Smart Phones Impacts Teenagers Negatively - Essay Example

Smart Phones Impacts Teenagers Negatively Ever since the introduction of the first smart phone in 1997, the market for mobile devices has gone crazy with millions of people all over the world purchasing smart phones from the various leading companies that supply the gadgets. The number of smart phones in use by the third quarter of 2012 was 1 billion worldwide. Data collected in 2013 reveal that 65 percent of mobile consumers in US own smartphones. Without denying the positive impact of smart phones, moderation regarding their use especially by teens is necessary. The impacts of smart phones on teens mental, social, physical and environmental health is devastating, and a solution has to be sought if the gadgets have to remain beneficial. It is true that technology advancements have negative effects in society, but people should try to minimize these shortcomings as much as possible. Currently, the negative effects of Smartphone on teens are so numerous that one will wonder whether it is worth having them. Use of smart phones has many advantages that cannot be disputed. Without inventions in technology, the society may not survive. Smart phones have made work easier for teens by creating short cuts for solving daily tasks. Technology makes life easier and fast, smart phones have made communication easier and a hundred times faster. Through smart phones, teens have been able to get the required information easily, and this is beneficial in enhancing their knowledge. However, there are negatives associated with the use of smart phones among teens. These negative impacts need to be addressed for smart phones to remain relevant (Perlow 12). Smart phones have led teens to isolate themselves from people in their daily living. Teens who have smart phones spend most of their time online staring at the screen of their mobile devices. This limits their chance to socialize with friends and other people at home, school or workplace and instead they walk in their own life. It is not surprising nowadays to find teens sharing the same bench, but not talking to each other because they are all busy listening to music in their iPods. Various studies indicate that people who are isolated die early compared to people who like socializing. Teens lack the social skills, which are acquired through interactions with people from different cultures. These teenagers can no longer lead facial expressions and other body languages which are acquired through frequent interactions with other people (Perlow 14). When people spend much of their time watching movies and listening to music on youtube, it is expected they spend less time if any, to exercise and keep themselves fit. There is also the tendency of wanting to eat the latest episode of foods being advertised and this will lead to eating unhealthy foods. Individuals who feed on unhealthy foods and fail to exercise are likely to suffer from obesity. There is increased use of antidepressants, and this is partly due to lack of exercise, human contact and over eating that are associated with the use of smart phones. It is true to say depression is a real problem, but most of the depressions being experienced can be cured by living healthy lives. Use of smart phones has also forced teens to sleep late in the night because the constant stream of information does not give the brain a chance to turn off (Perlow 15). Teens are young people who are characterized with inexperience and other childish behavior. Use of smart phones have enabled bullies to bully others because it is easier to confront someone online than face to face and this has resulted in an increased number of suicides among teens. In addition, due to their inexperience, teens have resulted in posting every move they make on facebook making it easy for those with bad intentions to trace them. It is also easy to determine someone’s password and other important information just by a flick of an eye when they are being entered. People with malicious intentions may also hack important information exposing teens to more risk. Teens are easily deceived on facebook and twitter; people are making false profiles and pretend to be different people. This leads to teens giving very private information to strangers without knowing (Perlow 18). Before the invention of the smart phone, teens had little chance of knowing anything to do with sex leave alone watching pornography. Since the introduction of Smartphones, girls are taking nude photos of them and sending them to their boyfriends. Initially, they were not able to do this because it would require them to print the photo. Teens like texting because they can text information which otherwise cannot be delivered face to face. Boys are also sending their girlfriends pictures of their penis; morality among teens is becoming outdated. They are crossing social boundaries by sending nude photos online. Nowadays teenagers are communicating to their fellow colleagues in the next room instead of face-to-face conversation. This is killing the social bond (Perlow 20). The number of injuries incurred by teens is on the rise because of texting while walking. Texting distracts the mind and people easily forget they are still working. Chances of falling or being hit by a vehicle are high because of being absent minded. There are also other illnesses associated with spending most of time on the mobile devices such as a neck problem, blurred vision and headaches. Studies indicate that people who spend more than five hours a day on the devices have their attention span shortened, they are likely to forget people’s name easily, forget dates of important occasions and even forget their birthdays. Due to their low attention span, teens have opted to Google almost everything, starting with the definition of a pen. When given assignments in class that require thinking, they prefer the short cut of looking for answers online which gives rise to graduates who in reality do not qualify to be called graduates. Continued use of headphones and ear buds can cause hearing problems among teenagers. In the same way, constantly staring on the screen among teens will force them to demand glasses at an early age (Perlow 23) Today guns are being sold online, and teens have access to this information. To make matters worse, teens tend to become more violent after watching various movies where actors do not have mercy. This has lead to a generation of teens that have no empathy; it has become the order of the day for a teenager to beat another one. Cases of shooting within the school premises are on the rise and videos of youths of a given village attacking another village are more common on the media nowadays. These are issues that never existed 20 years ago, and if some of them happened, it was on rare occasions (Perlow 24). All these negative effects of smart phones on teenagers raise the question of whether it is worthwhile to have these mobile devices. Much effort is dedicated on technology advancements without necessarily considering the negative effects that come along with it. No one should refute that technology advancement is beneficial to the whole world, and it is key to economic development. However, mechanisms of coping with the side effects that come along with inventions should be developed failure to which the society will rot with a generation of people who listen to no one. These side effects are so devastating that they have to be addressed now before it reaches a point of cursing technology inventions (Perlow 25). It is critical to address these issues to save the future generation. Teenagers all over the world regardless of the continent need to be informed about these negative effects of technology. This can be done by having volunteers from both governmental and nongovernmental organizations who will take their time to teach teens the negative effects of smart phones. The organizations will conduct seminars in all the countries and invite teens in the seminars. The companies will also use the media to reach as many teens as possible. Teenagers spend most of their time on the media, and they are likely to see the campaign on negative effects of smart phones. Religious bodies should also be involved in the campaign to teach morality issues to teens. If the different organizations play their role well, society will experience a decline in the negative effects of smart phones (Perlow 25). There will be several obstacles of using governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, the media and religious bodies to effect the campaign. The major obstacle will be getting volunteers to effect the campaign, many companies may be reluctant. In addition, many teens are likely to ignore an advert talking about the negative effects of smart phones. However, there are advantages associated with using this medium to reach the teenagers; teenagers are more likely to listen teachings from their religious leaders than from other people. Having companies in all countries will help reach teens in a language they understand best. If different parties play their part well, then the medium will be able to reduce the negative effects of smart phones on teens. It was important to select this topic because of the many side effects associated with the use of smart phones. If the side effects are not addressed now, the future of teenagers is endangered. Teens are said to be the leaders of tomorrow, but it will be disastrous to have a leader who cannot address people. Leaders whether religious, political or organizational, have to be social people to address the concerns of the society. It is questionable how people who have not socialized with others can address issues facing the society. Such people may not be in a position to understand what the society is going through, and this would be chaotic in any society. If the side effects of using smart phones are not addressed now, we may be heading in that direction. Use of smart phones has led teens to leaving unhealthy lives, which may lead to a shortened life span. Teens no longer spend time exercising because they are too busy on the screens of their smart phones. If the society continues to emphasize on the benefits of advancements in technology and ignore the negative effects associated with it, the possibility of regrets in the future is highly likely. It is urgent to educate teens on the negatives associated with the use of smart phones most of their time to avoid a chaotic future generation. For any advancement in technology to benefit the society, people ought to be informed of both its benefits and shortcomings. Works Cited Perlow, Leslie A. Sleeping with Your Smartphone: How to Break the 24/7 Habit and Change the Way You Work. , 2012. Print. Appendices Figure 1.0 use of smart phones can cause obesity Figure 2.0 use of smart phones makes teens anti-social Figure 3.0 use of smart phones can cause accidents Read More