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Aleem Glass

Mr. Dixon

ACC English

Oct. 22, 2020

The dangers of cell phones in society

In today’s day and age cell phones and technology are everything. We have gone from

computers taking up a whole room in 1943, to supercomputers in our pockets. But, there is a toll

on us while carrying and looking at our phones all the time. It takes a toll on our physical and

mental health. We lose sleep as we become entranced by various apps, downloads and streaming

services. We separate and distance ourselves from people when sitting in the same room, or

even at the same table because we are so involved in our phone. It is my opinion that we, as a

society, should make a conscious and consistent effort to control our cell phone use and

technology overload because it's slowly turning our brains into something we may not like.

Smartphones ​for teenagers are everything. They shape their world. They expose them to

people and places that would otherwise be unknown. It is as if a teen is walking around with the

entire reference section of the library in their pocket. Unfortunately though, technology for teens

comes with a large price. Not only do cell phones expose teens to educational and academic

material, they also expose the teen to many other negative and detrimental material that many

parents are unaware of - herein lies the problem. Fights between parents and teens are frequent

in many homes due to overuse. This overuse of the cell phone not only causes the teen to not pay

attention to the parent, it can also lead to the teen disregarding parental requests and demands

and lead to a sense of irritability in the teen due to them feeling as though the parent is constantly

bothering them.
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The overuse of cell phones can also lead to a dependence on this physical item. “From

time to time, my teenager will leave his phone at home; when he gets to school and realizes it, he

calls me to bail him out. I have to smile because we’ve all had that anxious feeling when we’ve

lost our phone or accidentally left it at home (Giesler).” This is the separation anxiety that is

built up by teens, and even adults, to our phones. We are on them all the time and are slowly

losing our grip to social life and interacting with other people. Our phones for most of us are the

main means of communication. Today’s families are always on the go. This child is here. That

sibling is there. Mom is still at work. Dad is at the gym. It is necessary in order to stay in

contact with one another. However, we still use it when we are at home with our families instead

of talking and socializing with each other. This is another blaring issue because we are hurting

our relationship with our parents and siblings. Too often, teens and parents do not communicate.

We start to not tell our parents anything and just stay in our rooms until we have to leave for

school again. “Parents today face many challenges staying abreast of their child’s involvement in

all things, legal and otherwise.” So many cell phone users are underage and not able to identify

that which may be inappropriate, unethical or illegal; let alone of age to enter into any legal

contract often necessary to be using the various apps so many of them use.

Even something that appears as innocent as texting can in fact be a doorway to a world of

many problems. Various apps and programs that seem to be innocent on the surface - Messages,

Instagram and Snapchat - can lead to cyberbullying, digital dating abuse and even sexting

through social media accounts. If you have a teenager in your household who has a cell phone

and engages in texting, or has active social media accounts, I recommend that you talk with your

teen and make sure that the content and photos that come to and from his or her cell are within

legal boundaries (Giesler).” As a parent you must do the little things to try to stay connected with
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your kids life and not have them set you aside for a piece of technology that nine times out of ten

you bought them. As a parent, you need to take charge of your kid’s life and stand your ground

and say hey this is my house and these are my rules you live by. Phones do not necessarily have

to be taken away, rather restrictions should be placed on how much and what is done on their

phones.

“​Research has been done on smartphone usage and its impact on all adolescents for so

many years. It is not a new issue at all. But as the digital age continues to evolve and the use of

cell phones continues to increase, a trend of cell phone addiction and poor psychological and

physiological health of adolescents urged me to write this letter (Shoukat).” There have been

studies that show as cell phones and technology get smarter, we as humans get dumber. We rely

on our phones for too much. This is even evident with adult usage in the workforce. As a

working adult, we are always looking at emails for work because the boss is trying to discuss

something amongst our coworkers. In school, children continuously carrying around ipads and

chromebooks as so many schools are technologically based. At one point in time, school was the

one place where you had to put the technology down and pick up a pen and paper, but now

technology is our way of life and taking over. Yes, technology provides us with immediate and

instant access to educational resources and that we need to adapt to this change, or else we will

be stuck in the past, but at what expense? If we surround ourselves in technology that isn't

beneficial to use, that's letting the technology take over and corrupt our minds and slowly make

us lose touch of what is going on in our world. Instead we need to look at technology in a way

that will be beneficial to use. We could just buy a phone and computer - it doesn’t have to be the

newest phone or computer, just something that will get you through the day and accomplish the

minimum of information connection.

At the end of the day; however, we continue to live on our phones. We are becoming

over dependent on our cell phones. We can’t even run to the store without using our phones. The

major question is how do we get to know we are addicted to our cell phone? When a person uses

his/her cell phone most of the time, is unable to cut back on cell phone usage, or when using a

cell phone is a solution to boredom there may be a problem. When one becomes anxious or

depressed when the cell phone’s battery dies or the service is out of your range, or if the use of

your cell phone causes you to lose friends and creates discord in your relationships, there is a

problem. Research says “when cell phone use becomes an addiction, the behavior becomes

stressful” (Shoukat).”

Too much use of our smartphones paired with a negative attitude and feeling of anxiety

and dependency on our phones or technology in our life, may raise the risk of separation anxiety

and depression. A study was conducted about Elon University Students' behavior along with an

online survey. It was found that students seemed to be addicted to their phones. We see that our

connections to our phones are going to get out of hand and change our behavior and our attitudes

towards life and our outlooks because we can’t live without our phones. We are causing

ourselves to develop these mental issues because we can’t put our phones down and speak to

people face to face. Children as young as five do not know how to interact with their peers, or

adults, or work together with others. Issues such as these can have long-term effects, and even

turn to something more serious.

Teens are already under such developmental pressures given their stage in life, they do

not need to be inundated with outside stressors such as overuse of cell phones. Teens are

undergoing such a high level of growth in their brain and are so impressionable, it is harder for

this age group to stop. They become so engaged with what others are doing, what others look
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like and how other people live, they are constantly comparing themselves to those they follow

and see. And experts state that exposure to these things at such a young age lead to an

inappropriate, and so often imagined, sense of competition and comparison. “Specifically, screen

time and social media use among kids and teens have been linked with an increased prevalence

of mental health concerns. Research has indicated that internet addiction, particularly among

younger demographics such as teenagers, is becoming a widespread issue. It has been linked to

depression, low self-esteem, and loneliness – symptoms that often lead to diagnosable mental

illnesses and worsening issues that were already present.

The passive use of social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and

Facebook, is specifically linked to increased levels of depression. Overall, in terms of the

relationship between screen use and both physical and mental health outcomes, there have been

several studies that suggest higher levels of screen use in children and adolescents is associated

with reduced physical activity, increased risk of depression, and lower well-being. (Children’s

Bureau).” We are being exposed to these social media apps in which we not only follow each

other - other teens and/or children our age - but so often we follow adults. We “follow” them,

we admire them, we emulate them, and attempt to do that which they do. This is unhealthy. It is

impractical. And sometimes, can be detrimental. We become so enthralled with their lives, we

forget to live our own.

Use of social media apps can also lead to bullying because someone might not like the

content creator that you like and they see you love them and they bully you for liking them. Then

the bullying turns to depression and we start suffering the consequences of the social media

accounts that we like to follow or like to watch. We see this happen too often in social media and

nobody speaks up about it to anybody. “It is important to recognize the vast amount of children
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who are impacted by these issues. Research finds that 1 in every 5 children between the ages

13-18 have, or will have, a serious mental illness before they reach adulthood. Within this group

of children: 11% are mood disorders, 10% are behavior or conduct disorders 8% are anxiety

disorders Unfortunately, the effects of technology on youth are not only spreading to a larger

population, but they have also shown to be long-lasting as well. To put things into perspective,

about 50% of lifetime mental illness cases started at the age of 14 and 75% began by the age of

24. With this in mind, it is important to take cautionary steps to mitigate potential risk factors for

our children, including their access to technology (Children’s Bureau).” We don't see our teens

in the world to be very depressed or having mental or behavior problems, and that's because they

dont speak out; they just post to a private social media page.

Another huge problem with the overuse of cellphones in teens is being a sexual target. In

today’s age there is a greater chance for teens to be sexual targets for sex trafficers and subject to

predators. “Chat Rooms are predators' dreams come true and are the predominant online location

where predators meet kids. Sites like Omegle that invite kids to talk to strangers are a parent's

nightmare (Kempf).” Kids are logging in to these chat rooms that are sent to them what seems

another teen or friend of theirs, but it is an adult predator that is trying to lure them out of their

house and possible kidnap them or put them into their sex trafficing buisness. “More than

500,000 predators ​are online everyday Kids 12 to 15 are susceptible to being ​groomed and

manipulated​ by offenders online. FBI stats show that more than ​50 percent of victims​ of online

sexual exploitation are 12-15 years old 89 percent of all sexual advances toward our children

take place in​ internet chat rooms​ and through instant messaging. In 27 percent of exploitation

incidents, predators ​asked kids for sexual photographs​ of themselves. 4 percent of kids get

aggressive sexual solicitations that include ​attempts to contact the kids offline​ (Kempf).” These
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predators are disguising themselves as peers and targeting certain age groups with a goal

sometimes of kidnapping them or grooming children to become something that they aren't meant

to be. They are taking twelve and thirteen year olds and turning them into sex slaves for their

sick and twisted buisness. Parents need to restrict kids' social media chat room access and need

to monitor who they are talking to. If this is not done kids will continue to talk to these adults

that are using teenargers’ names and ages to drift them into their twisted game and take them

away from their family. Parents must constantly monitor their use and ensure their use is

appropriate and not overwhelming.

Although cell phones provide us with instant access to knowledge and information, there

are also a lot of downfalls to cell phones and how overuse of them is a very serious subject.

Teens use cell phones for a whole host of reasons. Social media, communication, and

entertainment are just a few. Yet, these simple things can lead to many problems. Such as

teenage depression, behavioral issues, and even at the extreme extortion and harm. There are

many things teens can get themselves while using their phones. I believe parents can minimize

these issues by just staying in touch with their children and monitoring what they are doing on

their phones and restricting the things you don't feel too good about. We as a society need to take

a minute and reflect on our use of our phones and make a switch in our head to help our brains

from turning into we don't want to turn into. We as a society need to put our phones in our back

pockets and take control of our lives before the phones take over.
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Work Cited

“Effects of Technology on Mental Health: Children's Bureau.” ​Child Abuse

Prevention, Treatment & Welfare Services | Children's Bureau,​ 4 Sept. 2020,

www.all4kids.org/news/blog/effects-of-technology-on-mental-health/.

Giesler, Robert. “Parents' Guide to Teens and Cell Phones.” ​Children's Hospital Los Angeles,​ 9

Apr. 2017, www.chla.org/blog/rn-remedies/parents-guide-teens-and-cell-phones.

“Teenagers and Technology: 'I'd Rather Give up My Kidney than My Phone'.”

The Guardian,​ Guardian News and Media, 16 July 2010, www.theguardian.com

/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/16/teenagers-mobiles-facebook-social-networking.

Mendoza, Jessica S. “Just Having Your Cell Phone in Your Possession Can Impair Your

Learning,

Study Suggests.” ​PsyPost​, 15 May 2018, www.psypost.org/2018/05/just-cell-phone

-can-impair-learning-study-suggests-51228.

“How Our Smartphones Are Hurting the Environment.” ​The Irish News,​ 2 Mar.

2018,www.irishnews.com/magazine/science/2018/03/02/news/how-our-smartphones-are-

hurting-the-environment-1268849/.

Schaeffer, Katherine. “Most U.S. Teens Who Use Cellphones Do It to Pass Time, Connect with
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Others, Learn New Things.” ​Pew Research Center,​ Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020,

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/23/most-u-s-teens-who-use-cellphones-do-it-to-

pass-time-connect-with-others-learn-new-things/.

Shoukat, Sehar. “Cell Phone Addiction and Psychological and Physiological Health in

Adolescents.” ​EXCLI Journal​, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and

Human Factors, 4 Feb. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6449671/.