Revolutionized Communication: The Cell Phone The emerging technologies of the century have greatly affected how people interact personally and professionally. From 1990 to 2010, mobile phone users grew from 12 million to over 4 billion worldwide; in fact, almost 90 percent of households in America have a mobile phone (Wortham). The creation of the mobile phone marked a new era for America and the world. Phones have evolved from the “bag phone” to the BlackBerry, and will forever change the way a society communicates. In the beginning of mobile phones, people could make a call from their car to confirm an appointment or talk with a peer traveling to work. Now, the way meetings are planned, work schedules are given, movies are watched, and information is researched have all been effected by the change in the mobile phone. The mobile phone has created another dimension, a dimension in which everything is accessible. The mobile phone has simplified knowledge into a 2 inch LCD screen plus a QWERTY keyboard that people call their cell phone. It took over thirty-five years of innovation to carry around a device that reveals answers within seconds, calls across the world, and fits the World Wide Web on an extremely small screen. The various advancements have not only been seen in the palm of America’s hand, the affects stretch to school systems, families, and relationships. School systems have taken a disturbing turn into violence over the past decade and parents have become less comfortable leaving their children in this environment. Now, children have a resource at their fingertips, an answer to all their questions, and a device that carries almost half-a-century’s hard work right in their pocket. When a bomb threat is given, a gun ... ... middle of paper ... ...pacts it has. The cell phone changed the way people access information, use language, but most importantly the way people communicate. It is true that mobile phones are having an impact on the youth. With billions of people across the world using and interacting daily with people who use cell phones,** Works Cited Miners, Zach. "One Third of Teens Use Cellphones to Cheat in School." US News. 2011 U.S.News & World Report LP, 23 June 2009. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. Nurullah, Abu Sadat. "The Cell Phone as an Agent of Social Change." Rocky Mountain Communication Review 6.1 (2009): 19+. University of Alberta - Academia.edu. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. Ong, Rebecca. "Chapter 4." Mobile Communication and the Protection of Children. Amsterdam: Leiden UP, 2010. 66+. Print. Wortham, Jenna. "Cell phones Now Used More for Data than for Calls." New York Times 14 May 2010, B1. Web. 13
In the essay “Our Cell Phones, Our Selves” written by Christine Rosen, the author presents a brief history on how cell phones were introduced into society and how this artifact changed people’s interactions in the physical space. Rosen describes the first cell phone that appeared in 1983 as “hardly elegant,” big and expensive (458). Cell phones at that time were mainly used by important and affluent people. However, seven years later, cell phones became smaller and affordable provoking a big change in society. This big technological advance did not only affect the United States, but the entire world.
In a technologically increasing world, individuals find themselves surrounded by devices that are created for the purpose of making daily life easier. One of the most commonly owned devices is the cell phone. The cell phone has the ability to provide almost all the services of various other devices through applications. Ironically, cell phones were created for the purpose of supporting communication at a distance, and cell phones have become a cause of distance in human relationships. Cell phones are enabling disconnection in communication, dependency on technology, and a weakened sense of humanity.
Gilroy also addresses how the cell phone problem will not be going away anytime soon, “Incidents like these are likely to increase, especially since the newest models of phones offer faster and better connections with more options to entice students” (Gilroy 15). In this day in age technology and its usage is increasing, and with that shows the relevancy of the above statement to be true even 13 years later, given the article was published in February 2004. While the different polls and survey numbers in the article might not be accountable to this day, the problem itself still
In today’s age there is so much controversy on whether or not cell phones are helping the world or destroying it. When cell phones first came out it was instantly the thing to have with no second guessing, you just had to have it. But these days many people are saying that it is disconnecting us from the real world. But even with everybody saying that, a study was done saying that over three-quarters of the cell phone owners asked said that cell phones made their lives easier overall or did not really have an affect at all. They said that it makes it easier to contact family or friends from long distances and are able to keep up with what is going on in people's lives they would never be able to normally talk to without them. In addition, it also helped people who would normally forget about events be able to set reminders and help them not only remember to be there but get there on
Cell phone technology has been around for over twenty years. It has only been the last ten years where it has integrated completely into our lives and changed how we communicate with each other. Entire social rules of interaction were completely changed. Now you could be reached at anytime. It seemed like having a cell phone guaranteed some level of privacy from others around you. But what about your own privacy? With the technology revolution that has been taking place there seems to be no focus on personal relationships. The entire English language has been chopped up and shortened into meaningless letters and phrases It has caused loss of human interaction and expression in our modern daily lifestyles.
“I’m sorry I didn’t hear you. I was responding to a text message. What were you saying?” Have you ever heard this expression or something similar; we all have. This is clear evidence of how cellphones can be a very big distraction in many social settings. Some people check their cell phone first thing in the morning. It is so easy to waste time playing on your cell phone rather than doing something productive. Cell phone use, can cause harm physically, socially, and academically, although cell phones have some good qualities, advancements in technology is causing the world to gradually become dependent on technology.
Sadat Nurullah, Abu. "The Cell Phone as an Agent of Social Change." Academia.edu. University of Alberta, n.d. Web. 4 Nov 2013. .
Amy Gahran, a media consultant exploring communication in the technology era, writes about how cell phones are significant. She feels that cell phones have changed our lives by providing “…vital services and human connections…offer new hope, even through simple broadcast text messages” (Gahran). Gahran is insisting that cell phones allow us to learn news quickly, connect with safety, and can even fight crime through video recordings (Gahran). In addition, she feels that the overall benefits of owning a cell phone outweigh any negatives. This somewhat challenges the ideas presented by Rosen because it points out more benefits of cell phones. In “Our Cell Phones, Ourselves” Rosen mentions that although cell phones indeed connect us with safety, they can often lead to a sense of paranoia. To expand, she writes that parents who give children a cell phone for security purposes, develop a paranoid sense of their community and lose trust in “social institutions” (Rosen). In making this comment, Rosen argues that although cell phones may be beneficial, they can change the way we view our world. Without a cell phone, many individuals feel vulnerable, as if their phone protects them from all possible dangers that they may encounter. In fact, a Rutgers University professor challenged his students to power off their phones for 48 hours and report back with their experience (Rosen). Many felt almost lost without it and one young women described the feeling “…like I was going to get raped if I didn’t have my cell phone in my hand” (Rosen). In reality, having a cell phone will not save a person’s life in all situations. Although many, including Gahran, feel a phone is a vital tool, it has changed how we feel about the world around us and how vulnerable we feel without a phone in
Nowadays, mobile phones have become one of the first (if not the first) needed technologies of the century. People lives are becoming more dependent of the usage of this device and the users have not being able to administer their time they dedicate to text and to talk. Years pass and people keep on depending more and more on this gadget to keep on living. It is really different from past times where people didn’t even have phones at their homes. Now everybody has gotten used to making these devices their only way of getting what they want or need at any time. Nevertheless, all of this is to be expected from the actual society because they were born in times where this technology has already taken the majority of the importance, so they are not used to using other options. Cellphones came to the world to never disappear. They hav...
Forty-one years ago on April 7, 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper changed the world by making the world’s first cell phone call. With a 10-inch-long, 2.5-pound phone nicknamed “the brick” he called his engineering nemesis at the much bigger company Bell Labs (Here& Now, 2014). The phone gave 30 minutes of talk time after 10 hours of recharging and it cost a grand total of $3995. In those days, the average middle-class person could not afford to buy a mobile phone. By the late 1990s, cell phones became progressively accessible to the overall population. (Ef.org.vt.edu, 2014). Ever since then the sizes and the technologies in and of cell phones has been changing to accommodate the masses. Decades later, cell phones, and now smartphones, live in the pocket or purse of nearly everyone in the United States. Cell phones tell us the time, give us directions, take pictures, entertain us and help us exercise, all while making it possible to post each and every sordid detail to the internet without going anywhere near a computer. These new devices however convenient also bring complications along with them. This research paper will delved into the advantages and disadvantages of a cell phone, visit the health risk and factors affecting people who are exposed to cell phones, Discuss how cell phones have changed our way of communicating and socializing with one another, outline preventative measures surrounding the way cell phones have degraded our way of life and expound on the Thesis: Though cellular phones have provided many advantages since inception their cause more harm than their benefits they are worth.
On April 3rd, 1973, Martin Cooper, an employee of Motorola, stood on Sixth Avenue in New York City holding a piece of technology that would spark massive changes across the world. (Seward) That was the cellular telephone. Prior to that day, telephones had been limited to those hard-wired, either into homes or public places. Soon, people everywhere would be constantly connected to each other, always able to talk, and always able to check in. Since the mobile phone's debut, it has created new heights in communication, creating a world so interconnected that it will never be able go back to the simplicity of communication once so common.
At the outset, mobile phones were considered as valuable resources that were shared by family members and close friends, rather than as purely personal devices. As times have progressed the way mobiles are perceived has changed, they have moved from the want segment to the need segment.
Cell phones have changed from an item of luxury to an everyday necessity for some people. Twenty five years ago, a phone was just a way to contact someone. Mobile phones have become one of the most common tools of communications for both young and old. Cellular devices have redefined relationships and social conduct, and transformed the daily lives of many individuals. Cell phones no longer function just as a communication device. Today it has many other uses. Cell phones are used for games, calculators, texting, calendars, social sites, and pictures. In addition, there are many apps that one can download on a phone. Mobile phones help us keep track of our lives.
In today’s world the vast majority of the population owns a cell phone. Cell phones are a huge part of people’s everyday lives. Since the 1940’s when mobile phones became available for automobiles, phone companies have made huge strides in making mobile phones more efficient, much smaller, and more available for anyone to use. There was a time where only people of wealth had these types of mobile phones. Now people from all social classes own a cell phone. They are extremely convenient and have the ability to do just about anything you can think of. There is an “app” for everything. You can make phone calls, text message, surf the web, pay your bills, read books, catch up on social media, and even listen to you music all from one small handheld device. Cell phones play a huge role in today’s economy. Businesses such as AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have become huge public corporations with large stakes in the stock market. Between these companies among several other phone companies they have created millions of jobs and opportunities. Cell phone companies have now created what are known as “smart phones”. These phones are typically slim and sleek and have countless versatile abilities. However, cell phones have not always been so “smart” or small for that matter.
The world today is a result of centuries of evolution; one of the major adaptations is technology, specifically the invention of the smartphone. The smartphone is a cellular phone that has the capabilities of performing similar functions to that of a computer (Oxford Dictionaries’ online dictionary, n.d.). The smartphone is owned by youth for the most part; however, adults and seniors are also turning toward using this device. This in turn demonstrates the popularity of this marvelous device, and is the reason why it is constantly monitored by its users. The continuous evolving of the populations' wants and needs such as communication, searching of information, entertainment and recording, makes owning a smartphone essential, and beneficial as it is portable, reliable and efficient.