Negative Effects Of Smartphones Essay Example

Based on a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center, ninety-seven percent of Americans own a cell phone of some kind. Of the ninety-seven percent who own a cell phone, eighty-eight percent own a smartphone. For many people, their whole world revolves around their smartphones. People who do not own a smartphone are considered old-fashioned and not advanced in technology. With the rapid growth of smartphones comes numerous downsides. Although people consider smartphones to be a very important part of human life, they cause many distractions, replace in-person communication, and make people feel like their worth is in social media.

Smartphones cause various distractions. A statistic by Edgar Snyder and Associates explains “1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.” People are so addicted to their smartphones that they cannot even drive without being distracted by them. Smartphones allow the owner to receive constant notifications, even when the owner does not need to be looking at their phone. Although drivers know that using smartphones while driving is dangerous, the temptation to look at these notifications often overcomes them. Many lives have been lost in car crashes due to the distractions caused by smartphones. Also, in the article “How Smartphones Create Distractions in the Classroom'', Sherri Gordon highlights that students “are spending up to 20% of their classroom time texting, emailing, surfing the web, checking social media, and even playing games.” Smartphones create an enormous distraction in the classroom environment because students constantly feel the need to check their phones to make sure they do not miss out on anything. In reality, they are causing themselves to miss out on instructions and valuable class time just to check their phones. Even if students stay off of their phones during class, sometimes all they can think about is when they are going to be able to be on their phones again and what they have missed out on. Smartphones cause drivers and students to not be as focused as they should be in important times. 

Along with distractions, smartphones also replace in-person communication. In the article, “Social Media and Mental Health” Lawrence Robinson and Melinda Smith describe that “It requires in-person contact with others to trigger the hormones that alleviate stress and make you feel happier, healthier, and more positive.” Because people can be in constant contact with everyone they wish with the touch of a finger, in-person communication has become less and less popular. Instead of meeting up for lunch, people can just text or call each other, which is more convenient than meeting in person. Although texting may seem like a great way to communicate, it decreases the quality of conversation between people. Also, texting over the phone does not alleviate stress and increase happiness like in-person communication does. Even when people meet up for in-person communication, they often spend more time on their smartphones than actually talking to the people around them. Because of this, conversation among people is surface level, and people do not open up about their feelings to each other. In-person communication is extremely important for human health, but smartphones reduce the amount of deep, genuine in-person communication.

Furthermore, smartphones make people feel like their worth is in social media. Also in the article “Social Media and Mental Health” the authors mention that “multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts.” Social media causes people to feel like they are never enough. It causes people to put their worth in how many get likes, comments, and followers they have. Also, social media causes people to compare themselves to other people in countless ways. People see what other people post, and they wish they could look like them, and they wish their life was exciting as everyone else’s. Constant comparison causes many people to have depression and other negative feelings. Social media pressures people to feel like they must constantly keep up with everyone else and get as many likes, comments, and followers as everyone else. Moreover, social media promotes the “perfect” lifestyle, which makes people feel like their life is so much worse than everyone else's. By only sharing the greatest parts of one’s life, it causes people to feel like they have to hide the dark parts of their life to make their life look perfect on screen. Social media is a downside to smartphones because it causes numerous people to have depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts.

All in all, with the growth of smartphones, comes negative effects including distractions, fewer in-person interactions, and unrealistic expectations from social media. Smartphones cause countless car accidents and struggles in school. Also, smartphones make the conversations between people surface level and cause people to compare their lives to others on social media. As peoples’ worlds become progressively more wrapped around their smartphones, there will be more damage to humanity. Even though smartphones are now very important to people, they cause a great deal of harm to human society.