The Use of Cell Phones Among Teenagers
The use of cell phones among teenagers has become a widespread venture with approximately 24% of the entire youthful population being constantly online due to the accessibility of smartphones. The phones have brought about convenience to the teenagers whereby 92% have to log in to various online sites for social, economic and academic purposes. On daily basis, close to 56% of the teenagers between 13 and 17 years using smartphones go online for several times with 12% recording a once a day login while 6% access online services on weekly basis(Ong Yoke Chan 32). The African American, as well as the Hispanic teenagers, is more frequent users of cell phones mainly to access internet services with close to 34% of African Americans and 32% of Hispanic teens being online constantly while the whites stand at 19% of the constant usage.
Causes
Most teenagers are usually logged on to Facebook which happens to be the most popular social media platform while half of the entire teenage population uses Snapchat and Instagram. In America, 71% of teenagers between 13 and 17 years use Twitter with four out of ten using Snapchat and Instagram(Fortayon 15). The main purpose of the internet use among the teenagers is to interact with people globally whereby aspects such as fashion, education, innovation and lifestyle among others are shared.
The Use of Cell Phones Among Teenagers
The use of cell phones among teenagers has become prevalent in the recent past due to several means of communication which facilitate sharing various materials in the shortest way possible. For instance, texting has turned out to be an important communication method among the teenagers which range from WhatsApp text messages to normal messages offered by network providers. Across the globe, approximately 90% of teenagers access to cell phones which they use in exchanging text messages whereby they typically receive or send at least 30 messages on daily basis(Ong Yoke Chan 28). Female teenagers have turned out to be more active in cell phone usage whereby they tend to be visually oriented, unlike the boys who get involved in PlayStation.
Effects
However, the use of cell phones among teenagers has brought about adverse effects which are mainly based on the family backgrounds. For instance, teenagers who come from affluent households happen to be more active in sites such as Snapchat since according to them, they believe it is the coolest site while those from less privileged background do not agree with the motion. Similarly, the wealthy teenagers prefer Twitter since it appears to be dominated by rich people while teenagers from other social classes prefer Facebook and Instagram(Ong Yoke Chan 51). As a result, the use of cell phones has facilitated the formation of social classes in various platforms which tend to discriminate individuals based on their parents’ earnings. The difference in the use of various platforms among the teens has created artifacts that portray diversity since the sites are responsible for the formation of teenage subgroups.
Moreover, teenagers across the globe are literally dying due to the excessive use of cell phones with children spending more than eight hours a day using the gadgets. Experts suggest that teenagers should only be allowed to access cell phones for two hours a day since the excessive use has been identified as an exposure to terrible mental health conditions(Fortayon 24). According to the surveys that have been recently conducted, the teenagers have become very anxious compared to the ancient times and as a result, kids are at a high risk of having depression which results into suicide.
The use of cell phones to the teenage generation has turned out to be an addictive venture with the scrolling and texting encounter being viewed as a way to express personal impressions. As a result, teens have become gamblers who spend time in their rooms thus ending up forgetting their daily roles. The initial social life among teenagers has been greatly affected by teenagers no longer spend time in other social activities(Fortayon 72).
Work Cited
Fortayon, Paul J. Relationships among Adolescent Nighttime Cell Phone Use, Sleep, and Truancy. Oxford, 2013.
Ong Yoke Chan, Rebecca. Mobile Communication and the Protection of Children. Leiden University Press, 2015.
