The End Of Eye Contact: Smartphones And Handheld Media Essay Example

It is a common sight, today, to walk into a restaurant and see everyone at a table on their phones; it is impossible to sit in a crowded area for any extended period of time without witnessing people texting talking, playing games, or being otherwise disengaged with the outside world. While it is common to yearn for the past in a nostalgic, idealistic way, there is certainly something to be said for the time when individuals who were face-to-face with each other had to interact with each other, rather than the handheld electronic devices in their possession.
There are, of course, positives to having technology advance to the point where it has today. Smartphones are capable of amazing things: today, a smartphone can connect to the Internet, provide text messaging, video calling, email, and more; it can connect the user to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook; it can store music; and so on and so forth. The user has access to nearly any of his or her important documents that he or she thought to store on his or her phone or on any of the number of Cloud services available. These are all advantages that this new technology has provided for humanity today; in short, humanity is “plugged in” like it never has been before. The amount of access everyone with a smartphone has to information is completely unprecedented.
This constant connection is a double-edged sword, however. There is, of course, the aforementioned lack of social interaction; with a smartphone and the constant connection, everyone is looking forward, scheduling appointments, interacting with people who are not present; it removes the individual’s ability to be present in the moment unless he or she focuses very intently on not becoming engrossed in his or her phone or other handheld mobile device and all the things that can be done on it.
Smartphones have changed the way humans interact with each other in other ways, as well. Studies suggest that on the Internet, people’s mannerisms change; they are less likely to be polite, and behavior that can be described as rude or inappropriate increases dramatically. When people become unused to interacting face-to-face, there can be a breakdown in their ability to communicate effectively.
Smartphones have also increased people’s dependence on social media. This is because smartphones make it so easy for individuals to check and update social media sites without any kind of fuss; the smartphone is, by and large, taking over for the computer in terms of social media use. This means that everyone is constantly inundated with the minutiae of other people’s day-to-day lives; there is very little ability to “shut off” and remove oneself from social media and social media sites.
Smartphones will not be going away anytime soon, and the benefits of smartphones and handheld device technology far outweigh the detriments of the technology. However, it is important to teach young people how to properly use these types of devices so that they can still engage properly with the world without constantly having their eyes glue to a screen. If moderation could be found, smartphones and other handheld electronic devices may very well be one of the most positive technological advances for humanity since the Internet Age began.