Huther 1

Karl Huther

WRIT 1120, Sec 24

K. Groves, Fall 2017

November 28th, 2017

Paper 3: Final Research Paper

How One Piece of Metal Can Affect us so Much

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;

Mobile Communication as Invader in Face-to-Face Interactions, when someone answers their

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

uncomfortable in a situation, furthermore hurting the potential to grow in communicating skills.

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

conversations. Hence a phone being detrimental to communication skills.

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

titled, Mobile Mania, Mobile Manners, Distracting conversations, or even a ringing

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

live a happier and healthier lifestyle.

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Works Cited

Gonzales, Amy L. Computers in Human Behavior. Computers in Human Behavior., vol. 39, Oct.

2014, pp. 197209.

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.

Kneidinger-Mller, Bernadette. Mobile Communication as Invader in Face-to-Face

Interactions: An Analysis of Predictors for Parallel Communication Habits. Computers in

Human Behavior., vol. 73, 2017, pp. 328335.

Mobile Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 12

Jan. 2017, www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/.

"Point: Mobile Devices Are Detrimental to Personal Relationships." Points of View: The Effect of

Mobile Devices on Personal Relationships, 3/1/2016, p. 1. EBSCOhost,

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,

2011, pp. 351358., doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0129.

Srivastava, Lara. "Mobile Mania, Mobile Manners." Knowledge, Technology & Policy, vol. 19, no.

2, Summer2006, pp. 7-16. EBSCOhost,

login.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=

true&db=ehh&AN=23303050&site=ehost-live.