Science and technology

Tuesday, 21 February, 2017 - 14:57

What would your life be like without a phone?

by GraceBlogger

In one of my classes today we discussed the question of how our lives would be without a phone and I actually felt quite sad to hear how some kids these days cannot survive without their mobiles. Personally, I think nowadays we are controlled by our technology and pressurised to keep up. So let's see some of the points that came up in the debate and see if our generation really is addicted to electronic connections rather than true communication.

It is true that everything works at a fast pace these days, due to the quick access we have to pretty much anything and anyone. For example, you can contact someone who lives on the other side of the world within seconds. This is great if you think about how connected we can stay to the people who are far away from us; however, on the contrary, can we be too connected to the people who are close to us? An argument arose about the fact that it is easier to message someone from your sofa than to meet them in person and talk. On one hand, it is easier and nice sometimes to casually chat to a friend this way. However, it is also lazier and rude to prefer to talk to someone on your phone rather than meeting up, if you are able to, in my opinion. Social skills are important to have and if you are not going to put effort into real-life communication, then you are not going to progress in this ability.

Another point was that phones are very handy to look up something that you are wondering about. For example, if you don't know a word in another language, you can quickly and simply access a translator to help you out. This can be very helpful in many situations, but it can also make a person dependent on the internet to help with anything. This factor slightly takes away the diversity of learning a language and conversing with people, as you are able to access everything you need via the web. 

All in all, this question is very interesting to consider for oneself as we become day by day more dependent on technology. We should just be aware of how much we really need to be connected via our phones while considering the benefits and damage it can cause us.

Language level
B2 Upper intermediate
C1 Advanced
Topics
mobile phones
technology
interpersonal communication
Discussion

Is phone addiction a serious problem where you live? What solutions are there for people to keep their phone usage under control?

Submitted by art_saida on Sat, 10/15/2022 - 04:23

Dear GraceBlogger  I found good points in your article, and I agree with them. These days we are all addicted to our gadgets, and it has a big influence on our lives. We used to communicate via mobile phones, and we are socializing less in real life. In my opinion, it can lead to such inevitable problems as losing social skills and mental problems. These points need to be taken into consideration.

Submitted by WeirdAutumn on Fri, 10/07/2022 - 09:54

Again, it depends. Personally, I use technology as a tool to learn or work. I paint digitally, which is far more efficient cost wise. For leisurely activities I'll go outside and ask if my friends want to hang out; if not I'll find my own troublesome adventure to embark on. Phones alike technology are a plague because of how they're used. I mean, look at Tiktok! It's all twerking twelve year olds.

Submitted by gshiry on Tue, 05/19/2020 - 16:40

I move around frequently, and in every place that I have lived, phone addiction has been a prominent issue. I don't think we overuse technology with wrongful intentions or out of sheer laziness; rather, the problem is we fail to acknowledge just how much we depend on our technological devices. As the article stated, with phones, everything is at our fingertips, so when we want to talk to a friend, all we have to do is text or call them. That would probably be the biggest offender when it comes to being in our phones too much: we just want to talk to our friends. See? Good intentions. I prefer to see people in person, but I can sympathize with people who are more inclined to communicate over the phone. The obvious solution to ensure more balance in our lives would be to do things like designate a set amount of time each day to use our electronics. But I think the root of the problem in most teenagers, and this is me talking, lies in feeling misunderstood by our family members. To cope, we gravitate towards people who we consider to appreciate or understand us more, especially friends. We need to remember to make a conscious effort to reach out to our family as much as we reach out to our friends.

Submitted by ValentinaSuarez16 on Wed, 02/05/2020 - 19:03

It is really sad to see that nowdays people cannot live without his o her phone and we have to say that technology can be used in a good way! but there is some people that spend the most of their time on YT or playing and not duing things that are actually worth it!
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Submitted by empty on Sat, 07/06/2019 - 07:11

Is phone addiction a serious problem where you live? It was .
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