Overtime, our lives have been tremendously been transformed with the mobile phone technology. We are able to attend to issues at our work place and even at our homes without the need of us appearing there physically.
Nowadays, instead of writing long letters to your friends, you can use the mobile Short Message Service (SMS) to chat with them for a while. However, this technology has come with its own setbacks such as the risk of exposure to carcinogens, cell phone dependency and mobile phone crimes. In fact, the use of cell phones exposes us to more danger than good.
Although these gadgets are portable and convenient to use, studies that have been conducted by medical experts show that they emit radiofrequency radiations that are “categorized into ionized radiations and non ionized radiations” (Oberto 316). The ionized radiations have shown to increase the risk of the user suffering from cancer.
Research has further shown that “the side of the brain that is exposed to the ionizing radiations from the cell phone metabolizes more glucose than other parts that are not exposed to it” (Larjavaara 35). These effects largely depend on how frequently one uses it, how close the user is with the antenna of the gadget and the distance between the network center and the user. Actually, the use of a cell phone is hazardous to human health.
On the other hand, to alleviate some of the above effects, radiologists have recommended the use of wireless headphones that allow the user to receive calls at some distance from the gadget. Using them for emergencies especially when you cannot access a landline phone also reduces one’s exposure to them.
However, despite one taking these measures and the attractive features (camera and games) of these mobile phones, they have shown to have greater effect on children than in grown-ups. This is because young children are still growing and their cells are rapidly multiplying. As a result, the ionizing radiations emitted from the phones predispose these cells to cancer. These facts make mobile usage more dangerous to children who can succumb to body malformations.
Besides, the use of mobile phone has enabled us to supplement our brains memory capacity with their storage memory capacity. Hence, we can be able to save important passwords and other important information in them without necessarily memorizing them.
This has been encouraged with the changing times when we have a lot of information in soft copies and less in hard copies. To secure such information, the computers allow us to come up with passwords and other safety features that could easily remembered by saving them in these phones.
As result, the mobile technology has taken a turn to crime where thieves steal these phones from their owners and then easily gain access to important information regarding their credit cards or automatic teller machines (ATMs). This has seen many innocent people lose a lot of money to these non suspecting criminals. Indeed mobile phone technology has brought more harm than good.
In addition, the technology has also come up with the mobile money transfer where the users are able to transfer money to other people conveniently. This service has impacted developing economies greatly as people from rural areas can receive money from urban areas without necessarily gaining access to physical bank halls. However, there are many times when the person sending the cash misses one or two digits of the user and ends up sending the money to a wrong number.
This wrong receiver may rush to a nearby service provider and get the cash and as a result, the sender ends up being conned and his/her efforts to get help from the network provider may prove fruitless. The service provided by these gadgets is of essence to the society, but its maneuver by non suspecting criminals is exposing the users to more losses than expected.
Moreover, “the concept of time and space” has changed overtime by the use of the mobile phones (Fortunati 513). Instead of people meeting physically as they do most of the times, now they talk over the phone to solve any pending matters. Hence, issues to do with time such as being punctual at meetings is now solved.
Although this service has improved communication, many people have adopted a culture of lying to their friends whereby if they are asked where they are, they state a place either far or near the person asking depending on the circumstances. This kind of mobile phone lies has made their use dangerous to our associations in society.
Furthermore, it’s worth noting that nowadays when a cell phone user is bored, he/she resorts to this gadget. As a result, the person develops “cell phone dependence” (Leung 359).
This behavior has substituted the visiting of friends when we are bored or grieved by different circumstances. Many quickly get to social networks like Facebook and Twitter where they interact with thousands of friends that they meet online. The way people used to meet sometimes back no longer seems to work in this busy generation that is always embracing the changing times.
When one gets annoyed with his/her online friend in the social network, he/she removes the friend unlike in the physical relationships where if one get upset with his buddy, he just walks away or even fights. However, psychologists would tell you that expression of hunger on the face is important than in writing either an SMS (Short Message Service) or equally an email via the mobile phone.
Physical expression has a strong touch where one part is able to show his feelings about a particular situation and the other responds in return. This adds value to the spoken word. Hence, the turndown of our lives with this mobile phone service is socially drawing us back.
Last but not least, the cell phone usage has impacted greatly on students. Tully says that “the use of cell phones has had a negative effect on grammar” especially among the Short Message Service users (444).
This is because, the more you get into doing something the more it becomes a habit. Consequently, when students do their homework, they end up using the same jargons that they have been used to on their mobile phone. In addition, since they are able to gain access to the internet via these gadgets, many students get tempted to cheat in examinations as they can easily search for the answers online.
This kind of cheating is a crime since in the first place they are practicing plagiarism and many of them end up getting degrees they don’t deserve. Also, for the advanced phones, the students can use them to watch movies and other pornographic materials that they can access online. This draws their attention away from the classroom and as a fact, the use cell phones encourages bad morals that never existed in the ancient times.
In conclusion, despite the many services that we get from mobile phones, their use comes with many effects. They predispose the users to radiofrequency radiations that are cancerous to their body tissues. These carcinogens are especially dangerous to young children whose cells are rapidly dividing thus exposing them to malformation. These gadgets have also changed our lives backwards as they have encouraged hacking of passwords and theft of credit card information exposing the users to unprecedented losses.
It’s also worth noting that they have greatly impacted on relationships. In addition, they have encouraged negative morals in our schools where students watch movies in class as their instructors teach and cheat in exams by searching for answers from the mobile phone internet. Indeed, cell phones are small gadgets that are convenient to carry and easy to use but their usage comes with many setbacks that override their benefits.
Works Cited
Fortunati, Leopoldina. The Mobile Phone: Towards New Categories and Social Relations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Print.
Larjavaara, Schuz. Gliomas in Relation to Mobile Phone Use: Case to Case Analysis. New York: Harper-Collins, 2006. Print.
Leung, Louis. Leisure Boredom, Sensation Seeking, Self Esteem and Addiction: Symptoms and Patterns of Cell Phone Use. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Oberto, Rolfo. Carcinogenicity: Radiation Research. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.
Tully, Claus. Growing Up in Technological Worlds: How Modern Technologies Shape the Everyday Lives of Young People. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003. Print.