Senior Research Paper

Gabriel Espino
Mrs. Gongora
English 12
November 19, 2015
Imagine a terrible nightmare were instead of meeting for a quick cup of coffee, friends
spend thirty minutes texting back and forth about their day. After that, instead of going in to talk
to their professor during his office hours, they email him from home with their question. Because
of this, he never got to know who they were, even though he would have been a great source for
a letter of recommendation if they had. A man ignored a cute girl at the bus stop asking the time
because he was busy responding to a text. And people spent far too much time on a Facebook
trying to catch up their thousand plus friends, most of whom they rarely see, and whose
meaning sadly seems to dispel even more as the sheer number of connections people have
made grows (Nilles). Unfortunately this has actually become the real world around us that has
been created through cellphones. Cellphones are destroying how we socialize by stopping human
interaction, the necessity for having a cellphone rather it begin a tool, and causing us to have
social anxiety. In our day cellphones create a barrier between one another. Not only that but they
become a part of who we are, we feel lost without them. Without them we lose a connection with
the world. Cellphones are becoming a growing problem in our world.
The standard for human interaction has probably changed throughout the years but at
what point did human interaction need the help of a cellphone? The parents in 40 of 55 families
were seen absorbed in their mobile devices, with one third of the parents spending the entire
meal on their device of choice. 90% of people reported that their relationships have been
damaged as their significant others were ignoring them in favor of their gadgets (Willkie). This

lack of human interaction, even at the dinner table, demonstrates no boundaries for the use of cell
phones. Humans have replaces talking to one another and asking questions with text, tweets, and
likes. When speaking to one another we usually expect some form or signal that shows that they
are listening but now a days we have people talking to a person who is blindly scrolling and not
giving the other person undivided attention. As humans we accept anything on a cellphone as
human interaction but we leave out the human parts. We lose our selves in our own little worlds
that we create but not in the one that we live in.
Cellphones also effect human interaction in the form of disrupting everyday life. The
average user now picks up their device more than 1,500 times a week. Average owners use their
phone for three hours and sixteen minutes a day (Wollaston). When studying and your phone
goes off many students immediately have the reaction to reach for it, this gets in the way of
studying or any activating leading to bigger problems down the road simply because we cannot
leave our cellphones alone. When a teacher has to ask a student to put away their phone this
cause a disruption, then a loss of focus, and a teacher struggling to regain the students attention.
We allow ourselves to be taken away from what is more important to be dragged into a world
inside our phones.
Cellphones and phones in general were created to connect us to other people, they are a
tool but we make it much then that in our days. We make them into a necessity something that
we feel naked without if we leave the house without. People who are separated from their
smartphones can suffer from strong psychological and physiological effects. Smartphones
become extension of ourselves such that when separated, we experience a lessening of 'self' and
a negative physiological state" (Lloyd). People allow these tools to be such more than for what
they were intended. If taken away it feels as though we lost a part of who we are as a person.

Cellphones have become miniature computers that can be carried around in our pockets;
we rely on them day in and day out. This has an effect on us making humans dumber.
Autocorrect and tip calculators pretty much eliminate the need to know basic math and spelling.
There's such a dependence to use the phone to give us verbal step-by-step directions, we come to
rely on a computerized voice to get them from point A to point B instead of their own brain,
sense of direction, and ability to look at a map and know where they are(Alpert). The
opportunity of learning is then lost and the proper way to write certain words. Humans choose
between learning and laziness becomes very thing when offered the choice to type a few letters
and find the word you are looking for. When you give someone directions without your phone it
sound more of giving them other places until they are near the destination that they actually want
to go to.
We spend so much time on our cellphones we become intertwined with them. It leads to
us having social anxiety, we reach for our phones rather than trying to start a conversation with
the stranger on the bus next to us, causing disconnection. As cell phones and personal digital
assistants become more common, individuals may experience greater pressure to remain
connected or available to others, the researchers write. Patients might manifest symptoms of
problematic attachment to these technologies or show symptoms of "cell-phone addiction"
(Busko). Devices that are simply created to help us in our daily life, cellphones become more
they are a limb, our drug, or our connection to others. We feel naked and lost when these devices
are taken away from us lost puppies not sure of what action to take. Anxiety begins the feeling as
though you are an alien on a foreign planet trying to act normal, we then act as though we have
no connection to who we are or who we try to present ourselves as.

Another major fact that comes with social anxiety is our own self-esteem, how this
device can actually cause of mental health problems. The combination of cellphones and social
media causes people to want the latest smartphone or pretending to be someone else to feel as
though you fit in a certain group. Almost all of the students said theyve experienced some type
of FOMO or the Fear of missing out. Students said their anxiety or stress levels are at its high
when viewing photos of their peers having a fun and compare themselves or their lives to the
photos. The students realized its easy to portray a different version of themselves on the internet
yet still felt pressured to look as though theyre living it up in college ( Tolly). As a society, we
want to be equal or better than our peers that we push ourselves to have the ideal moments in life
then we post them on our cellphones. Only to later begin the cycle all over again the next time
you see other having a good time or you seeing a photo on Instagram. Fear and standing out add
to the already mounting pressure received from the public to affect how People want to be seen
on social media.
People will argue that cellphones helps us keep connected that without them keeping in
touch with one another would be a greater struggle then it should be. 25% of us think that
technology is bringing families together. The research demonstrated that rather than keeping us
isolated, modern technology has become a force for increased social interaction and in some
cases actually helps strengthen family ties. 25% of the respondents in the survey believed their
families were closer than ever because all of technology (Cobus). Family that live far distances
from one another become more difficult to try to keep in touch with. Cellphones get rid of the
distance entirely, you can simple dial their number and talk to family member in other countries.
This type of personal connection and communication could even strengthen ties that could have

been lost such as a child going away to college, the connection is not lost because you a
cellphone in your front pocket to hear that loved ones voice.
People will argue that cellphones help us to be more aware of what goes on in our world
and safe. Now a days we simply pull our phones out, type what we need and in a matter of
seconds we have what we needed. They allow the world to share with one another. They
connect people in dire need with services that can change (or save) their lives and offer new
hope, even though simple broadcast text messages. Cell phones allow us to quickly share
important news that often doesn't make it into the daily paper or evening newscast (Gahran).
Some news channels and websites will not share certain stories with the public because it might
be too gruesome or they believe it wont get them high ratings so cellphones allows us to share
this information to one another through our social Medias.
Cellphones do help same life but they also interfere with the people that are trying to help
the people in need of help. How many videos are there our there of people trying to snapchat a
natural disaster something more devastating. They interfere and make cause someone to lose
their life just because someone wanted to share something at the wrong time. Society has
forgotten when it is time to more away or even try to help one another in a situation rather than
recording or do something foolish in with their phone.
Granted, cellphones do help us keep connected with loved ones, but they also interfere
with other peoples lives. Only 25% of those tested thought technology is bringing their family
together, yet the other 75% didnt not feel that way. A phone call here and there does make a
difference, but that does not justify the countless hours spent on our cellphones that do not
involve keeping in touch with a family member. We justify spending a few hours on a phone to
replace what taking a trip to see a love that has been out of physical reach. A simple group chat is

being accepted over a family sitting down to eat and hearing how everyones day was.
Cellphones do benefit some to socialization but it causes more damage than actual help.
The way cellphones are destroying socialization is important because as humans, if we
take away socialization we become less of the people we are and more like the robots we hold in
our hands every day. People must choose their own personal interactions over messages that
have no real meaning behind them. Human interaction is also trumped when you are being
bombarded with incomings notifications from the world. Yes cellphones are tool but the public
must not allow them to become more then it was intended to be. As social animals, we should
say social but not behind a screen that shows all our good parts but leaves the real human behind.
People are left with mental health issues over their cellphones a tool intended to help us not tear
us down. People forget that they can connect with one another in other ways besides a text or
call, society must learn to talk again face to face whenever it is possible. If we cannot learn to be
the social animals that we are again we will lose our selves to our own creations we will lose the
only thing that makes us human in todays world of endless technology. We must learn to enjoy
the moment with the people around us rather than putting a physical block when you raise that
phone to take a photo that might get a few likes. Go out with your friends try to do something
without your cellphones, for all you know the time you spend without it could turn into one of
the unforgettable moments. Socialization must be saved for the sake of merely for the actual
connection with one another, learn to live with others on the planet.

Works Cited
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3 Dec. 2015.
Busko, Marlene. Anxiety Linked With Increased Cell-Phone Dependence, Abuse Medscape.
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Cobus, Alexandra Technology Helps Keep Families Connected. Linkevity. N.p. N.d. Web.
9 Dec. 2015.
Gahran, Amy. How Cell Phones Have Changed Our Lives. Cnn. Amy Gahran. 22 Oct 2010.
Web. 14 Dec 2015.
Lloyd, James. Lost without your smartphone? Science and Technology. N.P. N.d. Web.
3 Dec. 2015.
Niles, Melissa. Technology is destroying the Quality of Human Interaction. The Bottom Line.
N.p. N.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Tolly, Katlyn. Does social media affect students self-esteem? College. N.P. N.d. Web.
3 Dec. 2015.
Wilkie, Jack. Your Smartphone is Killing Your Family. Focus Press. N.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Woollaston, Victoria. How often do YOU look at your phone? Daily Mail. N.P N.d. Web .
3 Dec. 2015.