Use of Modern Technology - Essay Example

Teacher Smartphones The advances in science and technology afforded us many wonderful things that are supposed to make our life comfortable and convenient. One of these devices is smartphones. The high level of technological capability of Smartphones today can be basically likened to a cellular phone and a computer rolled into one. It has a lot of advantages such as its ability to process a lot of information as well as allow us to do a lot of things. It however has disadvantages also that include alienating ourselves and others through its excessive use. It could defeat the basic idea of smartphones which is supposed to get us more connected and to make our life more convenient. Our recent use of smartphones however seems to defeat that purpose because we have become more disconnected than we were because of our excessive use of smartphones. Smartphone is “a mobile phone with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than basic feature phones. Early smartphones typically combined the features of a mobile phone with those of another popular consumer device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, a digital camera, and/or a GPS navigation unit. Later smartphones include all of those plus the features of a touchscreen computer, including web browsing, Wi-Fi, and 3rd-party apps” (Wikipedia). In short, smartphone is a mobile phone that has the capability of a computer because it does not only allow us to send text messages and make phone calls, but also has processing capability to get into the internet, play applications as well as take and record videos and pictures. Having a smartphone is like having a computer in our pockets where the world can be reached with tip of our fingers. Through it, we can reach virtually connect to almost anyone from anywhere in the world. It made our life very convenient because many transactions and activities can already be done online through our smartphones. Transactions such as banking and paying our bills which usually takes time and effort to do because we have to physically do it but can now be done through our smartphones saving us time and money. Shopping are also made easier through our smartphones because we can now buy online through our smartphones and even have it delivered right at our doorsteps. Basically, the capabilities of smartphone now seem to be endless and the possibilities that can be done with it is still evolving because developers are still thinking of new ways on how it can still be harnessed. Despite of the many advantages of smartphones, its disadvantages are also many. One of the immediate disadvantages of smartphone is its cost. A smartphone is expensive (chennaonline.com). It could even be more expensive than a personal computer or a laptop. It also tends to over immerse us and makes us over dependent to it. This dependency to smartphones has already reached to an alarming level that it has already taken to a proportion of an addiction. Smartphone addiction and its symptoms now causes added “stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, delinquency, aggressiveness, and difficulties relating to others” (psu.edu). In a study conducted by the government of Korea where its country has the largest smartphone user (100% which implies that people there have more than one smartphone), it reported that 1 out of 5 students suffers from smartphone addiction (psu.edu). This is not good because the device that is supposed to make our life convenient is already causing us stress and depression due to our over-dependency and addiction to smartphones. In the same study conducted by the government of Korea, it also showed how ironic smartphones are. It is ironic because the study showed that those who are addicted to smartphones have poor communication skills. This could be probably brought by the fact that smartphones immerses student so much that they spend less time communicating and relating to other people. There is also another irony about smartphones and other similar devices are that its effect defeats its intent. Smartphones are created to get people connected in many and very convenient ways. Its most basic function is to make phone calls for us to call and get connected to people who are far from us. We can also send short messages like an instant telegram and with it we can even include attachments attachment. New versions of smartphones can even do video conferencing which allows us to see the people we are talking with on the other line. Smartphones are now very sophisticated that it can do other things in addition to being just a cellular phone. Smartphones now has internet connectivity as part of its regular features. And with internet connectivity, it allows us to do many things such as checking our social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It also enables us to surf the net. We can even listen music from our smartphones as well as play videos. The features available and the things that we can do with smartphones that are supposed to connect us are countless but instead of connecting us, they ironically disconnects us from each other. These features shut us out from the outside world and create a universe within us to the point that people no longer talk with each even when they are together because they are all immersed with their smartphones. For example, many young people insert headphones while surfing the net in his or her smartphone and isolate himself or herself from the world that he or she cannot hear even if people will talk to him or her. There is a growing irony about the term smartphone that it does not really makes us smart because our over dependency towards it dumb us down. We became so dependent to it that our analytical and thinking skills suffered. Our communication and social skills also suffer because we now rarely talk to people socially but rather spend more time on social media. Smartphones only show that anything in excess is bad and just like any other things, must be used moderately. Works Cited "Disadvantages of Smartphones." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014. . "Smartphone." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 July 2014. Web. 20 July 2014. . "Smartphone addiction." Sites At Penn State. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014. . Read More