Advantages and Disadvantages of the Cell Phone - Essay Example

In the world today among millions of people cellphones have become an essential part of everyday communication, social networking gaming and even work (Dutta, 2012). Over the last few decades, human communication has been paradigmatically changed and revolutionized by the use of mobile telephony. With every passing day, new mobile phones are developed with a variety of features and applications tailored to enhance and facilitate human communication. Information technology has ultimately taken the field of mobile communication to another level altogether, in sharp contrast with the traditional table/desk phone, which served no other purpose except making and receiving phone calls. In fact, today a smart phone which is a substantially advanced mobile phone, one can fulfill literary all their communication needs from the same gadget from email, voice and video chatting as well as texting browsing the internet and accessing social networks as well as a myriad of other functions. Cellphones due to their portability offer emergency support since one can call for help if they are in an emergency such as an accident. Overall, cell phones have been proven to have innumerable advantage to users, who have become increasingly dependent on them. Nonetheless, cellphones have also been found to have many disadvantages and are prone to abuse or misuse, such range from mobile and social network addiction, to road accidents, health issues and security and privacy issues among others. In order to help understand the role of mobile telephony in modern society, this paper will examine and undertake to explain the different advantages and disadvantage of cellphones. There is little doubt that the most important advantage of mobile phones; shared by all makes of the gadgets is portability and availability, the fact that one can take it with them whenever they go allows people to keep in constant touch without requiring to travel. This is a huge improvement from retrospective times when there were home and office desk phone as well as telephone booths, which were the only means of communication. Today one can keep in touch day and night from literally any corner of the world. No doubt, this has improved the quality of life in many ways, for instance if one is in a car accident they can call for help in the form of a tow truck, police or ambulance. Parents are also in a better position to monitor their children when they are away from home, this can be done either through keeping in contact with them, (or the babysitter) through phone calls. They can also use special apps, which allow them to have a live feed of children from their mobile devices, this way parenting has been made less worrisome. Many mobile devices provide users with access to the internet; this way they can browse and research on the move as well as keep in touch with their friends and colleagues through emails and texts. In the past, one had to have a computer to get access to the internet; most of these were expensive and very bulky effectively barring millions from the internet. With mobile phones, one can have virtually all the information supplied by the internet in the palm of their hands without breaking a sweat (Shankel, n.d.). This has resulted to the increase in the number of people using the intent, and many of them especially the youths use these devices to access social networking cites such as twitter and Facebook just to mention a few. This way through mobile devices people are able to keep in touch around the clock, and they can share ideas and interact and make friends anywhere in the world transcending political geographical and time zone barriers. News also travels faster through mobile telephones; furthermore, those with internet access on their mobile devices can read online newspapers and even tune in to TV stations if their phones are advanced enough. Cellphones have also been instrumental in improving commerce, business people can communicate with each other and make deals through the phones either by email or voice calls, this saves a lot of time that would otherwise be used in traveling and sending letters or faxes. Besides most cellphones carry with them the basic components of an office, a business person will have their contact list (directory) in their phone and can store a lot of other information using the many applications especially in smartphones as well as making notes and recording other information such a pictures and slideshow presentations. While conceding that there have not been any conclusive studies on the negative effects of mobile phone usage, it has been postulated that incessant use of mobile phones may have a cocktail of negative effects. These range from male infertility, to exposure to cancer especially in young children when exposed to the microwave radiations (Powell, n.d.). Other health issues that have emerged include; irregular sleep patterns especially in teenagers who spend a lot of time on their phone due to exposure to radiation. Despite the fact that these have not been proven, that there is evidence suggesting and supporting this might means that mobile phone might ultimately prove to have detrimental health effects in the long run. In recent times, mobile phones have been highly criticized for making society antisocial by reducing physical face-to-face interaction; this is because with easy access to mobile phones people will rarely visit each other preferring the more cost effective option of calling. This had made social connections considerably impersonal, besides with a cellphone communication is not complete since one does not get immediate nonverbal feedback, which makes it easy for people to lie. The intent in general and social networking, in particular, have also played a big role in making people more antisocial, and many have unknowingly become addicted to it and by extension their phones. Today one can travel without even greeting their seatmate in a train, bus or plane since one or both are engrossed with their mobile devices on social networks (MacCoy, n.d.). The nature of friendship on Facebook and other social networks is also quite questionable this is because, many people have hundreds or thousands of friends on Facebook and many of this are often strangers to whom one has no real connection. Furthermore, there are very any people who use pseudonyms to log on to social networks greatly diluting the depth of any social connection that can be made therein. Other applications such as games and instant messages keep people glued to their phones at times with earphones plugged in their ears effectively alienating themselves from the world and reducing the chances of making any persona interaction (Young, 2010). Cell phones have also been partly or wholly responsible for many road accidents because of users driving while talking or texting on one (Halsey, 2010). This is because when driving and using a cellphone at the same time, one’s attention is divided between the road and gadgets, and this considerably reduces ones reaction time making it harder for them to make spilt second decisions. Statistics indicate that 66 percent of teenagers in the United States admitted to talking in the phone while 18 percent admitted to texting from behind the wheel. The gravity of this is evident when one considers that while talking on the phone an 18 year olds reaction time is no better than that of a 70 year old; however, these 18 year olds are not aware of this, so they do not drive like septuagenarians. In order to show the seriousness of this, a US court fined a driver from Texas, a million dollars for driving while using a cellphone, unfortunately, despite such attempts to mitigate the problem, many people still persist using mobile phones without hands free devices while driving. This is a worrying trend since with more people be coming dependent to mobile phone related accidents are likely to increase, and roads will ultimately become more dangerous because of mobile technology. In conclusion, it is evident that cellphones are highly beneficial in and with the wide variety of uses; they avail to the users they enhance personal communication and provide and avenue for emergency information, which has resulted in many lives being saved. Furthermore, people now have real time access to news and information form the internet through e papers and updates from their friends on social networks. Cellphones also boost business transactions and communication making them more time and cost efficient; this is, in addition to the increased mobility, of employees making it possible to work from anywhere. Notwithstanding these advantages, like any other modern technological devices, they have their down sides such as addiction, possibilities of negative health implication as well as being a causative agent for road accidents, and what is probably the most widely discussed issue ; reducing physical social interaction. Ultimately, despite these disadvantages, mobile phones are here to stay; thus it is imperative that society comes up with ways to mitigate the disadvantages, this is because each day more people buy and begin to use mobile phones and they will continue to play a bigger role in personal, social commercial and other spheres of human lives. References McCoy ,W. (n.d.). Media, Demand. “Cellphones & Social Skills” Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/cellphones-social-skills-28929.html Young, E. (August 07, 2010). “Why cell phone are an anti-social invention”Helium Retrieved from http://www.helium.com/items/1915501-why-cell-phone-are-an-anti-social-invention Shankel, N. (n.d.). “Smartphone Pros & Cons”. eHow.com. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_8129519_smartphone-pros-cons.html Dutta, P. (n.d.). “Disadvantage & Advantage of Mobile Phones” . Ehow.com. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_4965101_disadvantage-advantage-mobile-phones.html Powell, J. (n.d.). “Advantages & Disadvantages of Cell Phones and Smartphones”. Salon. Retrieved from http://techtips.salon.com/advantages-disadvantages-cell-phones-smartphones-20040.html Halsey, A. (2010). 8 percent of accidents involve talking, texting on cellphones. The Washington post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/12/AR2010011202218.html Read More