The contemporary era is marred by technological advancements and social evolvement improving man’s quality of life to another level. The world has become a global village with the help of technological advancements. However, different views are favoring and against technological advancements promoting happiness and comfort in life. According to my point of notion, technological advancements; especially smartphones have affected negatively our society’s contemporary dynamics. The deleterious aspects of smartphone technology such as promoting loneliness, distant family relations, and cyberbullying should be brought into the limelight by the government to address these negative consequences in contemporary society.
Two centuries back, Smartphone technology was a furtive concept, but in the current society it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for both urban and rural life. Smartphone technology can be defined as cellular communication which uses a single system of a platform where numerous transmitters have the capability to send and receive data at the same time on a single channel. At the same time, the increased technological development and demand for smartphones have been paired with concerns about its negative impact on some of the paradigms of contemporary society. The widespread of smartphone usage has various negative consequences in the current society. Loneliness (Social Isolation), distant family relations, and Cyber Bullying are the main paradigms of the negative impacts of smartphone technology.
Primarily, Loneliness is one of the common feelings prevalent in this contemporary era. Loneliness can be defined as a destructive emotion that originates through a disagreement between desired and achieved levels of social contact. This can conclude that the people who are addicted to smartphones prefer social isolation and loneliness because they do not achieve the desired level of social contact with their families. They exhibit massive disliking towards social contact and conversations with family and friends. They give preference to screen time and being lonely. In contemporary society, the variable of loneliness is prominent with mobile phone addiction in various research surveys. As mobile addictions increase, the factor of loneliness also increases with it. Loneliness is prevalent among the youth of the era which can cause debilitating paradigms for the future. Children tend to focus more on their social media, online games, and entertainment rather than on their family members. People seek solace in the clutches of their mobile phones rather than giving time to their siblings, children, parents, and husband/wife. Husband and wife use a smartphone in their free time instead of giving time to each other which is creating immense conflicts and loneliness in the marriages of contemporary society. Therefore, the smartphone has been considered a leading cause of propagating of loneliness in society.
Secondly, the development of smartphone technological devices has addicted everyone to an extent that they do not give time to their family or involve in any social gatherings. Smartphone addiction has influenced people in a way that they have ignored their family get-togethers, tea time, and catching up with their siblings. They prefer to use a smartphone during meal times with the family rather than having friendly conversations which is debilitating their social life and health quality. The genre of digital technology has offered various superfluous career opportunities for people. However, these type of career opportunities demands us to sit in front of a computer screen for a longer period of time, increased working hours, and be caught on a smartphone all day long. Therefore it tends to give less time for our family affection. Smartphones have made communication more continuous and played a massive role in decreasing our health quality. This point of notion sheds light upon the negative costs of digital technology (mobile phones, laptops) on family time, health quality, and social life. Several psychological disorders and medical issues are arising due to having more screen time. Eyes sight problems have amplified to a massive level in these past few years because of the increased use of smartphones. The physical and psychological health of people also decreases with the excessive use of smartphones. Smartphone technology has compelled people to choose screen time over family time. Addicted people elect their digital gadgets over their close family dinners, tea talks, and gatherings. The short message services and phone call services provided by smartphone technology have increased the social distance of close family members. People have addicted themselves to the smartphone to an extent that they prefer calls and short message services to have less intimate methods of social contact with their family members and friends.
Furthermore, the misuse of the smartphone can lead young generations to internet addiction and cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is one of the rising problems with smartphone technology. High and easy communication levels enhanced by smartphones have increased the circumstances of cyber-bullying. People are harassing others by hacking personal information, photos, and bank account details through smartphones. Girls are being blackmailed for their personal photos. Online gangs are formed who make a handsome living by hacking someone’s smartphone and transferring entirely the online money to their offshore accounts. Cyberbullying is becoming prevalent in contemporary society. Some people are using pictures and memes to troll someone which has debilitating consequences on the victim. The victims are humiliated and blackmailed by the hacking of their smartphones exposing their sensitive information to the hacker. The smartphone is one of the biggest tools used by the bully on the victim.
According to the contrary point of view, smartphone technology has played an important role in the field of medicine, education, and professional career during the global pandemic Covid-19. We cannot undermine the importance of advanced technologies especially smartphones in contemporary society. The fields of medical assistance and institutes used a wide range of technology to tackle the spread of the coronavirus and provided treatment online through smartphones. Doctors are examining their patients through video calls and online websites. The social media access on smartphones helped a lot of people to spread awareness about the precautions for covid-19 and administer isolation and medical treatment at home. Furthermore, the professional field has used immense help from technological innovations in the scenario of covid-19. The working people have benefited from smartphone technology, laptops, and internet facilities to administer work-from-home programs. Smartphones and internet technology have given an immense contribution to the field of Education. Students can access a wide range of educational knowledge to solve their educational queries by searching on the internet through smartphones or computers. In this global pandemic, advanced technology especially smartphones have catered to the major educational problems during online schooling and lectures at home. Smartphone technology is achieving remarkable milestones in the contemporary era by working upon user comfort technology for diverse functionality. Smartphones have ensured strong communication, patronizing business, and sharing data/files. The smartphone has various positive and negative merits that influence an individual’s contrarily depending upon their own decisions and choices.
In a nutshell, we cannot overlook the negative consequences of smartphone technology in our society. Smartphone addiction is a leading cause in destroying our young generation through loneliness, social isolation, cyberbullying, and depression. On one hand, this technology offers more opportunities, while on the other hand, it debilitates our health quality and family time. Smartphone addiction may cause a global catastrophe in the future if not addressed properly. The negative consequences of smartphone technology demand massive research and mobile-use control policies. Therefore, our government needs to take radical steps to address this prevalent problem in order to save our future generations.
