Cell Phones Affecting Face-to-Face Communication

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Throughout the years, technology has improved dramatically. Computers, television, cell phones, and video games have all gotten more advanced and seem to have taken over our lives. If the generations before us were looking for something to do, they would all go outside with their friends and play. However, if kids today are looking for something to do, most likely they will go to their bedroom and play video games or get on the internet with their cell phone. Almost every kid, teenager, and adult today has a cell phone. They use it on a regular basis to go online and text their friends. Excessive cell phone usage is a big problem for the world and it needs to be solved.
The groups that are affected the most by this issue are kids and teens today. According to the article “Teens and Mobile Phones” by Amanda Lenhart, Rich Ling, Scott Campbell, and Kristen Purcell, “As of September 2009, 75% of American teens ages 12-17 have a cell phone, a number that has steadily increased from 45% of teens in November 2004.” Lots of kids and teens are so distracted with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networking sites that they don’t realize how much they aren’t communicating face-to-face like they should. Using their cell phones this much could cause teens to develop poor social skills. An article on CNN.com quotes MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle. She claims, “If you don’t adequately acquire those skills, moving out onto the real world of real people can actually become quite scary.” Teens really need these important social skills to use throughout their lives. Turkle then shares one of her experiences in an interview: “An 18-year-old I interviewed recently said, ‘Someday, but certainly not now, I want to learn to have a conversati...

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...luger from TIME Magazine suggests, “But mix it up some – maybe throw in a little Skyping or Facetime so that when you finally do make a call you’re actually seeing and interacting with another person.” Unfortunately, using Skype and Facetime comes from the use of the cell phone, but it still allows people to actually see each other when they talk. All cell phone users have the power to make these changes together and not let cell phones take over our lives. We must act now and take care of the problem before it becomes worse and out of control.

Works Cited

Kluger, J. (2012). We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging. Time Inc.
Lenhart, A., Ling, R., Campbell, S., & Purcell, K. (2010). Teens and Mobile Phones. Pew Research Center.
Sifferlin, A. (2013). Textual Relations:Couples Who Text Too Much Aren't as in Love as They Want You to Think. Time Inc.

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