Bose 1

Arun Bose
Professor Douglas
UWRT-1101-008
7, November 2016
Smartphones Cause Antisocial Behavior
The entire premise of a smartphone or a phone in general is to
help one communicate with other. However the great irony of the
smartphone, which was invented for the sole purpose of helping one
stay social, is that it actually causes most smartphone users to act
more antisocially. A study has been conducted that observed that as a
whole, technology and smartphones in particular, are actually causing
users to behave less socially in a public setting.
An open-ended observation was conducted at The Charlotte
University of North Carolina. The observer studied the behavior of the
people in a large public space without any prior subject matter in mind
and found that a majority of the observations recorded tended to be in
regards to the subjects using their smartphones with very little personto-person interaction. Even the subjects that were in groups with other
people tended to favor using their smartphone or laptop over
interacting with the people around them. The observation conducted
lasted exactly one hour. The observer made a total of fifty-one
observations, fifteen of which involved the subject of observation using

Bose 2
some for of technology and only ten of which involved one person
interacting with another.
In addition to an hour-long observation, an interview with a
member of the discourse group in question was conducted. The
discourse group would be extremely broad, encompassing anyone with
a cell phone. The interviewee was asked numerous questions in
regards to their cell phone usage. Some of the questions asked were,
How much of your day would you estimate that you spend on your cell
phone? Would you say that a cell phone is essential in todays
society? Why or why not? and, Do you think you could get by with
your life relatively unchanged if you were to downgrade to a basic
phone? Why or why not? Several other questions were asked in order
to better understand possible motivations for the observed prevalence
in cell phone usage over interpersonal interaction.
The subject of the interview made several statements that reflect
the emphasis on phones and technology within todays society. The
subject claimed to use her smartphone for approximately four hours
every day. When cellular phones were first being introduced to the
public, cell phones only had a battery life of approximately an hour and
were roughly the size of a thick laptop computer, which severely
limited the mobile factor of cell phones in their earlier stages
(DeMaria). One can speculate that advancements in portability and
battery life have allowed cell phone users to support and cultivate a

Bose 3
dependency to mobile phones and technology. The subject also claims
to use her phone primarily for social media. This is a prime example of
how the smartphone has evolved from its original, limited functionality
and changed the way its users depend on it. With the innovation of the
cellphone leading to the current smartphone, came new ways to
interact with the mobile phone as well as technology as a whole.
Since the invention of the original cellular phone in 1973, which
was nicknamed the shoe phone, due to its bulkiness, the cell phone
has progressed monumentally. The modern smartphone has features
that never could have been dreamed of upon the mobile phones
original conception. However, these features have significantly added
to the cell phones allure, which at many times interferes with personto-person interaction. It is not at all uncommon to see both adults and
children alike completely engrossed in their cell phones entirely
ignoring one another. In a study done for the documentary, The Mobile
Revolution, it was found that the average teenager is on their phone
for approximately seven and a half hours per day (Java Films).
The cell phone was originally created to allow users to call and
be called by other while away from a landline phone however, now the
cell phone has become almost entirely replaced the landline phone.
This phenomenon is occurring not only in The United States, but
globally as well. As observed by Russian State Statistical Agency and
Ministry of Communications, in 2009 for the first time since the

Bose 4
breakdown of the Soviet Union, use of landline phones began to
decline (Hader). In the same study, it was observed in the Netherlands
that for every one hundred people, there were one hundred and twenty
cell phones being used for a total of twenty million mobile phones total
(Hader). Cell phone usage all around the world has become
commonplace and will only continue to grow overtime.
Cell phones and smart phones in particular can often cause
extreme antisocial behavior. Modern smart phones have so many
different features and capabilities that they can completely engross
their user, which can lead to a lack of interpersonal interaction even in
social situations. Despite the entire purpose of a smartphone being to
help its user interact with the world around him or her, smartphones
are causing unsociable tendencies in todays culture.

Bose 5
Works Cited

Anthony N. DeMaria, The Tyranny of the Cell Phone, Journal of the

American College of Cardiology, Volume 59, Issue 25, 1926 June
2012, Pages 2388-2389, ISSN 0735-1097,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2012.05.002.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073510971201
6403)
Hader, Sabine, Michael Hader, and Mike Kuhne. Telephone Surveys in
Europe: Research and Practice. Berlin: Springer, 2012. Internet
resource.
The Mobile Revolution. Java Films, 10 June 2015. Web.