and for sure it
won’t give them cancer.
Camus
would love to live in this era because he would take an opportunity to talk
down on people and change their minds on the way they are living. He already
thinks life is pointless but he might come to realize our purpose in this world
is to help each other. By being such an influential person he can show the
people with this epidemic how to live and that will put a smile on his face,
knowing he is making a difference in tons of people lives. Camus is also an
atheist, so he will use this epidemic to spread information and make people
believe that God does not exist. He is a very influential person, he would do
tons of productive things.
In
conclusion, this phone epidemic is taking over our lives, we waste too much
time on it, risk our lives on the road, and hand over really strong radiation
to the kids. Let’s work together on this and try to prevent as much texting and
driving as possible, help the teens, sometimes parents, get off social media
for so much time and buy the young kids some toys for them to play with just
this this epidemic won’t be so strong among us.
Work
Cited
Average person now spends more time
on their phone… DailyMail.com. Associated
Newspapers
Ltd. N.d. Web. 2/17/16
"How Do Smartphones Affect
Childhood Psychology?" Psych Central. N.p., n.d. Web.
21 Mar. 2016.
"Social Media Affects Teens’
Self-esteem, Personal Identity." The Register. N.p., n.d. Web. 23
Mar.
2016.
Cell Phone Use While Driving Now
Illegal in Two Major Texas Cities." ABC13 Houston. Np.,
n.d.
Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
"Teens Spend 9 Hours a Day
Using Media, Report Says." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web.
25
Apr. 2016
How Cell Phones Affect A Child's
Brain - Environmental Health Trust." Environmental Health
Trust
RSS. N.p., 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 May 2016.
"How Do Smartphones Affect
Childhood Psychology?" Psych Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May
2016.
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