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Lucas Hall
Professor Jizi
UWRT 1102
13 April 2016

Advancements in Cell Phones

When I first heard of the project I had no idea what I was going to
research for it. I started thinking around about things that I wanted to know
or was curious about. I came up on the subject of technology. At first, I was
going to do the project on technology in general, no specific technological
thing. As we began to work in class on the project Professor Jizi made it clear
that I would probably need to be more specific than that. So I started
thinking about which technology I was most interested in and most familiar
with and thats what brought me to cell phones. Growing up every time they
come out with a new phone I am just blown away and I sit and wonder just
what could possibly be the next big thing in cell phones. So my inquiry
question is what is the next big thing in cell phones? Every year I am
surprised by the advancements that are made in cell phones. Its crazy just
to think about my first cell phone compared to the one I have now. I was
really excited to start researching what was next in cell phones. I wasnt able
to find as much as I wanted to about what was coming out next because
companies like Apple like to keep those types of things secret. But I was able
to look more into how far cell phones have come since they were first
invented and the affects they have on lives today compared to the affect

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they had thirty years ago when phones were much more simplistic than they
are now.
My cell phone is something I struggle to go without and I know Im
nowhere near addicted as most people are. A lot of people work off of their
cell phone which makes their cell phone of top importance to them. This just
shows that cell phones are a huge part of American lives, some more than
others. As a society we sit and wait to see what Apple or Samsung or other
big name phone companies are going to release next. These companies are
always making improvements which we adapt to and these advancements
make us more dependent on our cell phones. Just think about how
dependent you were on your first cell phone compared to your cell phone
now. If cell phones wouldve never advanced like they have you would be
depending on it the same as you did your first one, but since they have
advanced we have adapted and our lifestyles involve our high-tech phones a
lot more now. Now what I wonder is how dependent are we going to be on
cell phones 20 years from now?
Ive always told people that if I didnt have my iPhone I would either be
a 4.0 student or a psychopath from boredom. I would say Im on my cell
phone enough to say Im addicted so I decided to look into addictions to cell
phones and I found I need my smartphone: A hierarchical model of
personality and cell-phone addiction, an article by James A. Roberts that had
a piece on how cell phone addiction affect humans in everyday life.
Excessive cell phone use can also negatively affect job performance and

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ones relationships with family, friends, classmates, and instructors (Roberts

1). Older people are always talking about how much time we spend on our
phones and our generation is losing our social interaction skills because we
dont talk to each other. While I somewhat agree with that statement I dont
feel like they interacted much more than we do. They had their own forms of
entertainment such as the newspaper. I know we still have newspapers
nowadays but most people just read the newspaper on their phones or watch
the news on TV. Also they tried finding what type of personality traits led to
cell phone addiction and they decided that seven traits lead to cell phone
addiction, agreeability, extraversion, need for arousal, emotional instability,
neuroticism, materialism, and conscientiousness (Roberts 1). Im not sure
what makes these the personality traits lead to cell phone addiction but
when I look at them I realize I have a few of these traits such as agreeability,
need for arousal, and materialism. But as far as saying someone is addicted
to their cell phone because theyre emotionally unstable might be a stretch
in my opinion. If I had to give the number one thing that leads to my cell
phone addiction it would be free-time. Before I came to college I wasnt on
my cell phone half as much as I am now. Back to the social interaction
subject, instead of going out and playing with my friends Ill just lay in my
bed and go through my phone. But I dont feel like I would rather sit on my
phone than hang out with friends because when I go home for the weekends
Im hardly ever on my phone so I feel like it all depends on your
surroundings. At home I can go outside and go fishing or ride my dirt bike or

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four wheeler as opposed to here where I dont have the options to do those
kind of things. So to me, I feel like my cell phone addiction just comes around
when Im bored.
When I was watching Media Studies video, History of the Mobile Phone,
one of the big things that jumped out to me was just how far we have come
over the past thirty years. Twenty years ago they said they would never
really be able to make a phone any smaller and now theyre trying to make
mind-controlled smart phones. My mind wanders so much that I feel like my
phone would just start doing crazy stuff. We already have cell phones that
we can talk to and tell it what to do but I dont know how I would feel about
my phone being able to read my mind. I would be very interested to see how
it works though if they ever do come out with a cell phone that is mindcontrolled. I dont see that happening anytime soon though. Another big
thing they mentioned in the video was gesture controlled smartphones and
tablets (History of the Mobile Phone). This seems a lot more reasonable than
mind-controlled smartphones. The gesture controlled items looked awesome.
All you have to do is move your hand over top of the key board and itll be
like you have the mouse in your hand. It can pick up movements up to 15
centimeters away. I feel like this will be out in one of the next few iPhones.
They didnt say which company was going to be using this development but
my guess is Apple because it always seems to me that Apple comes out with
the next big thing and the other companies like Samsung and Droid just put

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their own spin to it and make it into their version. I cant wait to see what all
features the cell phone has just five years from now.
I am very happy with the things I discovered in my research. I was
looking for what the next big thing in cell phones was and I found some clues
that might put me ahead of everyone else as far as knowing whats next and
not only did I find that I found other interesting stuff such as what causes
addiction to cell phones and how that effects our lives. I feel like if I wouldve
kept going with my inquiry research I might have found a few more details as
to what may be next or I might have just continued to read stuff about just
how far it has come to this day. This is a hard inquiry topic to research
because big time companies like Apple are so comprehensive when it comes
to releasing what their next invention is or what they are going to come out
with that sets them apart from the rest. I hope my readers are interested to
find out what might be the next big thing in cell phones. It never hurts being
prepared for what may be next! I wish I couldve found out more about how
the next iPhone or Samsung phone would look. Are they going to go smaller
or bigger? These are all questions that we might not know till the day Apple
or Samsung releases its new products though. It was very interesting looking
deeper into cell phones than I ever thought possible. I think we will all be
amazed where we are with cell phones in ten years.

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Citations:
History of the Mobile Phone. , 2015. Internet resource.
Roberts, James A, Chris Pullig, and Chris Manolis. "I Need My Smartphone: a
Hierarchical Model of Personality and Cell-Phone Addiction." Personality
and Individual Differences. 79 (2015): 13-19. Print.

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"Technical Excellence Awards - Breakthroughs! - the Biggest Breakthroughs

of the Year Aren't Hot Products Like a New Laptop or a Cooler-Looking
Cell Phone. They're New Chip Architectures, Integrated Gyroscopes,
and New Types of Memory Chips. Read on to See What Will Make Next
Year's Devices Even Better." Pc Magazine : the Independent Guide to
Ibm-Standard Personal Computing. 25.23 (2006): 93. Print.
Fitch, G M. The Impact of Hand-Held and Hands-Free Cell Phone Use on
Driving Performance and

Safety-Critical Event Risk: Final Report. ,

2013. Internet resource.

Murray, James B. Wireless Nation: The Frenzied Launch of the Cellular
Revolution in America. Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Pub, 2001. Print.