Good Reasons to Put Your Phone Down

Not so long ago, it was relatively rare for anyone to own a mobile phone. Everyone remembers those images of eighties' yuppies with giant brick-like contraptions in their hand. However, mobiles really caught on in the nineties as the size of handsets shrunk and their cost came down. During this time, most people looked at mobile phones as being useful in an emergency. If you had a breakdown on the motorway or some kind of accident, you could easily get in contact with someone. It didn't take long to realise the mobile could be used for other purposes, such as texting, though, so that you could now stay in contact with someone without the hassle of actually having to speak. The functionality of phones has continued to improve over the years, and they can do so much more.

Indeed, today's smartphones enable you to listen to music, chat in 'real time,' take pictures and video footage, play games and download an assortment of different programmes and applications. Thus, it isn't unusual to see people walking around in a zombified state, with their mobiles in their hand, texting or playing games. In some ways, this technological leap has been beneficial. After all, it is much easier to interact with other people and to stay in touch. It is easier to order goods and services on the move and to enjoy the entertainment that's on offer, such as music, films and games. Sometimes, it's good to escape during your lunchbreak or on your daily commute by messing around on your phone.

However, it could be said that even though smartphones and more basic kinds of phone enable individuals to stay in touch, people make less effort with people in real life as a result. It's easy to send a text to someone, but what about real-life interaction? At the end of the day, online interaction isn't quite as satisying as the real thing and if you come to rely too heavily on texting as your main form of communication, it may be tougher to adapt to real-life social situations, especially if you're shy to begin with. Owning a phone that does everything means you don't have to look up and if you're shy it may be easier to keep hiding behind your online persona.

You might actually miss out something, because you're so busy looking at your phone that you don't bother to pay attention to how you're feeling. Often, at live gigs, people end up spending their whole time fliming the event, instead of taking the time to appreciate the atmosphere and, ultimately, the images you see on screen are nothing compared to actually being there. It can also be dangerous, because there are people who use their phones when they're walking along or driving and if you're playing with your phone instead of concentrating on what you should be doing, you could walk into other people or walk into the road, and if you're in a car you could end up knocking someone over or off their bike.

Clearly, there are distinct advantages of having a phone that is multi-functional, but there is a real world out there, too. Phones can enhance your life, but if your whole life revolves around them, there is a problem. Whilst in the past, mobiles were for emergency purposes only, so you could contact someone if you were in desperate need; these days it is almost impossible to escape from other people and you're considered odd if you don't have a phone that does everything and choose not to text people every few hours. It isn't always a bad thing to swim against the tide, though!