Essay Sample on How Social Media on Smartphone Affects Our Society

The development of cell phones has been made into wide use since their invention. In the beginning, when cell phones were invented in 1940, only police officers and taxi drivers used to have them (Davies & Jacobetty, 2016). In this era, almost everyone, including the children has got the access to the cell phones. In this essay, the focus will dwell on how social media on the cell phones especially the Smartphone has affected the society. The essay will examine whether the Smartphone have brought adverse effect to the society on relationships, interaction, in particular on the access of social networks on the phones.

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Research has indicated that the cell phones have replaced the role of social interaction in the society whereby although people think that the use of Smartphone to access social media has strengthened them this is not the case. Frequent visits to chat on Facebook make people avoid the face to face conversation with the others. As a result, they have less chance to talk to one another, and they spend time on facebook, twitter among others (Davies & Jacobetty, 2016). Isolation of people and their conversations has harmed social relationships weakening the friendship between people due to less chance to talk.

Smartphone have become like a staple food in the society, not to mention the social media interaction. Social media have influenced the students in colleges and other learning institutions whereby instead of the students concentrating on what is being taught, they stay glued to their smartphones waiting for updates and what friends on social media are saying and what is trending (Humphreys, 2005). By doing this, the students miss out on so many things that could help them pass their examination. It is regarded that the students who spend a lot of time in social media have got lower grades compared to the one who dont.

Texting on Facebook is quickly eroding the peoples ability to write sentences that communicate real meaning and also portray the art of dialogue. Social media allows people to communicate without seeing each other or even hearing their voice (Humphreys, 2005). This is very dangerous as people are not able to reflect on the tone of voice and exercise the non-verbal communication. If this continues, the society will have individuals who cannot communicate nonverbally.

Use of social media on the Smartphone can be used to create and spread hate groups in the society. Social networking sites give an opportunity for the people, especially the youth to redistribute their propaganda. According to a study done it was indicated that some hate group focused on President Barrack Obama and found a recovery of racial slurs and stereotypes (Gikas & Grant, 2013). Social media on the phones can affect the society since the children might not understand the public nature and the viral networking sites. For instance, in a birthday party, more than 30,000 people attended the party after an accidental invite after the post on Facebook went viral quickly moving to Twitter and youTube too. The police had to be asked to get involved. People were hurt, and some were arrested too.

Social media on the Smartphone encourages sexting with the teens posting or sending the photos trough social media. The act could lead to criminal charges and also a proliferation of personal image. The US law enforcement viewed 3,477 cases of youth who were producing the sexual images and posting them on social media (Gikas & Grant, 2013). Teens and adult distribute child pornography and can lead to incarceration.

Social media can be used as a vessel to transfer useful information which can be accessed even with the cell phones, but the access to it via Smartphones has proved to have more adverse effects on the society since the Smartphone can access a lot of sites some which are adult site therefore destroying the image and morality of the teens and children who stayed glued to their Smartphone.

References

Davies, T. & Jacobetty, P. (2016). Mind change: How digital technologies are leaving their mark on our brains. New Media & Society. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461444816652614

Gikas, J. & Grant, M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet And Higher Education, 19, 18-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2013.06.002

Humphreys, L. (2005). Cellphones in public: social interactions in a wireless era. New Media & Society, 7(6), 810-833. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461444805058164