Think of your average morning. You're woken up by that alarm on your phone that always seems to come too early, which you immediately proceed to turn off as soon as possible. Next you scroll through all of the notifications you missed while sleeping, respond to everything, scroll through social media a bit, then eventually get up and make your way to class. In class you make your best effort to focus on the lecture, but your phone keeps buzzing and successfully distracts you from whatever your professor is talking about. The day continues, and your phone doesn't leave your side at one moment. Night comes, and you lay in bed scrolling through your phone some more until you're tired enough to fall asleep, so you plug it in to its charger and go to bed. Your phone is the first and last thing you see. This is normal for majority of college students, without any second thought to put the phone down and focus on the world around them. Most do not see this as an issue, as everyone around them is doing the same thing. You walk around campus and everyone is looking down, scrolling through social media, texting, calling, taking photos, or listening to music. Smart phones have so many great uses, but are we too reliant and distracted by the world in the palm of our hands?

 The social norm of today's society is to have your phone with you at all times of every day, but this could be harming us in more ways than we are aware of. Smart phone use is becoming so popular that simply going a few hours without it is unheard of. Smart phones are designed to keep us interconnected with the world around us, yet they are seeming to do just the opposite in many ways. Skype, FaceTime, instant messaging, social media and various other applications are made to enable us to communicate with friends in different locations, but we seem to be disregarding the face-to-face interactions from these applications. Distraction from smart phones happens daily, if not multiple times in one day, and people do not seem to be aware of the huge problem it is creating. As wonderful as smart phones are, they are creating an even bigger problem.

Smart phone addiction may not be considered by many, as addiction is normally correlated to some sort of drug dependence, but it shows to have the same effects. Dr. Fran Walfish, a family psychotherapist, explains cell phone use in comparison to the level of addiction of a slot machine in that "the immediacy of response, gratification, and excitation combine to make the user want more and want more now" (Borreli). Smart phone addiction is also seen through nomophobia, the far of not being with one's mobile phone, which is most prevalent among young adults. We have become so obsessed and controlled by smart phones and the fear of being without them that it is beginning to have detrimental effects on our health. In a study done by two professors at California State University, when smart phones were taken away from the participants, "users showed an increase in anxiety 10 minutes into the study, and that anxiety continued to increase over the next hour" (Hill). This study also found out that when people are unable to answer their ringing phones, they experienced "a faster heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, they began to sweat, and they showed decreased cognitive performance" (Hill). This exemplifies the extreme obsession with having to constantly have one's phone with them, as it is now reflecting in negative health effects. The need to be with one's phone is no longer simply for connectedness, but it is now becoming apart of one's life as little to no moments are gone without them. 

Simple acts such as eating dinner alone or waiting in line to check out now result in the necessity to use one's smartphone. This "inability to sit by your self in a public setting without reaching for your phone" shows the obsession we have with our smart phones (Borelli). Even worse, it is now becoming the social norm to have one's phone with them at all times, even when surrounded by others.  People now feel the need to "check in" via social media or instant messaging to connect with those not around us, such as ignoring your friend over lunch to post a Facebook status about how you're enjoying lunch with your friend (Davis). This constant need to disrupt the daily personal life to check on or update the virtual world shows the irony behind the smart phone and our overarching obsession with them. As health writer Susan Davis found through research "human beings have a deep primitive desire to know everything that's going on around them" which leads to our addiction to smart phones ("Smartphone Addiction"). That explains the necessity to 'check in' as it is human nature. 

This constant desire to check in on ones' smart phone leads to ignoring what' right in front of them, therefore being distracted on what is right in front of them. This shows to be a frequent problem as people use their smartphones throughout the entire day since "the devices provide an almost continuous stream of messages and alerts" that are consistently distracting people from their current life. As explained before how people tune out those around them to use their smartphone, they also serve as a distraction during driving, school, work, sleep, and countless other daily activities. This is becoming so normal in our society that a new experession has been made, phubbing, which describes "the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention" (Ugur). Phubbing leads us to be less productive in many environments, when they are designed to increase productivity. This is another example of the irony behind smartphones as they can serve as such a distraction when misused, which occurs far more frequent than not. Phubbing is an abuse of smart phones and highlights the negative uses of smart phones that have developed.

Educational use for smartphones is increasing throughout all levels of school, but the benefits may not outweigh the consequences from the distractions. In the college setting when phones are used by students a study found that 68% of the time is is for non-educational purposes, distracting them from the lecture or study they are supposed to be focusing on (Ugur). Not only do smartphones cause for distractions during class, but they are also used to cheat as students "access information online during an exam, take photos of exam, and text-message answers" (Ugur). Smartphones can be beneficial to education, but the high risk that students are using them for other purposes creates a large drawback for using them. A study was done that showed "academic performance decreased when students texted during class" although majority of students thought it did not distract them (Ugur). This shows the blind sidedness we have to smartphone addiction as we are unaware of the effects it has on us. The study confirmed that those that texted in class earned lower grades although they were oblivious to the distraction from their phone (Ugur). Another way phones create distraction in the educational environment is through ringing of phones, as it not only distracts the students but the professor as well. Smartphone distraction in school serves to be far more detrimental than the benefits that come about from using them.

Texting and driving has become so prevalent in todays society that laws have been made, as well as hundreds of campaigns to prevent people from doing it. Smartphone use while driving is not only a sign of addiction to the phones, but results it life-threatening outcomes. According t the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "11 teens die every day as a result of texting while driving," yet 94% acknowledge the dangers of it. Of that 94%, 35% admitted to texting and driving anyways. Smartphone addiction has been shown to effect the body through the constant need to be on it, but the addiction while driving is now leading to deaths and major injuries as it is so dangerous to do so while driving. Although smartphones do have useful applications while driving such as maps or avoiding traffic, the distraction of having a phone in hand and that persistent desire to check in on their phones can lead to much worse outcomes. Texting and driving is known to every driver that it is illegal, highly dangerous and puts all drivers on the road in danger, yet this driving force behind the addiction to smartphones leads people to go against their knowledge. People are willing to risk their lives in order to be on their smartphones. That in itself clearly illustrates the extent to which our society has become obsessed with these devices.

As convenient and easy as we may believe texting to be, it is beginning to harm us in more ways than many are aware of. Considering the effortlessness that comes with sending a quick text to someone, people tend to stray away from face to face contact or even simply talking on the phone. This overreliance on texting has caused for a hinder in the social skills of the younger generations since "individuals can hide behind a screen to escape confrontation" leading to them "lacking the courage to face certain predicaments" (Suval). Texting has its benefits when it comes to something short and fairly un-meaningful, but the problem comes in when texting has now become the main form of communication. Important texts are sent, yet by being sent in such an unprofessional way they have much less meaning than if it were communicated in some other way. Personal connections cannot be replaced through conversations via technology, as a connection is much better formed in person" (Suval). Teenagers and young adults "don't know how to handle conflict face to face" anymore due to the heavy reliance on technology to communicate, and they use it as an "avoidance strategy" (Bindley). Texting is a way to escape personal face to face contact, although most are unaware they are doing so by texting or emailing. "Conversation takes practice" and texting is ridding the future generations on this, leading to a loss of social skills (Bindley). 

The addiction to smartphones is also worsening our relationships as we are so caught up in the virtual world that is in the palm of our hands. The need to communicate to others while spending time with those we love is eroding at the personal level. In a study done by the Hankamer School of Business of Baylor University found that romantic partners that carried out these behaviors of addiction to their cell phones were "more likely to experience conflict in the relationship and have lower levels of satisfaction" (Cha). In contrast to the normal thought that smartphones bring us closer to our loved ones, this exemplifies how it is actually harming us to be so interconnected via technology. To go even further in the study, the researchers found that people "felt depressed" when their partners "allow technology to interfere with time spent together" as it sends "an implicit message of that partner's priorities" (Cha). Although highly unaware of this, relationships are slowly eroding from the constant use of cell phones. Thinking back to years ago when it was rude to even have your phone at the dinner table while on a date with your significant other, this is not the complete norm for many couples, especially those of the younger generation. It has become a habit for couples to focus on their phones, yet it is offending to many as they get the message that their significant other is less interested in them, leading to the problems stated earlier.

As smart phones are so useful and helpful in todays high technology society, they cannot just be put away due to these problems they are causing. Technology has brought such great benefits to us, so much that we have became this addicted to them without even knowing it. Eliminating them altogether is completely impractical, but we desperately need to focus on decreasing the amount of use and reliance we have on them. Considering that we use our cell phones from sunrise to sunset every single day, simply putting it aside for at least an hour a day can benefit us tremendously. The level of distraction they cause us results in less efficient work done, so putting it aside for a short amount of time can lead to great success. The text will still be there an hour later, and the news feed will not change without you checking in on it. This addiction to constantly be up to date and aware of all that is going on can be weakened, as the human brain is so adaptable and flexible. 

Simply being aware of the damage that smart phones bring to our lives can help us to change that. In knowing that they cause so many driving accidents, worsening our social skills and relationships, or that they have detrimental effects on our health in general should make people want to lessen their reliance on them and focus on the world that is right in front of them. Smartphones were created to help us and to connect with those we cant be with all of the time, so we should be using them to this full ability. Our misuse of them is causing smartphones to be shed in a negative light when they are one of the most amazing technologies to ever be created. The fact that we can video chat with someone on the other side of the globe or hear about information in another country in the exact moment it is happening is simply amazing and it is a shame that we have grown so obsessed with its capabilities. To combat this addiction try and take moments without your phone, spend quality time with your loved ones and get wrapped up in what's in front of you rather than social media and checking in on others. Limiting our use of this wonderful piece of technology will have incredible benefits and cause for us to live a happier more successful life.

