In recent years smartphones have become more useful and more common. Smartphones can now be used to contact people within seconds, access the internet, use social media, and record videos or take photos.
While smartphones are useful, it has been found that smartphones have negative connotations as well. The negative effects include lack of sleep, higher dopamine plateaus, cyber bullying, and exposure to graphic material.
In an anonymous poll taken at our school 13 people out of the 36 responses said they spent 4-7 hours on a screen outside of school. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry recommends that teens have no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time a day.
It is recommended that teens get at least eight hours of sleep a night. Lack of sleep can cause mental disorders later in life such as dementia, stroke, heart problems, and obesity.
Social media has also been correlated to a higher dopamine plateau. Dopamine is an essential chemical that plays a role in how we feel pleasure. The more dopamine the happier you are. When you get things such as likes or follows on social media you get dopamine. The more dopamine you get over time the harder it is to match those feelings raising your dopamine plateau.
Smartphones give easy access to the internet which includes graphic materials.
Jason Williams, a Senior Vice President and the Chief Mental & Behavioral Health Officer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, says “Seeing anything graphic out of normal experience is hard to put into context of the actual world. That can be detrimental to a developing brain such as a teen’s. If they start to have trouble then they need to see a healthcare professional about it.”
Bobby Shell, a school resource officer and a deputy sheriff, said “As cell phones have become more popular, fights have been organized online. When they are organized online it is harder to stop them before they start. Also bullying happens online because people feel they can’t get caught from behind a screen.”
Cell phones can be dangerous when used inappropriately, but if parents set screen time limits and monitor their child’s activity then they can be useful tools.
Paola • May 8, 2024 at 12:27 pm
I enjoyed reading this article. I learned that many people are getting through dangerous obstacles at a faster pace like school fights and bullying by using their phones. I have heard from others that this generation has it easier than the past ones because of one thing: technology. While in some cases that is true and having phones, laptops, etc are handy tools to have with you at all times there is a dark evil side to it which may or may not affect your entire life existence. But for a suggestion I would say to make your article or future articles ever so deeper adding a topic about social media and how it’s effecting our ways of life both positively and negatively can really make your article come together.
Adison • Mar 8, 2024 at 9:07 am
I have learned that it can cause lack of sleep and a higher dopamine plateau. The most interesting part of this article is when they talk about dopamine plateaus.
Josie • Mar 7, 2024 at 5:36 pm
I have learned that even in today’s society positive devices could even impact us in negative ways. My question is how do we get more people to recognize this issue to help get rid of it. I also suggest that we get the kids issue on how they feel about it and what they suggest we do.
Josie • Mar 7, 2024 at 1:58 pm
I learned how more a negative affect phones have on people other than positive ones nowadays. I think we should have shown how more of innapropriet things online are being posted by kids. My questions are how can someone know that they have bullied someone and feel okay about it? I loved how they added a solution like getting more sleep or less screen time.
Crissy • Mar 6, 2024 at 10:04 am
I Learned how cell phones are dangerous and can start fights because of social media. The most interesting thing is how we can prevent these things from happening. How can we get these fights to stop and the cyber bulling online? I suggest doing an article about how to block and ignore people.