It takes only
few months for Apple Inc. to replace their latest products, iPhone 5S, to the
more sophisticated one, iPhone 6. As we can see, the time span taken by these
companies to release their so-called high-technology products is getting
shorter. We cannot deny that the development of technology has brought us to
the new phase of life. Unavoidably, people’s lifestyle is gradually affected
that they now change their phones as easy as fashion trends. A recent study published
in the Journal of Behavioral Addiction found that female college students spend
an average of 10 hours a day on their smartphones, while men are reported to
spend nearly eight. This phenomenon leads us to an expected fact that most people
nowadays have misused their smartphones to gain popularity instead of socializing
with others. No wonder, the phrase “smartphones bring those who are far close
and bring who are close distant” will perfectly describe this social issue the urban
society is facing.
Along with the
advantages smartphones have given, we can conclude that this technology is
undeniably a shortcut to more accessible internet connectivity which brings
everyone connected. That is why, the ease of access, availability, and portability
makes smartphones twice as addictive –and seductive- as other high-tech
products. A research conducted by Nielsen Statistics in 2014 shows that
averagely 62,15% of our time spent on the smartphones was contributed by
chatting, browsing, and the use of utility apps. Human’s nature of feeling a
need to be socially connected plays a big role as well in the field of how social
media urges the importance of smartphones.
Walking down
the street, people are busy looking down to their phones. Scrolling, playing,
and even texting while they run to catch the bus. A long-time-friends meet up
is a kind of time-wasting stuff since those silly conversations have now gone
and been replaced by the silence created while having another kind of
conversation with virtual friends out there. Ironically, our society is having
their own clone in the virtual world lies among us where there is no more real
time and space, but only a handful of technology development we call
smartphones. Smartphones are such an addiction and just like any other
addictions, the more we get attached to it, the more it hypnotizes us.
Instagram,
Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat are some kinds of today’s social media which
attract our attention a little bit too much. These are the source of our “anxiety”
as well. The feeling we are going to miss something if we do not constantly
check our smartphones leads us to an illusion which is never real. The fact
that people now take popularity as a great deal and simply state it as a part
of self-quality has affected people’s paradigm about what they should use their
smartphones for. Constantly receiving lots of hearts or likes on social media
instantly heighten their self-confidence and create a delusional self-importance.
Actually, this is the dark side we have to be worry about.
Smartphones,
along with the effectiveness and efficiency they offer, have been widely
misused to gain popularity instead of socializing with others. However, smartphones
can actually be a great device to help ourselves perform jobs at best, but it
is more important to create guide lines of when it is approriate to use and
when it is not in order to optimize the use to something more beneficial.