Smartphones: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

By Uloop Contributor on December 2, 2012

Einstein once said “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” This is something that strikes as alarming when you look around and realize that that feared day has indeed come. Friends sitting right beside each other are on their smartphones and not speaking to the other. It’s like their minds are disconnected from the real world and transported to the cyber world, but could this growth of technological connection with (or disconnection from) the world really be that bad?

Here’s another question to ask to narrow this down; are smartphone users addicted to their phones? If yes, is it serious?

Well, first of all, what is an addiction? According to Wikipedia, it is the “continued use of a mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse dependency consequences, or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors.” Any addiction or dependency can be viewed as negative if overdone, such as drinking too much alcohol or eating too much chocolate. These all have negative consequences if not kept in check. However, in comparison to smartphones, being “addicted” to your mobile device might be something entirely different.

Besides using it to call, text, play games or take and share pictures/videos, the fact that it’s also connected to the internet also gives the user access to a vast amount of knowledge, in a much handier and compact fashion. It’s knowledge on the go. In fact, according to many infographics such as this, this and this, smartphones are more beneficial than they seem on the surface. You see a group of college students hanging out, all on their smartphones. It may look like a bad thing, but for all we know, they could be finding out what’s happening with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or how to solve a physics problem which they might have missed during lecture. That doesn’t happen as often as it should, since according to the statistics, most users are social networking, playing games or just using entertaining apps in general.

However, when addressing the addiction aspect of using smartphones, WebMD has found that though it is not an actual addiction, “the potential is certainly there.” The users are constantly connected to their devices and then disconnected from the rest of the world immediately around them, and despite being virtually connected, the user is constantly distracted and constantly gaining knowledge that it prevents time to reflect on their own thoughts. In serious cases, computer technology inhibits concentration or deep thought for the user.

Are you addicted to your smartphone? If you are, what do you mostly use it for? Has it been more beneficial to your life or detrimental?

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