Cell Phones: a Teenager S Friend Or Enemy?

h Frias

English 3

Mr. Harrison

9/19/16

Cell phones: A teenager’s friend or enemy?

75 percent of all teenagers’ own cellphones, 33 percent text more than 100 text messages a day, and 11 percent text more than 200 messages a day. Teenagers around the world are attached to their cell phones like it is their third arm. Their phones are constantly dinging, vibrating, or ringing. One could even argue that teen cell phone usage is an epidemic. These devices can be a parent or teacher's worst nightmare.

Teenagers never leave home without it. Everywhere you go you will see teenagers walking aimlessly in the street talking or texting on their cell phones. Cellular phones are definitely both a blessing and a curse. Cell phones allow teenagers to stay in contact with friends, family and classmates. Many parents want their teenagers’ to have cell phones in order to keep them safe, in case they find themselves in a life-threatening situation. Teenagers also now have a wealth of information in the palm of their hand.

Cell phone are both a must have, and a distraction for teens in the twenty-first century.

Exploring the pros and cons of teenage cell phone usage may help individuals find a balance between the importance of staying connected face-to-face with others and also staying connect through technology. It has never been easier to stay connected to friends and family. Through the use of cell phones and smartphones teenagers can stay in touch easily with people who they normally would not be able to see or talk too. Today we stay in contact via social media, video chats, and text messaging. These are all ways we can communicate through the use of our Smartphones. Smartphone technology makes it easy to video chat so that we are able to share birthdays and other celebrations with people who live half way around the world. Cell phones even make it easier to do collaborative projects with your peers. We no longer need to sit side by side to complete a project.

Conference calling has been replaced with video conference calling. We can now pull out our phones and FaceTime or Skype. There's no denying that mobile cellular technology has made our world a much smaller place in which we are but a touch away from people, ideas, and information.

There's no doubt that mobile cell phones save lives. If a teenager needs to contact their parents, they are only a swipe away. Parents are also able to quickly find their children's location to verify their safety. Cell phone are like personal locating deceives, as long as they are on, police or others can find you. Cell phones also keep you safe in many other ways. Like having your own hand help computer, they can provide you with information to get you safely home when you are lost, or help you research any information you might need. Today these small, portable computers provide teenagers the technology to quickly research information, purchase movie tickets, listen to music, study, and stay connected with social media. The word Google is now a verb. They ask Siri anything, and can usually get an immediate answer. Cellphones literally place the world in the palm of a teenager’s hand. There is no doubt that cell phone usage has its place in a teenager's life.

On the other hand, mobile cellular devices can become a distraction and even an addiction. Everywhere you go you see families are on their cell phones, Even during dinner. Instead of having a conversation and really being in the moment, teens and parents are barely engaged. Cell phone are a huge distraction for teenage drivers as well. They can become a hazard to your health and safety when teens text while driving. Smartphones and all the applications that they can run can easily suck people into a virtual world. Almost like an alternate life. Teenagers can become less connected to their friends and family because they rather text a conversation than talk to someone face-to-face. They would rather become anonymous than live life in person. People can easily be someone that they are not and hurt others by not disclosing who they really are.

There's no doubt that to stay cutting edge and current you can't turn your back from the use of technology including mobile cellular phone devices. The fact of the matter is that teenagers need to learn how to balance the use of their cell phones and staying in "real" contact with others. There are real pros and cons when debating this issue. Cell phone keep teenagers in constant communication with friends, family, and classmates. They create a link to parents, police and others to keep teenagers safe, and provide constant access to information. Cell phones and all the technology that goes along with having one is not going away. Parents and teens need to have conversations about the phone's usage. They need to create clear rules and boundaries that establish what will and will not be acceptable. Cell phones are definitely a positive and a negative influence for teenagers. There is no doubt that given the chance mobile cell phones can create a real opportunity to learn responsibility and balance which is priceless.