Smartphones are distracting - Amrita Desmet

Picture this. An iphone-less student sits in a quiet circle with all her friends, who are separately on their iphones. After politely asking her friends to socialise, the iphone-less girls gets told: “Why don’t you just go on your own phone then?” She felt a disconnection bigger than the Roman Empire fall into her lap.





In recent years, studies have shown that smartphones have become an increasing distraction to teenagers. Although it is true, smartphones are a lingering distraction and teenagers may not notice this. Schools and social life are surrounded by smartphones and no teenager can escape the reality. 95% of students in my Grade 8 class have iphones, which is an example of how the world has changed so vigorously.





As a result, smartphones can be distracting in a great deal of ways. For example; Some seem to think multitasking is beneficial for completing work but it is quite the opposite. 34% of teens use their smartphones during mealtimes. Consequently, multitasking does not save time and in fact, it will probably take you longer to finish two tasks when you jump back and forth. A noticeable feature to multitasking is being on your smartphone. This all leads back to one main statement; smartphones are pulling us away from reality.





Indeed, teenagers of the most recent generation put their smartphones first in many situations. Common times that teens use their phones are on-the-go, at school, at home and during work. One young man had admitted to using his smartphone in the bathroom on multiple occasions. When recalling why, he said there was no urgent reason to bring his phone with him, he was ‘only’ on social media. Students and their devices have become virtually inseparable.





And even when we’re not on our smartphones, they are still distracting. New study shows that when your phone is in your pocket it is still a distraction. Imagine your phone beeps in the middle of class, wouldn’t you start to wonder what the beep was for? Thus, distracting you from what is more important. Just having your phone in eyesight while working can be disturbing towards your train of focus.





The most fascinating, intriguing part of this is that most teenagers and students are aware of their excessive phone usage but do nothing about it. In 2013 a survey was sent out to 145 respondents ranging in age and grades about smartphone usage. Despite these responses, 56 percent of them actually believed that they should use their smartphone less frequently.





“Smartphones have really encroached our lives, especially the recent generation. People cannot just cut off from the society and try to communicate online all the time. That is not the society we want, ” senior Yoon Lee said after seeing the responses. Yoon Lee had stated a very clear point. How can people cut off from their devices?


If you’re alarmed after reading this article, don’t be. It’s not an easy problem to solve. There are different ways you can cut down on smartphone usage. Such as, being more conscious of your surroundings and knowing when the right timings are to use your phone. And if you are like the iphone-less girl, you are on the right track to reducing device usage.