negative effects of smartphones

Group No :
Title : The negative effects of smartphones among teenagers.
Hook line:
- ‘Phone beeps’. The screen reads, “Hey sweetheart, come ovr 2 my bday party 2nyt at 7. C yah! XOXO” Gone were the days where people used to send out invitation cards or having conversations face to face since the advent of smartphones.
General info :
Definiton of smartphones :
-A smart phone is an advanced communication gadget with advanced phone capabilities.
Definiton of teenagers :
-Aged between 13 and 25
-Today‘s Smartphone‘s has been around since last six years when Apple introduced the Smartphone in mass consumer market, but in reality the Smartphone has been in market since 1993.
-The difference between today‘s Smartphone and early Smartphone‘s is that early Smartphone‘s were predominantly meant for corporate users and used as enterprise devices and also those phone were too expensive for the general consumers.
-Today’s smartphones have the most popular mobile Operating systems (iOS, Android, Blackberry OS, Windows Mobile) and key Smartphone vendors (Apple, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, LG, Sony etc.) are concentrating to bring features both in operating systems and devices which will provide exciting feature to enterprise and general consumers.

-The role of Android has been tremendous during this time period as it provides a great opportunity to all vendors to build devices using the great open source Android technology.
-The technology used in smartphone designs is unique - it affects individual engagements, firm productivity and interactions in working places.

Thesis statement :
-As smartphones are now a global trend, this essay seeks to identify the main negative effects affecting teenagers from the use of smartphones, which includes how smartphones cause teenagers to be anti social, addicted, to cause health deprivation and to deteriorate education levels, followed by some practical solutions.

BACKGROUND PARAGRAPH :
Topic sentence :
The advent of social networking sites, and gaming applications have been crucial factors that contributes to the negative effects of smartphones among teenagers.
Supporting info :
According to a survey by Compete, a web analytics firm, a large number of people almost up to 65% are using their smart phones to read news feeds, post status updates, read & reply to messages and post photos.

Body paragraph 1:
Topic sentence : Smart phones causes teenagers to be anti social.
Supporting info :
- jeopardized social engagement by limiting the individuals to be engaged in the chat rooms
- Meetings and face to face conversations are labelled outdated mode of interaction. Instead, conversations are more preferred through texting, emails, and Whatsapp.
- Teenagers prefer updating statuses, pictures, and checking out notifications regularly, which causes them to stick with their smartphones, instead of having a nice conversation with friends and family.
- Teenagers prefer online games, ( these applications can be easily installed in smartphones) rather than playing indoor or outdoor games with friends and family.
- discourages them from interacting with their friends, family and people around them.
Solution :
The government and parents can educate and guide teenagers about the positive effects of smartphones .
Evaluation :
Although it is impossible to guarantee if it’s effective, as the teenagers might constantly go for entertainment and fun, yet through effective guidance, this solution can be partially effective.

Body Paragraph 2
Topic sentence : Smartphones can cause addiction.
Supporting info :
- wanting to be in constant communication with people even though when there is no real need for communication.
- obsessed with the number of ‘likes’.
- regular updates in Facebook, Instagram and Tweeter.
- The Ministry of Public Administration and Security of Korea reported that around 8.4% of Smartphone users in Korea are addicted to Smartphone and around 10.1% of Koreans overuse social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Solution :
-Parents can limit their access to smartphones, or not equipping young teenagers with a smartphone until they finish schooling.

Evaluation :
Will be effective for short term , but once they further their studies, they will be provided with a smartphones, and these days, it comes with internet connection.

Body Paragraph 3
Topic sentence : Smartphones causes health deprivation among teenagers.

Supporting sentence :
- interfering with our night‘s sleep, as they will be looking to answer an inbox and catch up with a friend.

- EMF, Radio Frequency (RF) radiation, Dirty Energy, & ElectroSmog are descriptions for radiation produced by our day-to-day use of electrical and wireless products, and these products are making our bodies sick.

- EMF has been linked to many of today’s common illnesses –cancer, and an overall Feeling of Low Energy. - According to the survey, 33% of mobile workers admitted that they check their phones for email and message throughout the night. Nearly 50% of those surveyed said, they wouldn‘t even think of going to bed without have their Smartphone‘s tucked under their pillows.

Solution :

-government can promote awareness regarding the electro magnetic rays released from smartphones and Wi-Fi through campaigns.

Evaluation :
This can be effective, as the dangerous effects from the EM rays will create awareness among everyone, especially teenagers. Rather than suffering from cancers in a very young age, we better try to prevent it.

Body Paragraph 4
Topic sentence : Smartphones are the cause for deteriorating education levels

Supporting info : sources of distraction- Individuals that have subscribed to social networks are unable to do away with them despite the intensity of their assignments. At the work place or even homework from school, users will find themselves destructed from their concentration to answer a chat message or an email from a social media friend.

The phones divert student concentration during learning sessions. This destruction by social networks and learning through phones attitude limits the harnessing of information from lecture halls.

The device takes over a function that human brain is capable to perform perfectly.
It's like multiplying 5 by 7, resulting in opening the calculator in your Smartphone instead of quickly calculating in your mind.

Short abbreviation used in texting, (i.e ‘u’ for you, ‘idk’ for I don’t know, ‘asap’ for as soon as possible) will worsen teenager’s language vocabulary. Frequent conversations using abbreviations will eventually lead them to corrode the language.

Solution :
Restrict the usage or ban usage of smartphones in lecture halls, and schools.

Evaluation :
This might be partially effective, as teenagers are able to sneak in their smartphones even in exam halls, and they can even use their smartphones outside the lecture hall. But, preventing usage of smartphones in lecture hall will at least help them to focus on their learning process during lectures.
CONCLUSION :

Summary of main points :
To summarize, as far as smart phones are revolutionizing the mode of communication and enhancing the levels of interaction between remote and urban people, they still bring negative effects to teenagers, as in causing teenagers to be anti-social, addiction towards smartphones, health deprivation, and deteriorating education levels.

Recommendation :
There are several ways that we can control and minimize the negative impacts of Smartphone in society. For example : Education and Guidance- In order to understand the positive and negative impact of Smartphone it is very important to educate the users on how to use Smartphone‘s smartly.
The education should emphasis to enhance the positive impacts and highlight the negative impacts clearly so that the users can take advantages of this exciting technology.
Security and Access Control- There are several initiatives from different vendors that can combat the misuse of Smartphone at workplace and at Universities. SAP, Airwatch, MacAfee and many other vendors provide solutions to control the access of Smartphone within the workplace and Universities. Such measures are very useful in environments, where security of information is the top priority. These can also be useful in controlling the access of Smartphone‘s in Universities to minimize the use of social websites.

Final comment :
-Smartphone can certainly be smart if the teenagers understand their responsibility towards usage of these devices smartly in order to get more benefit education, health and social life. So it is important to concentrate on how to stop and avoid smartly the misuse of Smartphone.