Technology like texting and social media helps us communicate with one another and stay in touch with friends and family who live far away. However, are our phones intruding on having real face to face conversations? Can technology make us feel distant from one another?

Alexander Graham Bell invented the first phone in 1876. The idea of having electronic speech came from the fact that he had a mother who was hearing-impaired. He also came to the US as a teacher of the deaf. The phone would help hearing-impaired people communicate with others from long distances.

The telephone has been innovated in many ways, grabbing the attention of people from all generations. The earlier models included Strowger, AT&T Picturephone, and Motorola. In 2001, the first iPod was released. From there, there was the iPod touch and multiple generations of iPhones, still continuing today.

As the innovations of the technology continued, people have been taking advantage of the use of their phones. Today, teens are spending an average of nine hours on their smartphones, approximately one-third of the day. Kids ages eight through twelve averaged six hours a day.

English teacher, Heather Corridon, states her opinion on how much screen time teens should have: “I think certainly age plays a minor role, but I would say no more than two hours at most a day.”

Corridon also commented,  “I know the ios that just came out will give you a summary of your screen time usage. I would say having an awareness of how much time you actually spend on your device is good because I would imagine it would be much more than anyone would think.”

Many parents see this as a problem in their own children. Teens should be living their lives and staying in the moment. How can a person live in the moment when they are always taking pictures and videos? Wouldn’t it be better to put down the smartphone and see the moment for how it is supposed to be seen?

Tenth grader, Trey Powell, explains being on our phones prevents us from seeing the bigger picture. “I guess it does because you’re living in this virtual world instead of experiencing things out in the real world.”

In conclusion, although people use technology to communicate with others of long distances, screen time should be reduced so teens don’t miss out on lifetime opportunities. We have truly become disconnected from the world in front of us. It might be time to put down the technology and experience real life as it happens.   

Sources:

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/does-technology-somehow-make-us-more-alone/

https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/bellag.html

https://www.nextiva.com/blog/the-evolution-of-the-telephone.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/11/03/teens-spend-nearly-nine-hours-every-day-consuming-media/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c29762a5d171