Have you ever been on your cell phone in bed late at night scrolling through social media and dropped your phone on your nose? Ouch, right. One night, I was looking at instagram when I had dropped my phone on my nose, and it left a bruise for days. It was embarrassing to go to high school, and other people questioned as to why I had a bruise on my nose. A similar thing happened to my friend Jess with her cell phone. She had been hurt from it, but not in a physical way. Jess has always been a great friend to me since we were little, but not everyone was so nice to her. She had been cyber bullied by two other classmates that brought her a great deal of sadness and stress. Luckily as high school went on, so did life and the girls stopped bothering her. I was born in the 1900’s; more like the end of the 1990’s. I have grown up in the social media age of always wanting a new and better iPhone. I use twitter, snap chat, instagram, and Facebook. I previously used tinder for fun with my friends, and that was always silly to see how other people introduced themselves over cell phones with corny pickup lines. I have been in this era of social media apps, and I greatly understand the uses of each app.  To think that cell phone use and social media apps could cause such pain to people, you would think that there could be an easy solution to fix these physical and emotional pains. Therefore, there should be a limiting to 30 minutes a day for each social media app to reduce negative impacts of cell phone and social media use. To social media users and companies of social media, this limiting can help promote opportunity cost of another activity, and help with emotional pain. 

Social media is described as forms of electronic communication (as websites for social networking and micro blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (Merriam-Webster). As of February 2017, the top four social networks are Facebook, YouTube, instagram, and twitter, respectively (Dream Grow). These can all be accessed on your cell phone due to the advances in technology. The 2010 flip phone to the 2017 iPhone describes the advances of cell phone technology. The flip phone was used to create “LOL” or “LMAO,” but now with a smart phone we can access the Internet and scroll through social media. With millions and billions of users on some apps, Facebook is in lead with 1,650 million active users, followed by Tumbler with 550 million and Instagram with 500 million. Almost 20% of total time spent online is on social media apps. Throughout the use of social media apps, the idea of opportunity cost becomes present. Opportunity cost refers to a benefit that a person could have received, but gave up, to take another course of action (Investopedia). Otherwise, it is stated as picking a certain decision compared to another. Instead of scrolling through social media, one can read a book, play a sport, or work on schoolwork. Social media has a great deal of influence on our society and it is a big factor of our time that could result in mental and physical pain. (Wikipedia)

Since the mental and physical aspects of cell phones and social media can cause such negative impacts on not only younger generations, but older, there should be a restricting law that can limit the impacts of this cause. The government should put a law for all social media apps to have a 30-minute time limit. With this law in place, less physical pain of neck and radiation could occur. Additionally, less emotional impacts will occur because people cannot constantly be on an app or even want to use the time to cyber bully someone else. Lastly, someone would have the time to allow opportunity cost of another activity than looking at a cell phone. With this new law, each app will show a timer on top of the social media app for how long one has for the rest of the day. As of right now, all social media apps would have to apply to become an application and get the rights to still be allowed to be on the market. To start this law, people will need to start a petition in order to get others involved to promote the same idea of limiting. Once all social media apps are under the control of limiting to 30-minutes a day, no new apps can be added unless the government thinks it could be a positive influence. Every app from then on would be regulated for the benefits of the people. Not only will this be a positive impact for one’s neck or self esteem, but also it will promote the idea of opportunity cost. With less time spent on cell phones and social media apps, one can work on homework and further their education. 30 years ago, America was the leader in quantity and quality of high school diplomas and now our nation is ranked 36th in the world (Do Something). This law can promote more focus on schoolwork and education. Additionally, since the past 30 years, child obesity has more than tripled (Clockwork). The consequences of childhood obesity are diabetes, asthma and heart failure. So instead of sitting and looking at social media, kids could use this time to play sports or be active. Limiting social media can be beneficial to society, and especially kids in order to change our way in life, and promote better care for one’s body.

The use of social media over the years have sky rocketed. I have certainly increased the amount of social media apps I use since freshman year of high school. The article, “Effects of social media usage and social media multitasking on the academic performance of university students,” by Wilfred Lau, concluded the negative effects of social media. Lau had created a research project based on a university in Hong Kong that measured how social media, video games, and other technologies impacted the academic performance of students. Lau had a sample size of 348 people to discover the true impacts of technology. First, Lau stated, “The social media usage of American adults aged 18–29 years soared from 12% in 2005 to 90% in 2015” (Pew Research Center, 2015). Lau used this statement to give purpose to his research paper. Without stating this fact, Lau’s argument would have been lacking in evidence and exigency. This gave Lau the reason to conduct the research and to explore the impacts of using social media much more than in previous years. After concluding his research, he discovered that, “The study establishes social media usage and SMM (social media multitasking) as the key variables that negatively influence the academic performance of university students and, specifically, that VG (video games) and SMM are detrimental to university student learning.” Lau’s prediction was correct in that the factor of more people using these technologies prevented other people from reaching their best academic performance. This quote is able to sum up what Lau discovered throughout his research. With what is known due to Lau’s discovery, Lau analyzed the societal impacts of heightened technology usage. Lau states, “these potential negative impacts include inappropriate interactions between students and teachers online, the influence of an informal relationship with a teacher that disrupts formal instruction during class time, and cyber-bullying.” After all the research, Lau was able to explain how having so much technology in daily life is negative. Lau was able to use an interesting fact about the use of technology in modern times and make it into a research question to analyze the impacts of technology on academic performance.

When looking at your phone, do you think how many times a day you look or check to see what is new? In the article, “Americans Spend an Alarming Amount of Time Checking Social Media on Their Phones,” by Lulu Chang, it describes what age ranges check social media most and, how many times an average American check their phone. Surprisingly enough, the age range of 25 and 54 compulsively check social media more than young adults with the age range of 15 and 24. The average American checks social media 17 times a day. The major values that the article portrays is how the average American values their time of day to check their phones 17 times to see what other people are doing. The interest is not only to blame the younger generation, but expose the older generations that they do use social media just as much. I personally check snap chat once a day to keep my snap chat streaks, but my friend Charlotte is constantly answering each snap chat every 15 minutes. This varying of how many times one checks social media expresses how social media takes up a chuck of someone’s time. It is not only the millennial being impacted by the negative impacts of social media, but the older generations too. 

Typically, about once a day I use iPhones native apps to set my alarm clock. Most other apps that I use are social media or downloaded from the app store. To look further into the use of app time, “Consumers Spend 85% Of Time On Smartphones In Apps, But Only 5 Apps See Heavy Use,” describes how much time is spent on social media apps on a mobile device. Research has shown that people spend 84% of the time on their phone using just five social media apps that they downloaded from the App Store. The interest of this article is to acknowledge the time used on cell phones for most social media accounts than other native apps (apps that come with the phone such as Email) or games. When I go on my phone to waste time before class, or sometimes during class, I usually go to social media sites rather than native apps that iPhone has provided because it provides more entertainment to me than other apps. It is valuable to understand that the time used on our phones is not educational compared to the idea of the smartphone being able to access any information wherever one is.

When I think everyone who complains about their neck or back problems, I have never thought about the way we look at our cell phones to be apart of the problem. But the article “Cell Phone Ergonomics: How to Avoid the “Smart Phone Slump” was about the effects of using a cell phone when tilting your head at certain degrees. As stated as the “Smart Phone Slump,” Dr. Kenneth Hansraj discovered the amount of pressure that our heads felt at different degrees of tilting one’s head. However, as one starts to tilt their head forward as if they were using their cell phones, the stress of the neck and head could lead to problems like early wear and tear, the need of surgery, and degeneration. At a normal angle for the head, it carries 10-12 pounds. However, when it goes to 45 degrees, the head becomes 49 pounds. Though I have never experienced neck problems from cell phones, or heard of anyone having an issue, who knows what will happen in 20 years after looking down at my cell phone for so long. I should probably switch my major to becoming a chiropractor. This article will be useful to support the facts as why using cell phones are negative and could bring health problems.

Everyone always talks about the nuclear radiation, and how they don’t want it near where they live. However, I bet they never thought about the radiation that cell phones emit when the phones are sitting right in their pocket. The question that is also posed as the article’s title, “Do Cell Phones Emit Radiation that is Actually Harmful,” is a growing concern for the health hazards for the people who use cell phones. There are several different types of radiation that cell phones emit when using different functions on the phone like Electromagnet Field (EMF), Electromagnet Radiation (EMR), Radio Frequency (RF), and Extremely Low Frequency (ELF).  EMF, which is the most concerning, is linked to health issues like cancer, infertility, sleep disorders, and developmental problems. Overall, cell phones do emit radiation that can lead to serious health issues. I have heard about this concern, but it still has never been a great deal in my mind because I still sleep right next to my phone in my bed. This could be the cause of my sleeping habits being worse in college than in New York because I don’t sleep next to my phone in New York. I will have to give it a shot of not sleeping next to my phone for a better night’s sleep. Radiation is seen coming from cell phones and shows how using smart phones is negative when it is close by one’s body.

When looking around a college campus like University of South Carolina, there are a lot of people and that most people stay connected by social media. You see a lot more people on their cell phones during class and walking around compared to those walking to the library. The argument for the essay "College Teaching." Cell Phones, Text Messaging, and Facebook: Competing Time Demands of Today's College Students: College Teaching,” by Trudy Hansom, was how do today’s college students use their time, and that they use it inefficiently. This experiment was used to gain knowledge of how the millennial generation (anyone born after 1982) is different from previous generations. The first major piece of evidence was the statistics that they gained from this experiment. While professors state that for each hour in class, they should be studying three hours, students actual only study 12 hours per week (less than half the recommended hours). Additionally, students spent around 14 hours a week texting, and about 6.5 hours a week talking on the phone. The majority of the time is spent with face-to-face contact at around 34 hours a week. The most important part of the experiment gained was the timing that students spend on social networking sites a week: 5.43 hours. The second piece of evidence states that 49% of students surveyed said that video games kept them from studying. This relates back to the inefficient use of time, and the students rather use their time playing games instead of studying. The third piece of evidence found was the amount of people who use either the library or Internet more. About 73% of students use the Internet more than the library, and about 9% of students use the library more than the Internet. I went to the library a total of five times this year. The internet has been a leading factor as to why I can do all my work at home. College teaching is changing from the library to the Internet, but it is affecting the amount of hours we are studying, and how in depth we go to research.

Though more physical pain is attached to cell phone use and social media use, mental pain is just as present. Cyber bullying is Internet bullying through social media and cell phones to bully or harass someone else. Some statistics include: over half of teens have been bullied online, and around the same number have been the cause of cyber bullying; one in three experience online threats; over 25% have been cyber bullied repeatedly; victims are more likely to consider suicide and have low self esteem. These statistics describe how social media apps could be emotionally impacting teens and younger generations. There are many ways to get rid of these cyber bullies such as blocking the person or shut off technology that is harming. Cyber bullying is on the rise everyday. Just take the example of my friend Jess. Cyber bullying is mentally exhausting, and a major factor is that it is coming from the use of social media. 

Now how would you feel if this law was put in place? For me, I wouldn’t mind much, but for others, they would start a twitter fight. While the government is involved with a lot of aspects of society’s life, do they have the right to enter into our personal lives? With this law in place, the government is stepping on our 1st amendment right of freedom to allow one to express themselves. Also, how could the government really organize a system that limits cell phone timing and not have a black market come up instead? These questions can all be answered by following the law and constitution. Just like how cell phones barely radiate radiation, they still do and it should be avoided. The government is in place to promote positive impacts in society, and though going further into personal lives can be seen as an intrusion, it could just as well save lives from less cyber bullying. The government is needed to change this society for the better, and the benefits of using less cell phones and social media overweigh the nervousness of being a bit more controlled in society’s personal aspects. 

Limiting social media to only 30-minutes per day could change society in a positive way. As shown, social media promotes poor academic performance, takes up a huge chuck of time in people’s lives, has negative health impacts of neck problems and radiation, and causes cyber bullying when the applications are free to use whenever desired. The best option is to limit social media and allow for opportunity cost to over take. Whether it is more studying for school or more exercise, limiting only tries to promote society’s positive aspects. People need to begin making changes now so it can be beneficial to the United States as soon as possible. I have recently, in the past couple of months, stopped looking at social media. It has allowed me to think more positively and not have the fear of missing out. I am happier and I now have time for other activities. Last month, my mother sent me a book so we could have a book club for when I come home for summer. Though the book is not super interesting, I am promoting a better life for myself and learning more with the time I have now compared to when I would spend time looking through social media. Limiting social media can be beneficial and is a great tool to society to change into something better. 
