Smartphones, does it make us less smart? A smartphone is a very advanced technology that is own by mostly every New Zealanders in the country. It is also used every single day in our lives. They help and give us the information that we need such as any business-related matters, a 'toy' for a kid or a device that will give us entertainment. This may sound that it is a very good thing, but it is unfortunately not. Therefore, I will precisely explain the reasons why I am against Smartphones.
Firstly, Smartphones are great when using for communication purposes but it is making us less smart as most of the people use it more often than we are supposed to. People have become less socially interactive due to their dependence and obssession in Smartphones. For instance, there are people that would constantly check their Smartphone while walking or doing other activities such as hanging out with their friends or having a date. This shows that people are not aware of their surroundings as they are always busy doing something on their Smartphone. This leads to lack of social interaction and may cause the person to not get used to talking to other people in person. Therefore, people should converse with other people, not with the Smartphones.
Secondly, Smartphones makes us less productive. Smartphone is a tool that has everything in it. According to the article that I have read, they did a survey in their company in order to find out the difference of the employees with and without a Smartphone while working in their workplace. The result shows that having a Smartphone during work makes everyone to be less productive. Smartphones are a huge distraction while working as there are a range of activities that a person can do in it such as e-mails, text and video messaging, phonecalls, playing games, taking down notes and more. Therefore, the employees think that Smartphones are very reliable when working although in reality, it is not.
Thidly, having Smartphones is a problem itself as it is a device that can do what the brain does. it would have been better if it was built into something that the brain cannot do. Creation of Smartphones is like building the escalator when you already have the stairs, it does not help us use our muscles and brains in order to remember simple and important information and events that we need and are happening in our lives. I agree to a psychological fact that says "use it or lose it" as this applies to our daily lives when using Smartphones such as remembering directions using our brain instead of using a GPS application from the Smartphone. Once we do not exercise our brains, we lose the skills that our brains can do.
Fourthly, there is a huge impact to children when they use Smartphones. Smartphones separate the children from the principle of social interaction. Smartphones are designed to entertain the youth and adults but this discourages the children from interacting with the other kids as they do not really talk to each other using their mouth, but they just type the words that they want to say on their Smartphone and sends it to their peers. The Smartphone also lowers their confidence towards other people. Smartphones can also ruin the child's brain development. Rather than doing physical activities such as running and jumping with all the other children, they just sit on the corner pressing, swiping and tilting their Smartphone screens. This can also affect the children's health as they are often less mobile while playing with their Smartphones compared to what a usual kid would do. This results to children not having enough physical exercise that could result to being unfit and overweight or could develop any sickness or disease that may arise from insufficient physical activities.
Lastly, Smartphones are becoming an extension of the human brain. People are being dependent to the Smartphones by using it as a GPS in order to remind the user about the upcoming events such as birthdays, assignment due dates, work-out routines that should be done on a particular date and more. These events and reminders are supposed to be remembered and stored in the brain, and our brains are supposed to be the one reminding the us these information. Therefore, this enables the brain to be more active and aware about our surroundings. Furthermore, by using the Apple iOS application Siri, people would not often be bothered to search the information themselves as according to the Apple website, Siri "..understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you'll keep finding more and more ways to use it." (Apple, 2011)
In conclusion, Smartphones are great for communication but it makes us less smart as it makes us less productive. Also, having a smartphones is the problem itself as it is a device that can do what the brain does and it has a huge destructive impact on the children’s generation Furthermore, Smartphones are becoming an extension of the human brain. The statements above are clearly enough to prove that Smartphones actually makes people less smart. Although there are several reasons on why Smartphones are useful, its negative consequences of using and owning one still outweigh its positive features; especially when it is used more often than normal. Therefore, people must try not to depend on it too much and this will be achieved if people would use Smartphones wisely and moderately.
