Cellphone Usage on the Rise

Have you ever noticed yourself pulling out your phone to check for new messages, only to find that you have nothing? Try to count the amount of times you perform this simple action over the course of a day: you might be surprised by the results. A research conducted in 2017 states that cellphone addiction is becoming a problem, particularly when it comes to teens. In fact, the study showed that fifty percent of teens reported feeling addicted to their cellphones (“In Case You Haven't Heard”). And that is only counting those who admitted feeling drawn by the power of technology. How many more are in denial? It is time to bring this problem to centre-stage; it is an issue and it has consequences that are becoming more and more apparent. Extreme cellphone usage has become too much of a standard in today’s society. Cellphone usage needs to be reduced and we need to be conscious of our actions. In addition, 561 billion text messages were sent worldwide in June of 2014. That makes an average of roughly 18.7 billion texts sent every day around the world. Furthermore, as of 2013, American adults aged 18 to 24 sent and received an average of just over 128 text messages per day (Burke, Kenneth). It is impossible to deny society’s dependency on cellphones for communication. Nonetheless, it is definitely possible to reduce our dependency in a way that will save social interaction along with social life in general. Face-to-face communication needs to be practiced whenever possible; texting those who are within earshot should be avoided. Everyone must work hard to reinstate social interaction to a level that is acceptable.

Works Cited

• Burke, Kenneth. “How Many Texts Do People Send Every Day?” Text Request, May 18 2016, https://www.textrequest.com/blog/many-texts-people-send-per-day/. Accessed December 10 2017.

• “In Case You Haven't Heard.” Mental Health Weekly, vol. 27, no. 27, 10 July 2017, p. 8. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/mhw.31117. Accessed December 10 2017.