The Way Smartphones Affect Our Lives

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Only a couple of years ago, road trips with my family were possibly the most fun part of our whole vacation. We played games, sang songs, and talked for hours telling funny stories to each other. However, on my most recent seven hour road trip to Vermont the passengers faces were lit up by the brightness of their smartphone. Even my ten year old sister was indulged by the difficult levels of Candy Crush and its bright colors. This was probably one of the most boring car rides of my life, considering my smartphone had recently crashed and become unusable. With nothing else to do, I observed the anti-social behavior of my family. In all, about twenty minutes of the seven hour road trip, was taken up by talking. Instead of conversing with each other, my family was preoccupied with the amazing features of their tech device, transforming a social interaction into silence. The convenience that smartphones bring in daily life is tremendous. Users can access the health and related services anytime and anywhere with a click or simple touch of finger, but along with the convenience it also poses several dangers. The helpful features of smartphones can be very harmful to the brain, mainly hippocampus. The hippocampus is the seahorse shaped part in the brain that controls memory, problem solving abilities, and other cognitive abilities such as perception and attention (Whitbourne). The use of smartphones prevents the necessary amount of exercise for the hippocampus, and the more time users are on their smartphones, the less time the brain has to relax. Smartphones also can cause behavioral changes and leading to users to becoming anti-social. All these negative effects smartphones have on users can be easily fixed with simple solutions t... ... middle of paper ... ... Web. 19 Dec. 2013. Ryall, Julian. "Surge in 'digital Dementia'" The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 24 June 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2013. "Smart Phones Are Changing Real World Privacy Settings." American Friends of Tel Aviv University. Tel Aviv University, 10 May 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. "Smartphones Improvements: Positive and Negative Impact on Society." Alwaleed Al Afaliq. Psu.edu, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Tell, Caroline. "Step Away From the Phone!" Fashion & Style. New York Times, 20 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Whitbourne, Susan K. "Your Smartphone May Be Making You... Not Smart." Fulfillment at Any Age. Psychology Today, 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. Worthman, Jenna. "Most Young Adults in U.S. Now Own Smartphones, Survey Says." Bits Most Young Adults in US Now Own Smartphones Survey Says Comments. New York Times, 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

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