For my parents, both born in the 70's, they both have distinct memories of growing up without the gadgets and were shaped throughout their youths without having the technology until they were in their late twenties/early thirties (crazy, I know). They basically lived the majority of their lives without the influence of mobile phones and can recall times when they didn't have it as "good" as the modern day kids did; when they had to physically take a trip to the local library and dig for an article when now a days, all it takes is a simple clicks of a button and bam, you have it right in front of your face right in the comfort of your own house or park or wherever it is that you just happen to be.
But for me, I received mine right at the gloriously awkward stage of middle school just as I turned 12 and have been practically attached to the thing ever since. Life before a phone is almost like a blur, if I were to be honest, and looking back, I have no clue what I did to use my time instead of how I use it now. And why is that? Why is it that somehow during the time that I first received that shiny Motorola RAZR to my new and improved Samsung Galaxy, I have grown almost entirely dependent of the concept of a cell phone? The answer is easy: A cell phone has everything and anything that I need.
Some call it a bad addiction, others, including myself, call it the greatest advantage one can have in today's modern society. Just think of all the tools you have access to thanks to that device in your pocket. The number is quite endless if your ambitious enough. For communication-- the sole purpose of a cell phone when you derive back to it's origins-- you have Instant Messaging, Social Media Apps, Dating Apps, apps that teach you a foreign language, apps that convert your language into a foreign language. That's barely naming a few!
Don't even start trying to think of all the entertainment aspects because that new music video that you've been dying to watch? And that latest Trump debacle getting tossed around on every news source? Or what about that unbelievable buzzard beater on NBA last night? Yeah, all available through cell phones thanks to a nice little company called YouTube which is free to download and usually comes pre-programmed into cell phones nowadays.
Instead of having to carry around big, bulky video cameras, you now have it compressed into your pocket. Need to check your bank account? Oh, just pull out your cell phone. Waiting for that important email? Pull out your cell phone. Need to creep on someone's Instagram-- go ahead and reach for your pocket, I won't judge.
The point, in all of this, is that surreee people can always curse the modern inventions of cell phones and say just how bad they are that the latest generations are constantly hunched over and typing away mindlessly into their cell phones, but the truth is, there's so much on cell phone that is it practically impossible not to use it. Some call it time wasted, other's call it time well spent depending on how they view it. Because for just as much useless content that is available with cell phones, the amount of educational sources are just as plentiful. You have online libraries, databases of news articles and scholary pieces. There's online tools that teach you how to read and write, how to type, and learn a foreign language. The pro's are just as plentiful as the con's.
It's an important aspect in everyone's lives whether they like to admit it or not. Heck, now there are even college classrooms that are based entirely around the concept of social media and the influences of the Internet. There's no denying that in today's society and the nearby future, people's lives are impacted greatly by their cell phones. It's up to the individual themselves that decide how they will manage their time and what their energy will be spent towards.
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