Life With Smartphones Essays - Mobile Phones, Information Appliances

Life With Smartphones Essays - Mobile Phones, Information Appliances English 118 April 5, 2014 Life With Smartphones When the first time smartphone introduced by Apple or Samsung, I was not embarrassed to show off my 8 years old mobile phone in front of my friends, but today that is whats happening. Smartphone is a device not only used as a convenient tool but has now become a way for people to show off. According to Wikipedia, smartphone first conceptualized and started by Theodore Paraskevakos in 1971. He was the first to introduce the concepts of intelligence, data processing and visual display screens into telephones which gave rise to the smartphone. Smartphone firstly goes public in 1993 but it did not go well at that time since the technology is still not smart. Nowadays, everywhere I go I see people using smartphone. The biggest question is the difference of how people live their life before and after smartphone was introduced. There are many positive and negative impacts for the users of smartphone and the people around them. What makes smartphone special is their capability to hold many interesting applications in it. Without these applications, smartphone would simply be just like any other normal phone. Sure, smartphones are convenient but the impact their bring to society is hard to ignore. Social Media is the infamous application that changes how people see life and how they interact with each other through the Internet. It is a platform for online users to upload photos, chat with friends and share their life moments and experiences online. As compared to the olden days where people hung out with friends and have a day-long conversation face to face, smartphones have definitely changes the way people communicate with each other. Firstly, what is the point of meeting up with your friends but ending up just playing with your smartphones in the same room? There is simply no communication at all then. Unconsciously, some people lose their ability to interact with others and forget how important a real-l ife relationship is with friends. A relationship without interaction is like a flower without water, it is unable to grow or bloom. Secondly, smartphones have caused distraction and the inability to focus for people. We spend approximately an hour waiting and standing for the BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) to come. We could easily use that time to do something more productive or even appreciate the nature around us, but instead we are allocating too much time on our smartphone. It is a bad habit we all have, and overtime, if a habit is not regulated it would very easily lead to addiction. Smartphones have been linked to sleep and concentration problems, as well as lack of empathy. Of course ownership of a smartphone doesnt make anyone a better or worse person, nor is it going to instantly make you less mindful or empathetic. The act of constantly checking out social media is solely based on the reason that people are easily unentertained and thus, they hunt for entertainment to fill their time. We all know smartphone is an important device for us to use in our daily activities, the problem we have to be aware is not its usage but how it is used. The time, and the priority of a smartphone should not be unreasonably higher than your responsibility as a human being. Citation (about history about smartphone): "Smartphone." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.