Does Using Cell-phones Make Some People More Or Less Connected (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Does Using Cell-Phones Make People More or Less Connected Introduction We are living in this digital era where the access of cell phones is at our fingertips. It is very easy to have access to a mobile phone today than it was some years ago. In America, more than 90% of the adults own phones while more than 60% of the teens have access to cellphones. It is estimated that for 16 hours an average person will make use of about 144 minutes on their cell phones and there are about 6 billion mobile subscribers around the world (Sarwar, and Soomro 219). This can be attributed to growth in technology. Improvements in technology have seen the discovery of new ways of communication, and one of them is using the mobile phones. The mobile phones come in various forms, types, and models. The phones are used for many purposes. Today they are making transaction very fast and very easy. You can even access your bank through your phones. Today, cell phones have become a necessary and useful tool and are a critical part of the humanity (Sarwar, and Soomro 219). But a question can be raised as to whether the use of mobile phones is making us more or less connected. Easy access to communication would make us have a feeling that we are more connected. However, it is not always the case. This paper argues that Cell phones make us less connected because people no longer find it necessary to meet and instead relationships exist on virtual platforms. Furthermore, it promotes emotional disconnect among friends and relatives as they are unable to determine the real feelings of the people they are talking with over phone. How the Cellphones Make People Less Connected Technology, especially the cell phones has provided us with a shield. It makes us less exposed and vulnerable and especially emotionally. People learn during the early stages of development that being connected to people is exposing us to the dangers of conflicts and danger (Bian and Leung 65). As a result, they have reverted to technology and the in particular cell phones as they are relatively readily available. With the phones no one can see one when is crying, in short, no one can see you when you are experiencing shame. It is a behavior that has led to making people less connected with each other. Simply because when you are connected to the cell phones you become less exposed to such shame, conflict, and danger, so what people do is to become less connected by turning to their cell phones and avoid such social implications. People use their phones regularly due to a feeling of being less connected. In most cases, for example in a group or gathering, you will find people turning to their phones instead of attending to the businesses of the group. In a study research by Pew Research Centers, about 16% of people using phones in a group use their phones for feeling not interested in the group activities. About 15% claims they use the phone in a group for the need to interact with those not in the group and about 10% makes use of the cell phone to run away from taking part in the group (Duggan and Brenner 65). This leads to the desire of knowing the reason why they turn to their cell phones. The behavior is believed to be driven by the fact that the persons are feeling less connected to the group and that is why they end up turning to their cell phones yet they ought to be attending to the businesses of the group. If they were more connected to the group, they would have remained focused on the group rather than opting for their phones. The things are that the cell phones in this case only make them more social but less connected. Technology advancement has led to the emergence of a virtual world. The virtual world now overlaps with the real-world (Reyes, Dholakia, and Bonoff 115). It is because those whom we interact with in the virtual world are also the ones we interact with in the real world. We put more time to virtual-world than we do set in the real world to connect with real friends on a deeper level. And by so doing the overall result is that we remain less connected to each other in the real world. Connection in the real-world is the most important as we do not live in the virtual world, but rather we live in the real world. We are neglecting people and one another by frequently turning to using our cell phones. For example, it's not a wonder to see a mother walking their babies and talking on their cell phones while their little ones are crying. Children are taking much of their time on cell phones instead of learning from their parents and other siblings on how to emotionally connect (Chayko, 979). It is not a wonder to see teens on the street that are together but are always gazing at their cell phones. It, therefore, makes the kids and the parents less connected to each other. Similarly, the parents are becoming less connected to their children paying less attention to them than they do to their cell phones. Cell phones do not support social cues of communications. They do not support the use of eye contacts facial expressions just but to mention a few (Sarwar, and Soomro 219). The social cues are essential skills of communication in any relationship. They bring a sense of belonging and emotional attachment to each other. They make one feel to be more connected to each other. Switching to cell phones for communication makes us kill such social cues of communication just makes us less connected and feeling of attachment to each other. Social capital which is regarded as the benefits of interaction has two main merits to the human being; bonding and the bridging. Cell phones provide with a virtual world (Miller, et al. 460). The virtual world only provides with bridging. We bridge so many friends whom we interact and communicate with but whom we remain less connected. We remain less connected to such people because even though there is communication, there is no bonding with them. It is, therefore, the bonding that brings about connection and such use of cell has no support of bonding, therefore, making us less connected. Cell phones make us less connected because people only pay attention to what they want to pay attention. When start to behave this way it means that they became less connected to their real friends, workmates and family members (Reyes, Dholakia, and Bonoff 119). As a result, it means we end up expecting more from the technology while expecting less from the people. The people will ...