IF3050 Critical Thinking | Negative Effect on Young People Today

Write an argument of between that either agrees or disagrees with the following claim:

The increasing use of smartphones is having a negative effect on young people today.

Answer:

“The increasing use of smart phones is having a negative effect on young people today”

Young people all over the world have adopted the smart phones in very less time. The affordable cost has made it even more available to everyone. Introduction of smart phones have been very beneficial for people, irrespective of their age (Parasuraman et al., 2017). Smart phones have their own advantages as well as disadvantages in the lives of people. This assignment agrees with the statement. Usage of smart phones has many disadvantages.

The major disadvantage of usage of smart phone is youngsters hide behind the technologies from various distressing events like depression of people without phones, cyber bullying and ending relationships. According to research it has been found that youngsters prefer texting instead of talking over phone or meeting people in real (Bert, Giacometti & Gualano, 2014). This make them introvert. They open up even more when they converse through texting. One more negative impact of using smart phones is that youngsters use their phones to bully others. Cyber bullying is a phenomenon that is used by adolescents as well as children in order to harm others. According to research that has been carried out, it was found that most of the bullying cases were carried out by texting (Kibona & Rugina, 2015). Various consequences of face to face bullying are depression, psychosomatic symptoms, suicide tendencies and anxiety. Various consequences of cyber bullying have not been researched yet but it has been assumed that it would be more serious than face to face bullying. When people are bullied verbally, they might not remember everything but in case of bulling through texting, the person can read every word repeatedly (Miakotko, 2017). This is assumed to be more concrete and real compared to words that are spoken.

Usage of smart phones in regular basis, detaches the children from their friends, relatives and families. This is one of the biggest disadvantages of using smart phones. This increases distance between children and people existing in their real life. Using smart phones also result in wastage of time (Al-Hileh & Ibrahim, 2018). Children can use their time by taking part in extracurricular activities like sports, dancing, singing and many more but they prefer wasting their time by using their smart phones. They are ether busy in their social media platforms or playing some games. This affects their health greatly. It causes wastage of energy, while children use phones, every part of their body spend energy on it and the energy is simply wasted for no use (Miakotko, 2017). This makes their eyesight and brain week and makes them lag behind in their academic fields. One more dangerous disadvantage of using smart phones to a greater extent is it causes diseases. Smart phones have been recorded for causing various diseases. Smart phones might cause skin diseases such as skin cancer, eye irritations and many more (Ofcom, 2014). Excessive usage of smart phones may cause serious diseases to children that would affect their brain and growth (Gipson, Torous & Maneta, 2017). One of the biggest disadvantages of using smart phones is that students neglect their studies. They are too busy playing games in their smart phones, or posting new updates in social media platforms or chatting with their new friends on such platforms and many more that they neglect their academic areas. They do not feel the need to study and build a carrier.

Usage of smart phones distracts the children from the real world around them. They find it very hard to concentrate on something else other than their smart phones. Children are so much addicted to their phones that they tend to get addicted as well as dependent to it (Ofcom, 2014). They cannot pass by several moments without their phones. Unknowingly children reveal personal information online that proves to be harmful in future. This information can be shared through some posts on social media platform or through chatting. This results in security issues. People might make use of this information and use them against the user. Constant use of smart phones may lead in strain injury.

References

Al-Hileh, M. M., & Ibrahim, N. S. (2018). The Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Games Played by Children Aged (3-6) Years, from Mothers and Kindergarten Teachers’ Point of View. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 13(4), 1805-1812.

Bert, F., Giacometti, M., Gualano, M. R., & Siliquini, R. (2014). Smartphones and health promotion: a review of the evidence. Journal of medical systems, 38(1), 9995.

Gipson, S. Y. M. T., Torous, J., & Maneta, E. (2017). Mobile Technologies in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Pushing for Further Awareness and Research. Harvard review of psychiatry, 25(4), 191-193.

Kibona, L., & Rugina, J. M. (2015). A Review on the Impact of Smartphones on Academic Performance of Students in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania. Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology, 2, 673-677.

Miakotko, L. (2017). The impact of smartphones and mobile devices on human health and life.

Ofcom.  06 August 2015

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/cmr/cmr15/uk

Parasuraman, S., Sam, A. T., Yee, S. W. K., Chuon, B. L. C., & Ren, L. Y. (2017). Smartphone usage and increased risk of mobile phone addiction: A concurrent study. International journal of pharmaceutical investigation, 7(3), 125.