You and Your Smartphone—Who’s in Charge?
Smartphones are changing our lives/—but not always for the better. There are dangers of misuse. It’s about time to examine carefully/whether we are using smartphones in a healthy way.
Everywhere we look,/we see people bending over their smartphones. They are in their own private world. This kind of scene has become so common/that we no longer find it strange.
It is estimated/that more than four billion people in the world/are using smartphones. In Japan,/the number of people who own smartphones/has been increasing rapidly. In 2011,/only 14.6% of the total population/was using smartphones. By 2018,/the rate had increased to 64.7%. On average,/Japanese teenagers spend 143 minutes a day/using smartphones just for the Internet,/while people in their 20s spend 129 minutes/for the same purpose. These figures indicate/that we are now living in a new culture/where the digital world meets the real world.
Not a day goes by/that we don’t use our smartphones. Over the past decade,/they have made us do many things differently/—the way we relate to people,/the way we amuse ourselves,/and the way we take care of things/in our daily lives.
Texting,/emailing,/social media,/and video chatting/let us stay in constant contact/with our friends and families,/even if they are living halfway across the world. With our smartphones,/we can watch movies/when we want to watch them. We can listen to music. We can play video games. Smartphone technology has indeed made our lives richer/and more pleasant.
Besides all of those benefits,/smartphones offer many practical services. For instance,/we don’t have to go to a bank/to do our banking business. In an emergency,/police officers and firefighters can immediately find/where their help is needed. We also use smartphones/to find our way around town,/to call a taxi,/or to check the prices of sneakers. Some apps even let us monitor/how far we walked/and how many calories we burned during the day.
Smartphones have made our lives richer/and more pleasant. However,/many researchers report on the negative effects/of the use of smartphones.
Using smartphones to entertain very young children/may negatively affect their development. For full mental and physical development,/children need contact with other people/and the real world.
It’s not only the problem of child development. Teenagers and adults also face risks. Smartphones may distract us. They are always ringing and buzzing/to make us pay attention to them. In fact,/they may distract us/even when they’re on silent mode.
In one study,/800 people were asked/to solve math problems. They were in three groups:/(1) those who left their smartphones/in another room;/(2) those who had their smartphones/in their pockets;/and (3) those who kept their smartphones/right in front of them. The results:/Group 1 did the best;/Group 2 came next;/Group 3 did the worst. Smartphones had an effect/on how well people were able to focus their attention.
Smartphones make our lives so easy/that we could become mentally lazy. We no longer even try to remember meetings and dates. We use our smartphones/to connect to the Internet. We rely on the Internet for the news,/for our school reports,/and for understanding world events. For some of us,/the Internet is so easy to use/that it has replaced books and newspapers/as our main source of information:/another form of mental laziness.
To make matters worse,/sometimes the Internet spreads lies. We don’t know what to believe/and what not to believe. Believing everything we see on the Internet/is not only lazy,/it is also dangerous. We must develop the ability to think independently. Our smartphones can’t teach us that skill.
We are living in a new culture/where the digital world is meeting the real world. And we are only beginning to understand the impact/that smartphones have/on our mental and social lives. Until we come to a better understanding/of the impact of these new technologies,/maybe we should think about limiting our use of smartphones. “Moderation in all things”/might not be a bad idea.
Smartphones are changing our lives/—but not always for the better. There are dangers of misuse. It’s about time to examine carefully/whether we are using smartphones in a healthy way.
Everywhere we look,/we see people bending over their smartphones. They are in their own private world. This kind of scene has become so common/that we no longer find it strange.
It is estimated/that more than four billion people in the world/are using smartphones. In Japan,/the number of people who own smartphones/has been increasing rapidly. In 2011,/only 14.6% of the total population/was using smartphones. By 2018,/the rate had increased to 64.7%. On average,/Japanese teenagers spend 143 minutes a day/using smartphones just for the Internet,/while people in their 20s spend 129 minutes/for the same purpose. These figures indicate/that we are now living in a new culture/where the digital world meets the real world.
Not a day goes by/that we don’t use our smartphones. Over the past decade,/they have made us do many things differently/—the way we relate to people,/the way we amuse ourselves,/and the way we take care of things/in our daily lives.
Texting,/emailing,/social media,/and video chatting/let us stay in constant contact/with our friends and families,/even if they are living halfway across the world. With our smartphones,/we can watch movies/when we want to watch them. We can listen to music. We can play video games. Smartphone technology has indeed made our lives richer/and more pleasant.
Besides all of those benefits,/smartphones offer many practical services. For instance,/we don’t have to go to a bank/to do our banking business. In an emergency,/police officers and firefighters can immediately find/where their help is needed. We also use smartphones/to find our way around town,/to call a taxi,/or to check the prices of sneakers. Some apps even let us monitor/how far we walked/and how many calories we burned during the day.
Smartphones have made our lives richer/and more pleasant. However,/many researchers report on the negative effects/of the use of smartphones.
Using smartphones to entertain very young children/may negatively affect their development. For full mental and physical development,/children need contact with other people/and the real world.
It’s not only the problem of child development. Teenagers and adults also face risks. Smartphones may distract us. They are always ringing and buzzing/to make us pay attention to them. In fact,/they may distract us/even when they’re on silent mode.
In one study,/800 people were asked/to solve math problems. They were in three groups:/(1) those who left their smartphones/in another room;/(2) those who had their smartphones/in their pockets;/and (3) those who kept their smartphones/right in front of them. The results:/Group 1 did the best;/Group 2 came next;/Group 3 did the worst. Smartphones had an effect/on how well people were able to focus their attention.
Smartphones make our lives so easy/that we could become mentally lazy. We no longer even try to remember meetings and dates. We use our smartphones/to connect to the Internet. We rely on the Internet for the news,/for our school reports,/and for understanding world events. For some of us,/the Internet is so easy to use/that it has replaced books and newspapers/as our main source of information:/another form of mental laziness.
To make matters worse,/sometimes the Internet spreads lies. We don’t know what to believe/and what not to believe. Believing everything we see on the Internet/is not only lazy,/it is also dangerous. We must develop the ability to think independently. Our smartphones can’t teach us that skill.
We are living in a new culture/where the digital world is meeting the real world. And we are only beginning to understand the impact/that smartphones have/on our mental and social lives. Until we come to a better understanding/of the impact of these new technologies,/maybe we should think about limiting our use of smartphones. “Moderation in all things”/might not be a bad idea.