Are Phones Ruining Our Ability to Communicate?
Being connected to the world isn’t the same as being connected to each other
Another school shooting in the US. Another terrorist attack in France. Another kidnapping, rape, and murder in Mexico by a drug cartel. Another discovery of a new species in the Amazon. Another new cure for a previously incurable disease.
A majority of the world is now connected one way or another through the use of cell phones and social media.
But how physically connected are we in our day to day lives?
Think about it. How many hours a day do you think you’ve spent face-deep in your iPhone, hopping from one app to another?
According to an article posted on Entrepreneur, The average millennial spends 18 hours a day consuming media – often multiple forms at once. The average millennial checks his or her smartphone 43 times and spends 5.4 hours on social media per day.
They may still be watching sports and movies – but that only makes up 14 percent of media viewing.
Now the problem does not just stem from teens, but for adults, and even toddlers as well.
Maybe you have witnessed a crying child in public being deliberately ignored due to the fact that the child’s parents are more invested in their cell phones.
Or maybe you’ve seen a toddler throw a fit when a phone is not within their reach.
I know I have, many times.
Being disconnected from real-life contact is a problem. People just don’t listen to words spoken anymore.
Have you ever had someone tell you a story, and you don’t even listen? You sit there and smile and laugh and nod, while you’re scrolling through Twitter. I think it’s becoming a very big issue in the 21st century.
Social media, cell phones, and the internet have had a tremendously positive impact on our society. But have we taken it too far?
Look up and smile while passing someone. Look someone in the eyes when they’re talking to you. Put your phone away at dinner and spend more time with your family instead of sitting in your room all night doing nothing.
You will never realize how much you are missing until you unplug. Things can change in the blink of an eye.
See it. Experience it. Live it.
My name is Rayne and I'm a senior at TAHS. This is my first, and last, year being a part of the Eagle Eye staff. After I graduate, I plan on attending...
Johnathan Diller • Jan 25, 2018 at 8:31 am
One of these days we’re gonna wake up under computer control. maybe we already are. What if Mr. Gruber was an AI Construct programmed to keep order within the system by terminating human simulacra which would bring instability to the simulated reality. Everytime you take a Snapchat the computers take you deeper.
Dale • Jan 23, 2018 at 1:48 pm
It’s true. social media can be beneficial. for example, I can now communicate with my cousin, who lives in Europe. But yet we fall victim to it. we would rather look at other peoples Snapchat stories than engage with the people around us. I find myself doing this more than I should. today’s technology has more control over us than we do our selves, it’s sad to say.
Taylor Laber • Jan 23, 2018 at 11:19 am
i agree that many people are too busy on their phones instead of being invested in the world around them, indirectly making the world more miserable for others and sometimes even themselves.i agree that pretty young children are becoming selfish and brat-like when a phone isn’t in their reach, despite the fact they’re much too young for the insensitive media.
you /have/ to understand, though- not all of these people on their phones are doing it because they want to. sometimes they’re taking a phone call for work, or texting a worker to make sure they’re doing okay out-of-state. my family does a lot of this, and they simply can’t just put down the phone even if they wanted to- that would literally risk their business dying.
it sucks, too- because we really shouldn’t be so reliant on technology, and yet, we are. i’m even reliant on it because thats where my very close friends lie- on the internet. they’ve been my best friends since 2011 (inb4 “you cant trust everyone on the internet!!!” ive known these people for 6+ years). its a way for me to get away from reality when home is just too much for me, or when i feel suicidal or depressed.
thats just my 0.02$ though Whoopie