Cell Phones: Addictive or Helpful
by Morgan Higgins In this day and age, everyone has a phone. Toddlers are playing with devices at the early ages of two or three, which makes them ready to have a phone by age seven. Parents offer phones to their ten and eleven year olds 60% of the time, while other kids aren’t given a phone until they are able to pay for it themselves. About six to seven billion people have access to mobile phones. If you thought that wasn’t shocking, only about four and a half billion people have access to working toilets, and two and a half billion people have proper sanitation. You see people using them everywhere, such as in restaurants, in stores, walking around, and even in bathrooms. Most people believe that phones are necessary in this world, because they provide instant communication. This communication helps parents with child safety.
In a different perspective, they are seen as a big distraction, They get rid of personal connections that can be made in the real world and make people become less observant of the world around them.
Weighing in on this topic are two highlanders from completely different ends of the spectrum. Madelyn Wilke is a Senior and has had a total of three phones since the sixth grade, while Logan Herr has gone his whole life without the use of a phone.
Madelyn has six different social media accounts. She uses most of them everyday to keep in touch with people she doesn't see on a regular basis. Her social media accounts include: 335 facebook friends, 309 instagram followers, and 82 snapchat streaks. She believes that she doesn’t use them as a distraction, as she always puts away her phone in class or at family gatherings. She doesn’t think that her phone is essential to her, but it is an easier way for her mother to keep tabs on her when she is out and about. In the future she plans to give her child a phone, but not until they prove to be responsible. She doesn’t want her children to overuse data and in fact, she would encourage her children to go out with friends. She doesn’t want their cellphones to be their excuse for not doing anything in their life.
Logan thinks that a phone would be a nice way for communication, but doesn’t believe that social media would be beneficial for him. He does not have any social media at all, as he believes, in general, that both phones and social media are a distraction. Finally, he said that he would certainly give his child a phone, but not until they are around fifteen or sixteen years old. Logan thinks that his opinion could possibly change in the future, but he wouldn’t like the idea of his children having a phone at an early age because it is terrible for their eyes and addicting.
Our family plays a huge part in what we believe and think. It seems that our perception and opinions of phones have to do with what you grew up with. If you were given a phone at a young age, you would be inclined to do the same in the future for the benefits and reasons your parents have said to you. If you grew up believing that phones are a distraction then that was just how you were raised. With that, you would be more likely to wait to give your child a phone in the future. Whatever your opinion is, make sure that what you’re doing is responsible and that you are doing it for the best reasons.
Cites:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-phones-than-toilets-u-n-study-shows/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kids-with-cell-phones-how-young-is-too-young/
