Topic: Smartphones are a Valuable and Indispensable Component of Modern Life

Argument approach: Evaluation Argument

Over the past three decades, there has been significant evolution in mobile phone
technology, specifically the smartphone. Diverse innovation in the smartphone has brought
immense changes across the globe, making it an indispensable gadget in everyday life. While
Rashid and Kenner argue in “Offline: Free your mind from smartphone and social media
stress” that smartphones and access to social media has had negative impacts, the myriad
benefits of smartphones to people’s lives suggest otherwise. Undoubtedly, the debate on
whether smartphones and social media are good or bad things has warranted attention from
many scholars worldwide. The advent of internet of things changed how people operate and
interact in society, and it is no secret that change differs across contexts. Smartphones have
improved connectivity infrastructure for populations in remote areas through different
platforms such as Web 2.0 applications. It would be right to compare smartphone usage to
drug usage: the benefits in both aspects are determined by the how, why, and what factors in
use. For instance, smartphones have had numerous benefits in education and healthcare
sectors whereby applications such as blogging platforms and monitoring of patients’ health,
respectively. An analysis of the usage of smartphone in everyday life reveals that
smartphones and accessibility to social media provide convenience in staying informed,
enable valuable connection with loved ones, and help promote healthier habits in people.
Mobile phone applications, which are key components of smartphones, are being used
to promote healthy behaviors across different age groups. Conditions such as diabetes,
cardiovascular health, and obesity are some of the vital health conditions that can be
effectively monitored through apps in smartphones. According to Majumder, Sumit and Deen
(2019), healthcare monitoring enables increased awareness in health education, nutrition, and
environmental wellbeing. In turn, this has led to rise in life expectancy since conditions can
be handled before they become critical or life threatening. Healthcare monitoring allows

people to properly manage their conditions and even addresses some key healthcare needs
such as easy-to-use solutions, non-invasiveness, and affordability. Furthermore, individuals’
health can also be advanced through connection of other smartphone-based healthcare
systems that promote direct communication with healthcare providers. In the modern era,
healthcare professionals are easily connected in real time through various apps. For instance,
an individual can easily schedule an appointment with a doctor from their phones, without
having to scout physically for treatment. Early diagnoses of critical illnesses that comprise a
huge economic burden is made possible by keeping in touch with healthcare professionals.
Moreover, various studies have demonstrated that smartphone-based healthcare systems
provide a convenient and effective alternative for long-term monitoring, which increases
reach (Kakria, Tripathi & Kitipawang, 2015; Matarazzo et. al, 2017). Therefore, smartphones
have revolutionized healthcare delivery in many regions across the globe, making them a key
aspect of daily living.
Smartphones are offering their users the capacity to connect with their friends, family
and colleagues easily. For instance, the main use of smartphones are for social purposes such
as phone calls, text messages in addition to gaining access to social media sites for instance
Facebook. The outcome of this extremely portable connected gadgets has huge potential
when it comes to increasing individuals’ sense of emotional connection with both their
friends and family. In the 1970s for instance, when one got a job in another country, they
would rely on sending letters to their families which would take a long time. However, with
the touch of smartphone, one can connect with their family members in real time even
through video calls in all the corners of the world. Interestingly, the cost of communication
has also reduced while being more efficient. The cost of video calling around the world for
instance when one has internet in their home or office does not increase internet monthly
costs for instance. Emails are received in real time which has even given rise to remote

working. Jung, (2013) carried out a study where they found out that people who received
more messages and social notifications on their phones were more likely to have a feeling of
more connection to others. Another study found out that those who constantly shared their
positive moments to the public, for instance through Facebook had more positive feelings at
the end of the day.
Smartphones give their users instant access to information in addition to entertainment
on the go wherever one might be. (What people say about smartphones, 2021) ,argue that
seventy five percent of cellphone users in America user their Smartphones to get directions or
even more information on a particular location such as best restaurants, banks and other
amenities. Entertainment on the go was difficult earlier and gadgets such as disc mans and
walk mans were a huge hit despite their limited capacity on what one could move around
with. With cloud technology and connectivity to Spotify, YouTube, Netflix and others media
streaming channels, one always has connections to entertainment on their pocket. In addition,
incase they are in remote areas with not internet connectivity, smartphones have local storage
whereby they can store movies and music of your choice. Users can also access games and
educational materials on their phones. All this boils down to convenience. Smartphones
offers users unrivalled convenience on their palms. Even ordering for a taxi, food, paying
utility bills among others can be achieved by tapping your smartphones. Small things that
could have taken a day or more are now easily handled through smartphones from all the
corners of the world.
Rashid and Kenner’s main argument in, “Offline: Free your mind from smartphone and
social media stress” however holds a contrary opinion. The authors believe that smartphones
are causing more harm as compared to good. the authors open up by arguing that, “you don’t
have to be a psychologist to see that smartphones and tablets are changing the way we act and
interact with each other, and not in a good way”. One of the way cited to by the authors as a

negative impact of smartphones is that before people started using them, they could store in
their memories up to fifty different phone numbers which is currently an impossibility among
many. In addition, the joy of finding your way in new cities through interacting with
strangers while asking for directions has been killed by smartphones GPS capabilities.
However, people are not able to focus on more serious problems such as global warming and
finding solutions for the cure of cancer as opposed to destroying once braincells trying to
remember a particular phone number that one was given which has the capacity to unlock
doors. Despite the authors arguing that smartphone kill social interactions when navigating
foreign geographical spaces, one can always confirm what their smartphone is feeding them
from other strangers which can provide interesting conversation starters and a chance to learn
about the town and destination one is headed too (Rashid, & Kenner 2019). The authors also
argue that smartphones are a source of stress and anxiety to their users. Among the reasons
attributed include the fear of missing out and phantom pocket syndromes. However, even
drugs meant to cure a particular illness when misused by a patient can be a source of harm.
What this means is that too much of something is poisonous. Effective use of smartphones
can even help cure depression and anxiety in some patients whereby they can utilize
treatment plans such as sound therapy and also other calming activities that the phone comes
with.
An analysis of the usage of smartphone in everyday life reveals that smartphones and
accessibility to social media provide convenience in staying informed, enable valuable
connection with loved ones, and help promote healthier habits in people. Mobile phone
applications, which are key components of smartphones, are being used to promote healthy
behaviors across different age groups. Conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular health, and
obesity are some of the vital health conditions that are easily monitored through smartphone-
based healthcare monitoring systems. In addition, smartphones offer their users the capacity

to connect with their friends, family, and colleagues easily, enabling maintenance of valuable
emotional and social connection. Since their invention, smartphones has given their users
instant access to information in addition to entertainment, enhancing convenience in
accomplishment of everyday tasks. While Rashid and Kenner’s main argument in, “Offline:
Free your mind from smartphone and social media stress” however presents a contrary
opinion, an evaluation of the diverse benefits of smartphones show that people have
improved their quality of life through smartphones.

References

Jung, Y. (2013). What a smartphone is to me: Understanding user values in using
smartphones. Information Systems Journal, 24(4), 299-321.
https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12031
Kakria, P., Tripathi, N. K., & Kitipawang, P. (2015). A real-time health monitoring system
for remote cardiac patients using smartphone and wearable sensors. International
journal of telemedicine and applications, 2015.
Majumder, S., & Deen, M. J. (2019). Smartphone sensors for health monitoring and
diagnosis. Sensors, 19(9), 2164.
Matarazzo, T., Vazifeh, M., Pakzad, S., Santi, P., & Ratti, C. (2017). Smartphone data
streams for bridge health monitoring. Procedia engineering, 199, 966-971.
Rashid, I., & Kenner, S. (2019). Offline: Free your mind from smartphone and social media
stress. Capstone.
What people say about smartphones. (2021). The Global Smartphone, 27-54.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1b0fvh1.10References