Context
The following is a paper written for a New Media Advertising course. The assignment requested that we discuss mobile phones' positives and negatives, given any lens we preferred. I chose to focus on the social impact of smartphones, both positive and negative, to identify problems and propose potential solutions.
Mobile Phones as Social Conduit and Social Barrier
Abstract
Everywhere you go today, you'll inevitably see a mobile phone. Mobile phones have established a permanent and dominant presence in modern life, from carrying them in hand while walking down the street to using them more recently to pay for in-store purchases. As with any significant development in communication technology, the prevalence of smartphones has its positives and negatives.
Public discussion tends to emphasize the negatives. Smartphone usage can be addictive and limit social interaction; many think it makes people less intelligent. The general public proclaims these detrimental effects loudly, decrying the evils of smartphones and wishing for woebegone days before their existence. There is a crucial error in this type of communication.
Smartphones are not going to go away. As with any step forward in technological advancement, after the adoption of a new concept or device, the world will not collectively take a step back. Therefore, the only productive way of discussing the damage that smartphones can cause to social welfare is in an approach that reveals and identifies solutions. When emphasizing issues without suggesting a step forward, the only options people have are to ignore that information or despair at the state of the world. Neither of these options is helpful or valuable to the public.
This paper will identify the problems and beneficial aspects of smartphone usage alike in the interest of walking away with workable solutions for the issues presented and a newfound appreciation for the positive aspects. The ultimate goal here is to highlight areas for improvement rather than for judgment or demoralization. The problems around smartphone usage have more to do with its ability to scatter our attention rather than any inherent negative qualities.
Background Information
Upon their introduction in the 1980s, mobile phones served as symbols of connection and, by association, symbols of power. Social connectedness has weight, and due to this, in the years after the introduction of the mobile phone in 1983 with Motorola's DynaTAC, mobile phones were synonymous with wealth and success. Due to the inaccessibility of the early high-priced mobile phone, this association was inevitable. However, this perception shifted with the introduction of mass-produced smaller and cheaper devices in the 1990s.
In wealthier nations, the possession of a mobile phone became commonplace. While the status of the mobile phone as a status symbol remained, due to their low level of adoption in lower-income areas, their growing adoption in lower-income areas caused their association with class to be effectively severed. Over the coming years, owning a mobile phone evolved from an unlikely privilege of wealth to a likely occurrence, eventually becoming inevitable. Mobile phones were ubiquitous before the introduction of the smartphone in the late 2000s (Rosen, 2004). This development set the stage for today's widespread smartphone ownership, where nearly every individual has an internet-connected phone in their pocket.
In reality, smartphones are essentially personal computers whose operational capabilities as cellular phones are only one of many functions they perform. For this reason, in analyzing mobile phones' impact on social interactions, this paper will focus specifically on smartphones. The fact that smartphones connect to the internet complicates studies on their social impact, as the overlap between their social implications and the implications of social media, internet entertainment, and the democratization of information through search engines is far-reaching. This paper focuses on the impact of smartphones on interpersonal social connection and communication.
Given the focus on smartphone ownership specifically, it would be necessary to assess attitudes towards mobile phones before their introduction briefly. In 2006, unknowingly on the precipice of the smartphone revolution, a sociological analysis of mobile phones considered their social implications. Entitled "Is the Cell Phone Undermining the Social Order?" (Geser, 2006), the author postulates that mobile phones may introduce freedom of connection and information that grows over time. The assumptions, unaware of the smartphone's impact in the immediate future, are largely accurate and read valid.
The article admits that the cell phone introduces opportunities for interaction free of the facilitation of a larger institution. The change in how people connect and which people can is mainly positive. However, the author makes an unbelievably prescient statement. On the breaking down of boundaries between different areas of social life, Hans Geser states that "... each individual is burdened with the task of regulating the boundaries between different social relationships, groupings, organizations or institutions." This bleed-through and lack of separation between sections of individuals' lives has become a concern, especially over the last few years.
Geser's work includes laughable, inaccurate predictions, such as that cell phones are a "negative class symbol" and are associated primarily with poverty. However, like many others, his overall conclusions are sound. These early ideas present accurate concerns on a micro-scale, entirely unaware of the complicated social environment smartphones would eventually create.
Mobile Phones as Social Conduit and Social Barrier
In examining the current social impact of smartphones, the social effects exist in three distinct categories: the immediacy of connection and communication that smartphones provide, the enabling of constant access to entertainment and information, and the impact on face-to-face social interaction. In evaluating these three categories, this paper aims to reach a measured and informed opinion on smartphone usage's balance of benefits versus detriments.
Immediacy of Connection
Smartphones are devices that are always carried by the owner, barring extenuating circumstances. With this considered, smartphone owners have become constantly connected and plugged in due to the speed and ease of interaction via the device. This limitless connection has vast implications.
Regarding interactions with friends and family, immediacy shifts the expectations for frequency and quality of communication. Constant background awareness of friends has shifted how individuals feel about social interaction and how they communicate. Social interaction is now a possible multitasking activity, completed casually and inattentively without a sense of presence. Because the nature of smartphones as interactive devices erases time and space constraints, immediate interaction is always possible and therefore encouraged by social pretense and expectations.
A 2020 article on smartphones, friendships, and mediated presence concluded that the immediacy of connection resulted in a sense of cognitive absence (Thulin et al., 2020). The article concluded that the combination of the expectation to be immediately available, the fulfillment of social needs through surface-level easy interaction, and constant information causes cognitive absence through consistent interruptions of real-life experiences. This absence can result in a lack of fulfillment and social satisfaction.
Conversely, there are many positive impacts associated with the immediacy of connection. Complex and individualistic social spheres have formed due to the increased freedom of community formation. The book Playful Identities: The Ludifiction of Digital Media Cultures examines the social cohesion and community identification fostered by smartphone-enabled communication. It concludes that ritualistic behaviors, such as the purposeful misspelling of words in a playful way, create a strong sense of community and belonging. Social spheres essentially create their own languages and shared identities (Ling, 2015).
Finally, and potentially most impactful, is the impact that ease of communication smartphones afford disabled individuals. A 2021 study surrounding the impact of mobile phones on young people with Complex Communication Needs recorded these positive results in detail. Individuals with Complex Communication Needs (CCN) have lower than average ability to use speech and be understood. The study found that the ability to text message increased social participation for CCN young people and led to higher levels of life satisfaction. Smartphones were much more effective for these young people for the purposes of being understood than face-to-face communication. Tools for communication better suited to CCN individuals increase social interaction in a way that could impact individuals for the rest of their lives.
Access to Entertainment and Information
The ability of smartphones to globalize information, democratize access to it, and put educational and entertainment sources right at the user's fingertips has many implications. The effect of this constant option of near-unlimited resources spans multiple disciplines. Limiting information to the aspects relevant to social interaction yields a few standout results.
Access to information changes the way that the individual weighs valuable self-contained knowledge. The necessity to retain specific information has been all but entirely lifted outside of the barriers of academic settings. Socially, the person-to-person exchange of information has changed in form and function due to this. Information can be immediately verified and shared in its original form when discussing a topic. This factor removes the power of individual interpretation in communicating ideas to others. Information sharing is no longer a significant form of in-person connection and the evolution of common knowledge (Addo, 2013).
Smartphones have also shifted how we gather and process information about each other and, most crucially, how much information we have. The information we have on those we both know intimately and know tangentially is more detailed than ever before and available in aggregate at the swipe of a fingertip. Through social media, at any time and in any place, thanks to the smartphone, individuals learn far more about each other than they may have in days past.
A 2020 Pew Research Center study found that while social media itself did not increase daily stress in users and, notably, had a positive effect on many women, there was another factor to consider. When social media increases an individual's awareness of the distressing life events of others, it leads to a significant increase in daily stress. The study labels this "the cost of caring" (Hampton et al., 2020). This contagion of stress certainly has extended effects the scope of which we cannot currently understand.
Finally, and most importantly, entertainment through smartphone usage has been linked to a negative quality of life for quite some time. When researching the social impact of mobile phones, one would have no choice but to realize this fact. People have conducted a litany of studies on smartphone addiction and misuse. However, the one with the most valuable and definitive conclusion examined for this paper focuses on the importance of awareness. The negative personal impact of smartphone use is caused by the level of awareness or mindfulness with which an individual uses their smartphone. Rather than the number of hours used indicating healthy or unhealthy usage that reaped inconclusive and unproductive results in the past, separating and measuring usage by this new criteria yielded more definitive results. Unaware or absent-minded usage of smartphones can be linked to addictive behaviors, stress, fatigue, and a sense of disconnectedness from self and others (Sela et al., 2022). The consequences of disconnectedness on social interaction are vast, but in identifying a problem behind this condition, researchers also uncover solutions.
Impact on Face-To-Face Interaction
Mobile phones' ubiquitousness impacts intimate and casual, direct social interactions. Smartphones can act as a shield against unpredictable or awkward social interactions. While there is immediate personal benefit to interrupting uncomfortable silences and avoiding undesirable interactions, these inclinations have unintended consequences. They attach individuals to their smartphones in ways that limit or impede unplanned social exchanges.
Casual unplanned social interactions and the limitations smartphone usage creates on them show up in the available research in an intriguing way. In 2018, a phenomenon labeled "phone walking," people walking in public places with phones in hand, was studied as a barrier to casual social interaction (Schaposnik et al., 2018). It was found that a large percentage of people observed carried phones while walking in public. Most people carrying phones were alone, and people in pairs or groups were unlikely to keep their phones in their hands. This action signaled a lack of availability for interaction with unfamiliar passers-by. There are many ways smartphones work as a barrier to unplanned social interactions; this is only one example.
In intentional social interactions, smartphones serve as another form of barrier. A 2018 study entitled "Cell phone-induced ostracism threatens fundamental needs" provides valuable insight into the behavioral pattern of checking a smartphone during face-to-face interaction and resulted in some damning conclusions. The findings indicated that checking a cell phone in face-to-face conversation caused a decrease in conversation quality and a deep sense of isolation and ostracization in both the individual seeking connection and the individual checking the phone. This result was consistent for casual and serious conversation types, strangers, and close relationships. This behavior is also contagious, and research showed that consistently, people were likely to pull out their phones in response to the other individual's phone appearing (Hales et al., 2018). The consequences of consistently low-quality social interactions are far-reaching and worth a concerted effort to avoid.
The conclusion of the 2018 study included an incisive observation of the nature of widespread cell phone usage. "People use cell phones predominantly for interpersonal reasons. However, indiscriminate cell phone use may paradoxically close people off from the most immediate and available sources of connection." While smartphones can connect people in ways previously unthinkable and be used to form new and valuable relationships, when misused, they can be detrimental to social connection and, consequently, emotional health.
Conclusion
Smartphone usage can enable positive forms of community development and social interaction. It can be used to access a near-unlimited amount of information formerly unheard of that we can share and use to connect with others. It can bridge the gaps between people who otherwise may not interact with each other socially, like those separated by distance, and individuals who would otherwise find communication difficult, such as those who have Complex Communication Needs. In these ways and many others, smartphones can benefit social interaction.
Smartphones can also harm the establishment of genuine connections and the welfare of established ones. By enabling surface-level inattentive interaction that can synthetically replace high-quality, mindful connection, smartphones allow us to isolate ourselves. By acting as a barrier to a casual social connection between strangers, smartphones can prevent the formation of potential relationships. Moreover, by presenting a constant distraction and opportunity to evade silence and boredom, smartphones can supersede face-to-face interaction and cause damage to our social welfare.
The value of the available research is that in identifying the problem, solutions arise. Smartphones are unavoidable and have already been embedded in modern social life. However, pushing for a change in social norms can alleviate some negative impacts. Encouraging individuals to abandon their phones during social interaction, educating them on mindfulness and aware versus unaware forms of usage, and emphasizing the benefit of face-to-face interaction over an inattentive virtual connection are just a few of the solutions presented inherently within these issues.
Ultimately, the drawbacks of smartphone usage come down to a need for more mindfulness and engagement with the world around you. Suppose an individual can increase their level of awareness and limit unnecessary distractions. In that case, there is no reason smartphone usage could not amount to a net positive presence in an individual's life. Ultimately, as they are not going away soon, people should know how to live healthily among them rather than demonizing them entirely.
Image obtained from Freepik.com
