Smartphones

Although Jean focuses on more of the negative points of smartphones compared to Sarah, I still think that we can take some points from what Jean has said in her article.

Sarah focused on the evidence and data that Jean provided being inaccurate and that there is more to it than that. There are many reasons why one parent would think that their child is ruined by technology, one of the reasons is the generational gap. There are valid points in Sarah’s article, where she mentions “the evidence that technology may be amplifying our intelligence, our productivity, and our "ambient awareness" of each other's worlds” is a really good point. Our generation improved faster compared to the older generation and we are still growing faster than ever in terms of technology, lifestyle-wise and as a community.

People used to travel distances to get a little knowledge about a certain subject and here we are, learning and researching in the comfort of our homes.  For instance, to learn a certain subject or language, many had to travel to an unknown region in order to get a glimpse of the language or get exposed to its environment, whereas our generation by clicking a few searches, can easily find out a lot and in-depth research of the culture and even the language. We are exposed to a lot of cultures and have different views and we understand and learn more, making our minds broader.

With that said, Jean has some good views in terms of the negative points on smartphones. She says, “It’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades.” I agree with this statement. We are exposed to the negative points as much as we are exposed to the advantages of technology. Yes, we can research more and have an easier life compared to the older generation we suffer a lot in terms of mental- health. We are exposed to our friends having an incredible holiday and although we want to be happy for them, we tend to focus on the “why can’t I go on a holiday like them?” or “She/he has a great life compared to me”, thus makes us think lowly of ourselves, slowly deteriorating our self-confidence. Jean also mentions the fact that we don’t go out more, yet we don’t communicate with our parents much and that fact is true. We feel comfortable talking to strangers more than our own family members about our problems and struggles, because “they won’t understand.” I use the word “stranger” loosely because as someone from this generation, I can say that I have met a fair share of my friends online and they are amazing.

I got my first phone when I was 13 years old and the only reason my mom gave me a phone, was to be able to contact me when she was not home. It was amazing having a phone. You can talk to whomever you want, whenever you desired to, and for that, you don’t need to dress up or go out as much anymore. Personally, I was not a person who uses her phone a lot. I use my laptop more. But there were times when I would be talking to my friends late at night because our time zones were different. I was thankful to have a phone because back in South Africa, we had “load shedding”, which is when they reduced or cut-off electricity for certain hours of the day and it is worse when it happens when you have an online exam. So, I had a habit of charging my phone several times a day for it to stay at 100 just in case we experience load shedding. If you were to tell me to put away my phone for a whole day, it would not make a difference to me. On the other hand, if you said no technology for the whole day, my day would probably feel long and dreading because I would not know how to use the time and would only wish to get my laptop back.

The ultimate lesson that I learned is that even though there are negative effects from the use of smartphones and wasting our time recording moments instead of being in the moment, there are a lot of benefits from having one too, like talking to your relatives or family who live far away in real-time and at the same time we can have a broader view on different topics and cultures. We can learn from the articles that they indeed brought some good points in terms of data, especially Jean, exaggerated or not. The numbers have some truth in them. Do not believe 100 percent in whatever article you read, just take it with a grain of salt.