Touchscreens, voice activation, even locks that can only be opened by the user’s fingerprint; with all the variation in cell phones it’s no wonder we can’t seem to put the time-consumers down. It almost appears that the more time we waste playing colorful fast-paced games, the more distracting they can be, and the shorter our attention spans get. There isn’t any doubt when it comes to the fact that peoples’ lives have been changed by cell phones so that now, the human existence is more dependent on technology’s convenience, and consumed by the organizational skills of the new Samsung Galaxy, iPhone six, or it’s even-bigger descendant – the iPhone six plus.
With today’s kids being attached at the hip to their phones, there aren’t any miniscule amounts of shock when the students are asked a simple question, such as what is the earth in orbit around, and reach for their phones to type in the question to their preferred search engine. For example, it’s no surprise when a stumped, can’t-figure-the-problem-out-for-the-life-of-him student quick draws his iPhone to type the problem into his digital calculator that, in a few seconds, will reveal the answer to the entirety of his geometry-related problems. This ‘bond’ between teenager and cellphone isn’t a healthy one, which means that every once-in-a-while it’s good to put down the phone, or any calculator, and solve the problem by yourself. In addition to just solving math problems, people are becoming more dependent on their phones for emotional reasons. For example, according to Baylor University, college women spend an average of 10 hours on their phones every day. This statistic seems surprising, but with the recent ability of talking to your phone – and having it talk back, there should be no confusion as to why people are starting to ACTUALLY love their phones. Therefore, the human existence has been changed by smartphones because of their convenience.
The fact that anywhere, whether on the city bus, the run-down subway, or surrounded by the safety and comfort of your very own den, you can whip out your smartphone and organize your life mesmerizes consumers; so much so that, they too plunk down hundreds of dollars for a compact version of what they already have that, given some time and effort, can do the exact same thing. For example, imagine a stressed-to-the-max soccer mom, frantically typing on her new iPhone 6’s digital calendar and setting reminders for her two sons’ future games and projects, where would she be without her smartphone? Probably still stressed out, scribbling down events on a real-life, tangible, paper-and-pen version of the digital representation formed by tiny pixels, and frustrated that at last weeks game, her sons Tommy and Billy were benched from the game because they were a measly five minutes late all because a calendar doesn’t send you weekly reminders. In addition, imagine a college student prepping for the upcoming semester test by not taking down notes, but typing them, on her early Christmas present: the new and just-entered-stores iPhone six plus, on every word her professor speaks, right down to his last syllable. Both the soccer mom and college student were stressed and, although the source was from different reasons, they both turned to their smartphones. Therefore, people are affected by cellphones because of their organizational abilities.
With touchscreens, voice activation, and locks that are opened with something as detailed as a fingerprint, it’s no wonder why people seem glued to their cellphones: organizational abilities, and unnatural human emotional dependance on a system called Siri.