The Smartphone Usage Controversy

BY: CLAIRE KIM

From my personal experience, I have to admit I use my phone a lot. Not to play games or to search the internet, but mainly for music and texting. Like many teens, we all love our phones and probably cherish it as one of the most valuable items we own. Smartphones are a curse and a blessing depending on how we use them.

I think the biggest concern with smartphones is the addictive factor and illogical time management. I’ve seen and heard a lot of cases in which teens use their phones 24/7 nonstop. When teens start to stick to their screens and never back away, I think that’s when parents start to realize that their child is addicted. Addiction is never good. Even drinking too much water is bad, so I can clearly see why people may feel discouraged about giving phones early. Another thing I would like to point out is our social life person to person also gets messed up with smartphone addiction. When I go outside to eat, and I see a couple having a date, I tend to find them both not talking to each other but instead looking down at their phones and texting. This is something that I think is a serious issue.

Now with time management comes another problematic dilemma. People who use their phones way too much start to lose track of time as well. There are so many other things we could do and care more about than playing around on little digital icons. I think people need to realize that time is limited and so they should take it easy with the amount of time they spent on their phones. In a way, they are kind of abusing their usage.

However I do want to point out, smartphones are beneficial in a way by promoting self-learning, awareness and communication bonds. I think the real way to solve this problem, is to really make clear restrictions on how much allotted time is encouraged for smartphone usage.

In my opinion, I feel that the idea of creating a law that makes it illegal for ages 13 and under to have smartphones is not a logical action. Like Dr. Donald Shifrin mentioned, “he is skeptical that legislation would lead to an improved management of smartphone use in children. Parents should be responsible for creating rules and expectations about using the phone, he said. ” This is right.