Effective communication is an essential life skill because communication is basically needed in every stage of life. Communication can be simply defined as transfer of information from one point to another. It involves conveying ideas, thoughts as well as emotions. This can be done verbally or non-verbally. There are a number of forms of communication, which vary based on the participants involved, contexts and channels used. The various forms include: mass, interpersonal, intrapersonal, public and group communication. Intrapersonal communication is a form that takes place within oneself and it can happen in form of internal vocalization or reflective thinking. This is an important form of communication in that it helps people process emotions, rehearse their future plans, and think through something. Interpersonal communication is a form of communication that people engage in most of the time. It involves communication between two individuals who have a mutual influence on one another. When three or more people interact with each other, a group communication ensures. This happens when people interact so that they can achieve a shared goal. When an individual takes the responsibility of conveying a certain piece of information to an audience, a public communication results. Lastly, mass communication involves transfer if information to people through electronic or printed media (“Communication Skills,” 2013). The measure of communication skills involves evaluation of how well the information is transferred and received. A point worth nothing, is the fact that communication begins from the time an individual is in the cradle, to the time they die. Therefore, good communication skills are important for survival; whether its individual survival or organizational survival. Communication was however not sophisticated in the past as it is today. This era’s prominent feature is mass communication which has been made easier by the recent digital revolution. The purpose of this essay is to therefore explore how the use of smartphones has impacted today’s world. In addition, uses of smartphones as well as their negative and positive effects will be discussed.
In the past few years, the world has tremendously changed. In fact, many can argue that in today’s world, technology runs people’s lives. There has been a rapid development of new technology including computer, tablets and mobile phones, which people can’t seem to function without. There is a time (in the 1990s) when the internet was a commodity only known to a few number of people. Technology has been able to change how people think, act, and communicate. Technological advancements have led to the needs of people becoming more sophisticated; while people are in search for speed, quality and effectiveness, there is also the need for a device that is small enough to fit in a pocket. Mobile phones therefore, and more specifically smartphones, translate to this type of a device. Statistics estimate that globally, over two billion people use cellphones. A smartphone can be described as a phone that has similar functionality to a personal computer, and it is important in that it offers advanced technology. Smartphones contain unique features such as the internet, instant messaging as well as email services. The conception of iPhone occurred in 2007 and since then, there has been a dramatic increase in the rate of smartphone usage. Studies show that in 2017 the number of Americans owning a smartphone had increased from 55% in 2011 to 77%. Most interesting is the fact that more than 90% of these people are aged between 18-29 years (Davidson, 2017). According to a number of studies that have been conducted, smartphones have tremendous effects on face-to-face communication as well as communication skills.
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Smartphones play an irreplaceable role in today’s contemporary society. This small device, provides its users with all services that are useful in their daily lives (email, gaming applications and notebook). It is without doubt that advancements brought about by smartphones continue to make life easier, simple and updated. Most importantly, smartphones have transformed the fashion in which communication takes place. Considering the fact that everyday life is characterized by inconveniences, smartphones make it easier for people to convey important messages either via calls or messages. There are different brands of smartphones some of which include; iPhone, Samsung and HTC. The iPhone is considered the most popular type of smartphones which is easily recognizable. Its inception in 2007 led to a complete change in the world of mobile phones. The iPhone has quite exemplary features which ranges from high megapixel (8) rear camera, 16 gigabytes of internal storage, as well as 1 gigabyte of random access memory (RAM). Samsung on the other hand is best known for it incredible camera resolutions. There camera have megapixels as high as 12 with their internal storage going up to 64 gigabytes. A type of Samsung known as Samsung Galaxy S8 has a RAM of 4 Gigabytes. The uniqueness of HTC smartphones lies in their excellent and innovative design as well as touch screen technology that has a superbly high quality. Internal storage of HTC phones goes up to 32 gigabytes but their screen resolution is excellent. Similar to all other consumer products, smartphones have their advantages as well as disadvantages. In addition to instant communication and accessibility to the internet, smartphones are educative and also have productive applications. Ability to access the internet enables make it easier for users to search for any type of information that can add to their knowledge. Moreover, applications that are available in Google Play Store and Apple App Store are used for various everyday functions such as ticket booking and data analysis (Davidson, 2017).
Smartphones have been used widely to perform many tasks; whether it’s at homes or in offices. Effective use of a smartphone phone can involve studying, completing school assignments, searching for information, contacting friends, acquaintances, employee or employers as well as running operations such as tracking of criminals. As mentioned earlier, smartphones accommodate a lot of applications which can be useful in activities such as invoice generation, book keeping and learning of a new language. While at work, parents can check on their children through smartphones via remotely controlled security systems. The latter has been extensively used by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track suspects and criminals. Smartphones have GPS tracker systems which can be used in tracking individuals, no matter their location (Davidson, 2017). An interesting fact is that when the use of telephones became popular, written communication was almost forgotten. However, inception of smartphones brought back the popularity of written communication through messaging. The only difference between the current form of written communication and the previous one is brevity. Previously, eloquence and verbosity were key ( Beurer-Zuellig & Meckel, 2008) .
Notwithstanding all the advantages and uses mentioned above with regards to smartphones, they have been observed to lead to poor social interaction and health problems. A radiofrequency energy that is emitted by smartphones as well as the HEV light that they produce may have detrimental effects on heath. Moreover, studies have shown that people spend a lot of time on their smartphones (approximately 5 hours). This typically leads to the conservative way of interaction hence affecting the ability of people to socially interact (Davidson, 2017). They have also been associated with addiction and privacy threats. Some users may be addicted to mobile gaming and social media. In addition, smartphones are vulnerable to threats such as viruses and spammers (cyber-bulling). In addition, students find themselves using smartphones to engage in bad behaviors such as exam cheating and watching of pornographic materials. More surprising, is how smartphones have been used by criminals such as drug dealers to perform their operations in hiding. These criminals use highly encrypted phones, that are untraceable. Such secure handsets make it difficult for drug cartels to face the law since catching them is never easy ( Al-Harrasi & Al-Badi, 2014) .
In conclusion, smartphones have their irreplaceable place in today’s world, and most importantly they are not expected to go anywhere anytime soon. Use of smartphones is highly beneficial in today’s society. Not only are people able to instantly communicate, but they are also able to acquire a lot of knowledge from the internet which can be easily accessed by the smartphones. Some may claim that use of the gadget has some disadvantages but despite these said negativities, there is an undisputable perception that a time in future will come when smartphones will take over the digital world. Therefore, it is only logic to claim that smartphones have and will continue to be devices of importance for our daily lives. Its however important to note that they should not be used for the wrong purposes, but should be used for the betterment of lives.
References
Al-Harrasi, A. S., & Al-Badi, A. H. (2014). The Impact of Social Networking: A Study of the Influence of Smartphones on College Students. Contemporary Issues in Education Research , 7 (2), 129-136.
Beurer-Zuellig, B., & Meckel, M. (2008). Smartphones enabling mobile collaboration. In Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Proceedings of the 41st Annual (pp. 49-49). IEEE.
Communication Skills. (2013). Communication Skills for Nursing Practice , 71-92. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-34449-6_4
Davidson, A. (2017). Smartphones as Locative Media. Journal of Urban Technology , 24 (2), 109-110. doi:10.1080/10630732.2017.1333842
