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Research Paper
Research Paper
Karl Huther
With the new developments in cellphone technology, we are starting to see more and
more people using smartphones. As much as 95% of people are now using a cell phone (Mobile
Fact Sheet). Smartphones are a useful everyday piece of technology that most everyone uses;
however, many people do not think about the problems that come with owning one of these
devices. Todays teenagers have been the first generation to grow up with this technology. Since
they use these devices on a day to day basis for various activities such as communicating,
entertainment, and even work, teenagers are often blind to the downsides of owning a
smartphone. They focus on the advantages of these devices, but do not often think about the side
effects and disadvantages that come with owning a smartphone. In overusing these devices,
society is starting to see that it affects people socially and mentally. Researchers can see this
when people report feeling lonely because of the adverse effects of abusing the usage of these
devices. In some cases, people report feeling lonely and negatively towards themselves as a
result. Likewise, cellphones can also affect teenagers communication skills with others face-to-
face. These gadgets can be seen as a nuisance in a conversation with their distracting tendencies.
As society is rarely disconnected, the slightest vibration or ringing of the phone can cause one to
become uninterested in a conversation. If these devices are inhibiting our skills now, one can
assume that they will further affect individuals later in life when trying to find a job or in their
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communications with a co-worker. Through saying all this, more people are beginning to
recognize that phones have a negative impact on teenagers ability to communicate with others
face to face.
Phones can be seen as a very useful tool in our everyday lives. Phones can help us not
only communicate with others with precision and in a timely manner, but there is a broad range
of things that individuals can do on these devices. With these devices, we can do anything from
shop online to finishing a paper for college writing. With how society is adapting to technology,
it is so important to keep up with these things so that you arent left behind. Without these
devices, one may not be able to do things in such an efficient manner as you would if you had a
device by your side. Likewise, these devices help us stay connected with the real world. We are
able to access any news channel or broadcasting station right from our fingertips. This helps us
stay connected as a global community so that we always know whats going on. It can also aid in
notifying people in times of emergencies. Likewise, these devices can also take photographs to
capture any moment at any time of day, play your favorite tunes, or show your favorite video to
your friends. Likewise, there are even things called Emojis which are little faces that people
send in texts to express a feeling that they feel. It is said in the article, Emojis as Tools for
Emotion Work: Communicating Affect in Text Messages., that these emojis, which are often
faces or objects, help to promote a positive effect of joy due to the extra time it takes to use one
of these characters which, in turn, helps an individual feel that their relationship with another is
more meaningful and sentimental (Riordon). Not only is the modern smartphone an important
tool for communication, but a multiple use computer that can make anybodys day a little bit
better.
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Cellular devices are such a big part of modern teenagers day to day lives that continued
usage begins to affect them socially and mentally. Mobile devices help people put up barriers to
distract one from society. Modern teens get so involved with the convenience of this piece of
technology that they often get too enveloped in what is happening below the surface of the
screen. In doing this, it disallows us to have conversations with people that are around us due to
having all of our attention focused on that device and that device only. With all this time on
devices, and neglecting potential conversation around them, teenagers are stuck in an endless
spiral towards isolation. Society, as this point, has to assume that other things are also being
neglected such as everyday social skills and mentality. An academic journal concerning mobile
communication titled; Mobile Voice Communication and Loneliness: Cell Phone Use and the
Social Skills Deficit Hypothesis, stated that, after doing a study, researchers found poor social
skills were related to not having enough one-to-one interaction and that talking on the phone was
linked to greater loneliness. Conversely, it also stated that greater numbers of one-to-one
interaction was linked to lower levels of loneliness (Borae Jin, Namkee Park). This shows us that
talking with others in person is crucial to making teenagers more sociable. If we are talking to
others, we arent on our devices making us less prone to feeling lonely. But what could possibly
create this feeling of loneliness behind an 8 LCD screen? Could the fact that we arent able to
see others reaction or emotion play a factor? Absolutely. The emotional piece to conversations is
very important and, in hiding behind a device, we dont see the emotions of others whom we are
talking to. Some psychologists and sociologists in the article, Mobile Devices Are Detrimental
to Personal Relationships, have said that this type of communication amongst people is less
meaningful than traditional face-to-face communication (Point). When talking on the phone
we cant see the other person's facial emotion or what they are doing. For all we know, they
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could be distracted and not actually listening to what we have to say. However, in having a
conversation in person, we are able to better decipher the person's emotions than simply trying to
hear those emotions over the phone. Likewise, having a conversation face-to-face often makes it
more intimate and enjoyable for the involved parties. Its easier for us to develop a connection
with something that is tangible and in front of us than someone talking on the other line doing
who knows what. In an academic journal, these claims are supported when stating that; it is more
meaningful and beneficial if you want to get the most out of the conversation that its important
to see the look in a persons eyes when having important conversations. Just as it said in an
article titled; Mobile Devices Are Detrimental to Personal Relationships, Text messaging and
the sending of texted based documents neglects these emotions and are less developmentally
beneficial to conversations (Point). Its very hard to see what ones emotions are over an
electronic document or text message. People can state how they feel through a text or email but
this may be perceived differently in person because one not being able to hear their voice
inflexion as well as what types of facial expressions they are giving off.
Just like how phones affect teenagers socially and mentally, they also affect our face-to-
face communication skills. These devices can constrain the ability to fully dive into and be in a
conversation with people around. A big part to conversations is being able to relate back to
previous things that were being said. However, with a cellular device present it may be a lot
harder to recall previous things that were said in a conversation. We can relate this information
to a study that had been done and posted in an academic journal titled; Cyber psychology,
Behavior, and Social Networking. In that journal, it is stated that memory was at its best when
no distractions were present. However, when the subject was asked to have a phone conversation
while trying to memorize things, memory was at its lowest (Smith et al). This tells us and shows
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us that being on a phone during conversations can really distract us from what is being talked
about. Furthermore, if we dont know what is exactly being talked about it makes it that much
harder to input your own opinions and ideas on that certain topic. Just as it said in an article;
phone during conversation they have to fully remove their attention from the present
conversation and direct that attention towards there call (Kneidinger- Mller). This not only
presents poor etiquette but they arent able to fully engage and understand the present
conversation. Just as a phone can distract its own user, it can also distract others around the
phone user. As said in the same article the activation of a phones loudspeaker causes everyone
around to hear it, drawing everyone who is physically present to the device. Which presents the
problem that mobile communication causes a temporary loss of attention for everyone present.
This leads us to believe by experience that a smartphone can be seen as an Invasive Medium
(Kneidinger- Mller). Likewise, an article titled, Mobile Devices Are Detrimental to Personal
Relationships, stated that people also result to this piece of technology when they feel
As researchers concluded that when faced with meaningful conversations people are more likely
to get distracted by the engagement of a casual conversation and entertainment offered through a
cellphone (Point). This shows us that it comes easier to people to interact on a simpler level, vs
the complexity of a deep meaningful conversation. In saying this we have to assume that if this is
what teenagers are doing that they will never become comfortable with meaningful
Just as how these devices can affect our communication skills and our mental state if
these problems persist these devices can further hurt us later in life. These problems can be drug
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along with you into work spaces, family gatherings, socials, impromptu conversations with
strangers, and even how people look at you as a person. When a person answers a phone call
they often speak a tad louder than usual and when someone does this in a sacred area such as a
quite area or a meeting may be subject to a glance of concern or warning. As it said in an article
unanswered phone on a device in a public setting are ridiculed for the disruptiveness that it
causes to other auras (Srivastava). This shows us in a work space that these devices can become
a problem not only for ourselves but for other people around us as well. Furthermore, disrupting
the work place may make some arch enemies causing the work place to become hostile. Just as
these phones can distract us in meeting or other conversations these types of devices can
intervene on our beauty sleep or even on our learning. As it said in the same article, Teenagers in
an academic atmosphere being taught or even in their bed room at night will prefer to text
amongst acquaintances vs talking to them face-to-face or over the mobile devices calling feature
(Srivastava). This will not only cause less sleep which teenagers need a lot of but hurt the
amount of learning they elicit from a classroom session. Not to mention that it can also hurt teens
in the long run, by possibly making them more prone to sickness due to the sleep lost from being
on a cellular device right before bed. Additionally, an article was posted on the sleep foundation
website, titled; How Blue Light Affects Kids and Sleep, stated that blue light that is emitted
from these electronic screens can postpone the release of sleep-inducing melatonin, increase
alertness, and reset the bodys internal clock to a later schedule (HOW BLUE LIGHT
AFFECTS KIDS & SLEEP). Meaning that these devices are affecting our sleep and how much
we get of it. This again supports the idea of how these devices can affect us further. Without the
full release of this melatonin making us groggy when we wake up this can also affect the rest of
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your day. Its always best to start your day off with a positive upbeat attitude. However, this
wont be happening if we continue to be on our phones right before we hit snooze and fall
asleep.
Even though phones help us in a wide range of things, the side effects to using these
devices may not be worth it. Everything that we do in our day to day life we could probably do
everything without one of these devices because the world used to function without these
smartphones. We often give so much undivided attention to these devices that we dont realize
the side effects to using them because we become so blind in the matter that they can do so much
for us. However, the skills that these devices affect can have a possible detrimental impact on our
lives. It could prevent us from getting jobs, and being able to communicate amongst co-workers.
Likewise, our self-worth with these devices in our life may be close to none if we continue to use
these devices at the rate that we do. As it said in an article titled, Computers in Human
Behavior, it stated: we cannot forget the fact that talking with someone in person and texting
someone will have an impact on our self-esteem, and that texting has a more positive impact on
us vs talking with someone in person (Gonzales). What happens then when we drop this phone
and it breaks or we drop it in a lake, its gone forever. We cant become so reliant on these
devices because it can hurt us in the grand scheme of things. As the author of this essay I am not
telling you to take your phone and throw it away but rather expand your thought and open up a
sight that may not have been seen before. To further help us overcome some of these adversities
and problems that come with using these devices. We need to realize what these devices are
doing and compromise by limiting our use. We can save these devices for important tasks or let
loose a little every once in a while, but know what these devices can do to us. This way we can
Works Cited
Gonzales, Amy L. Computers in Human Behavior. Computers in Human Behavior., vol. 39, Oct.
HOW BLUE LIGHT AFFECTS KIDS & SLEEP. Sleepfoundation.org, National Sleep Foundation,
2017, sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/how-blue-light-affects-kids-sleep.
Jin, Borae, and Namkee Park. Mobile Voice Communication and Loneliness: Cell Phone Use
and the Social Skills Deficit Hypothesis. New Media & Society, vol. 15, no. 7, 2013, pp.
10941111., doi:10.1177/1461444812466715.
Mobile Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 12
"Point: Mobile Devices Are Detrimental to Personal Relationships." Points of View: The Effect of
login.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=
true&db=pwh&AN=101841445&site=pov-live
Riordan, Monica A. Emojis as Tools for Emotion Work: Communicating Affect in Text
Messages. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, vol. 36, no. 5, 11 Apr. 2017, pp.
549-567., doi:10.1177/0261927x17704238.
Smith, Theodore S., et al. Effects of Cell-Phone and Text-Message Distractions on True and
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False Recognition. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 14, no. 6,
Srivastava, Lara. "Mobile Mania, Mobile Manners." Knowledge, Technology & Policy, vol. 19, no.
login.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=
true&db=ehh&AN=23303050&site=ehost-live.