The first cell phone was invented in 1973. Back then, it was a big hulking machine that could only make calls. Not much changed in the 30 years after that, you could now send texts messages and the more advanced phones could get your emails as well. These advances were very helpful but not consuming. The first iPhone came out in 2007, and that is when phones first started to move from “helpful” to “time waster.” Now, here in 2017, people of all ages walk around with their eyes glued down on their phone, not even taking the time to look around at their surroundings. We are using our phones more and more. Kids now are using their phones at unprecedented levels, up to 8 hours a day (Journal of Indian Association for Child and Mental Health). There are multiple problems that come from being on your phone so much: it can cause permanent damage to your eyes (Boston Globe,) it causes headaches, and can create a dependency on your phone. Addiction is defined as “the fact or condition of being dependent to a particular substance, thing, or activity” (Merriam-Webster). Another way people define addiction is “can’t live without.” Most people would say they can’t live without their phones. We are addicted to our cell phones as a society, and there are a lot of negative affects that come from this such as social anxiety, eyesight problems, and depression.

Kids do not know how to handle conflicts with others because on their phones there is never a problem (Huffington Post.) It has become a cultural problem that people no longer talk to one another. Those daily conversations were very good for our mental health, now we all just awkwardly look at our phones instead of interacting. When I walk to class every day, most everyone around me is always looking at their phones. People go out to dinner and hardly even talk, instead they are both just together on their phones. What is even more scary is that today’s kids are growing up not knowing life without smartphones which is bad for multiple reasons. First, if they think that iPhones have always been around, they will grow up thinking that is normal to constantly be on them, creating a very bad cycle for kids younger than them. Second, because children are on their phones so much, the time when middle schoolers used to be “forced” to socialize (lunch, recess, break) they are now on their phones, not interacting with one another.

Because people are on their phones so much, the question why must be asked. The easy answer would be “because they’re bored”, but the answer is much more complex, and much more subconscious than that. We check our phones an average of 85 times a day (DailyMail.) Each time a drug addict gets a hit of their drug, a chemical called dopamine gets released into their brain, and it makes them feel good inside. We now receive the same dopamine hit when we get a notification on our phone (Jennings), meaning that the constant checking is looking for the next hit of dopamine, similar to a drug addict. When phones are taken away from people, they begin to feel anxious, uncomfortable, and even sick (Computers in Human Behavior), all qualities of a drug user going through withdrawal. Obviously, it is much less severe, but the premise that people feel anxious without their cell phones is a major sign of addiction, people even say that their phone is a part of them. 

Cell phones are designed to maximize how much time you spend on them (Addiction Research & Theory). They are advertised as “cutting edge” and “must have”, and while they are very powerful machines, the main purpose is for the user to constantly be using them. Everything about them is designed to keep you engaged, from the “ding” your phone makes whenever you get a text, to the fact that they make it very hard to have no noise or no vibrations. The feeling the phone companies are trying to create is that you always need your phone, and most people believe that now. Once you have that feeling of always needing your phone, the reliance builds, as well as the addiction. 

This is a new problem facing the world. Never before have we seen anything like this, and there isn’t surefire way to fix it. 

The only similar problem is kids in South Korea being addicted to video games, having their eyes become permanently damaged, requiring surgery on their wrists, and even seizures (Business Insider.) Cell phone use does not cause seizures, but we could potentially use the same techniques the Chinese government used on the video game addicts, on cell phone addicts. They use a sort of electromagnetic shock treatment, without hurting their patients, and then it differs from alcohol treatment. Instead of trying to make the patients quit cold turkey, which could be much harder, the government instead tries to get them to play a “reasonable amount.” The government administers treatment via MRI aimed at the left inferior frontal gyrus, trying to decrease the the need to play video games (Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine). While there is a certain risk involved whenever patients are exposed to electromagnetic therapy,  this is a good strategy to attempt with cell phone addiction, because in today’s society you can’t never use a cell phone. 

There is very little argument for using our phones this much. If cell phones are used in the correct form ie. looking up things that are unknown, directions, staying connected with your friends and family they can be a great help to daily life. But for the most part they are never used that sparingly. While it is true that the entire world is inside your pocket, the health risks and general usage rate associated with phone far outweighs the people that use them in the correct manor.

Over 50 percent of teenagers believe they are addicted to their cell phones, with 66 percent of their parents agreeing (CNN.) The other part of the problem is that phone companies don’t want people to use their products less, and the addiction is less about the phone itself, and more about the apps on it. Social media apps such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are all completely independent of Apple, Samsung, and Motorola, and all the other companies that make cell phones. Each of these social networks make more money the longer time each person spends on their site by advertisements. This incentivizes those companies to make their apps as time consuming as possible. 

Social media in of itself can cause people’s addictions. People scroll through their feeds seemingly every minute, only to see the same tweets and pictures they saw the last time they looked through their page. Back to the dopamine hit brought up earlier, every time you get a notification that someone “liked” your picture on Instagram, or “favorited” your tweet, you get a dopamine hit. This becomes a problem because people will constantly post and update things, searching for that next like, completely missing out on life happening all around them, locked into their phones hoping someone favorited their tweet. There is an entirely new phenomenon with the app “snapchat,” it allows users to post 10 second video clips that will only be shown for 24 hours. This started out as a great feature. People would sometimes post a cool video of something they were doing, or if they went on a trip, it was a nice easy way to show all your friends where you were. But it has evolved to the point where people “story” everything they do. Every single meal, whenever they see something even somewhat interesting, they need all their friends to know and it is completely unhealthy. People now care more about looking like they had a fun time, as opposed to actually having a good time. It’s not all the users fault, social media sites are as habit forming as crack-cocaine (Computer World.) 

Fixing this problem is as much on the individual as it is on society. It starts will people wanting to stop the problem. People need to take the active step of just not being on their phone all the time, but that’s hard to do when the average person is seasoned to look down into their pocket whenever they are walking somewhere. It gotten so bad people often feel phantom vibration in their pockets (CNN). As a society, we need to start viewing more places as “phone free zones” sporting events and shows are a good place to start, as there is always something entertaining for you to be watching. Lectures halls are an obvious candidate as well, but I think that everyone having laptops defeats the purpose, because you can do everything on a laptop you can do on a phone. At home, families that take the time to sit down and have dinner together should never be on their phone (including parents.) Families that do this experience being closer together and having fulfillment from each other, along with better test scores children feel happier and healthier (Today Show.)

We are on our phones too much as a society, it affects everyone's day to day life. We do not even look up at our surroundings when we walk around. Children are growing up with iPhones in their hands which is very negatively affecting their interpersonal skills. This is going to continue to be a problem and only get worse, as kids now are growing up seeing adults on their phones as well. The best solutions are family device-free dinners and cell phone free areas, but in the end it all comes down to each individual person wanting to stop being on their phone as much. We can only lead by example and hope that everyone else also wants to try and kick our societies cell phone addiction to the curb. 
