Are cellphones ruining us or is the way we use them, that is ruining us?

cellphone

Unexpectedly my phone died this past week and I wasn’t able to get a new one until a few days ago. I had to go around campus and New York City without my phone. I realized that cellphones are destroying our ways of communicating with others. If you decide to leave your phone at you dorm for one day, you are going to know what I’m talking about. With my phone, I don’t feel the need to talk to other while waiting for class to start or I don’t feel the need to look at how beautiful is Penn State’s campus, or maybe I’m too busy taking a picture to share rather that seeing the whole picture. My point is that in this not-plan-at-all experiment, I realized that cell phones are destroying our ways of communicating with others. After that I realized that maybe technology is not the problem, the problem is that we are using technology way too much and for not so important things.

I have three roommates; of course all four of us have cellphones and we’re constantly using them, even when we go and get dinner, instead of talking and actually looking at each other we are using our freaking phones. But, one day my roommate said that since I didn’t have a phone that she was going to leave hers at the dorm and I could say that, that night all of us had a really conversation and we actually looked at each other instead of looking at our phones. Also, on my trip to NYC, I actually found myself talking to different people because I didn’t have a phone and I made a couple of colleagues. While walking around NYC everyone was taking pictures and I was just staring at how beautiful NYC is, every detail of the city, every detail of every building. I was looking at the whole picture.

I was researching on the Internet people that had been through the same and I found a guy who did it on purpose, you could find his story here. Also there’s a website that it’s a really good one, is about a study called “24 hours: Unplugged” . This study gives you an inside of what is it like to give up your phone for 24 hours, it gives you a perspective of different student and how they work with it.

My conclusion for this is that probably cellphones per se aren’t ruining the way we communicate with other, but a third variable like the way we use them and the way we let them take over our lives is. Cellphones are great for a lot of things, but instead of texting someone to catch up, try to text them to meet up and then that way you can catch up.

Have 5 minutes? Look Up.

If you watched the video, can you see how cellphones are changing us? If you didn’t, you probably should, its going to give you a new perspective. Just 5 minutes.

One thought on “Are cellphones ruining us or is the way we use them, that is ruining us?

  1. Julia Solly Levine

    This blog takes an interesting side to the use of cell phones. Personally, I agree with the statement that the author is discussing because I can see the negative effects that are occurring in our social lives. However, there may be positives to cell phone use too. An article from the New York Times shows that children can use cell phones as an advantage with learning new information because the information is available at anytime and any place. There are also many apps that can help children learn about nature and the world around them.

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