Analysis of the Impact of Cell Phones

When it comes to the topic of cell phones, most of us will readily agree that most children spend too much time on their smartphone. Suzanne Rosenberg the author of Cell Phones and Children: Follow the Precautionary Road, is convinced that the over usage of smartphones has contributed to a health concern in children because parents are allowing their children to have smartphones at a young age. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of children having smartphones. Whereas in the article Is My Kid Ready for a Smartphone? Dr. Pat Bass maintains that children only know a digital world and parents have an influence on children’s use in smartphones. While in the article Memory Constraints on Infant Learning From Picture Books, Television, and Touchscreens, Rachel Barr maintains that children should not spend an excessive amount of time on smartphones because it can be hard to remember information. My own view is that by exposing children to smartphones at a young age leads to a deficiency in childhood memories.

The question of children having smartphones is a rising concern in today’s society. Due to easy access to smartphones and parents exposing children to smartphones at a young age is a leading factor of many problems in children such as mental, physical, and emotional health. According to Rosenberg, family packages deals at phone companies influence parents to get phones for their children, but what they do not know is how it affects children’s mental health (Rosenberg,2013). In the article Cell Phones and Children: Follow the Precautionary Road, Rosenberg maintains that “electromagnetic radiation from cell phones can permanently alter brain function or result in harm”(Rosenberg,2013), which is due to children not having fully developed brains. This can correlate to a deficiency in children’s memory because the more time children spend on their smartphone, the more it damages their brain, which can cause them to not to remember events that can occur in their life.

In the article Is My Kid Ready for a Smartphone? Dr. Bass emphasizes that “technology is a part of children’s world from their earliest memories”(Bass,2014). She believes this because children are living in a digital world, and they started to use electronic devices such as leap pads, smartphones and television at the age of one (Bass). Though I concede that children can have some memories from electronics such as photos stored on their smartphone, I still insist that memories are created from participating in activities and not sitting behind a screen. I also insist that children are more likely to remember an event when they are actively participating in it. For instance, a key difference in children today compared to generations before the advancement in technology is that most children have easy access to smartphones. Before the development of smartphones, kids would go outside, play games, play with toys, color, and use their imagination to create games of their own. However, in today’s society most children are staying inside on their electronics. Children are less likely to go outside and be active, which is contributing to a concern in children’s physical health. This is contributing to a concern in physical health because children are not getting the sufficient amount of exercise they need due to spending too much time on their smartphones. The lack of children not participating in activities is leading to a deficiency in childhood memories because children are only playing on their smartphones, it is hard to create memories when one is on their phone. When children play on their smartphones, they cannot spend time with family or friends. Most of the memories we have today come from spending time with others. It is hard for children to interact with family and friends when they are constantly on a smartphone or another electronic device. Children may remember what they did on a smartphone a couple days after they use it, but ultimately they will not remember what they did specifically on their smartphone in the long run.

Similar to Rosenberg, Barr has an idea about how children’s brains are not fully developed and how screen time can affect the process of developing brains. In Barr’s view, “infants imitate fewer actions and recognize fewer words following demonstrations depicted in picture books and on televisions and touchscreens than they do following face?to?face interactions” (Barr,2013). I agree with what Barr is saying because it is hard for children to retain information when looking at a screen. In fact, most children remember information by physically doing the movements or when they are verbally talking with someone. For instance, children can remember how to get on YouTube or play smartphone games, but when children try to learn something educational on smartphones it is harder for them to remember information.

As mentioned earlier, exposing children to smartphones at a young age is a leading factor of many problems in children such as emotional health. A smartphone for a child can be compared to a security blanket for a baby because just like a security blanket, children are attached to their phone. When children constantly have their smartphone on them they feel calm, which makes them vulnerable to do something they should not do. According to Bass, “parents do not have an innate sense regarding the risks of smartphones” (Bass,2014). This can be a concern for children’s health because parents do not know what children are doing on their phone or who they are talking too. Children tend to talk to strangers on their phone, which can affect their emotional health because they can not meet friends outside of their smartphone. This can be hard for children to interact with other children in real world situations, which can affect children’s emotional health because they can feel left out. This can also lead to a deficiency in good memories because children cannot make sentimental memories with their friends. However, when children turn to strangers it can create a deficiency in good memories because if they get too close to stranger it could potentially lead to kidnapping or cat fishing. This can affect children’s emotional health because it can be a traumatic experience, cause Post Traumatic Syndrome Disease, make them think everyone is out to get them, and cause them to have a bad memory they cannot forget.

Overall, by exposing children to smartphones at a young age leads to a deficiency in childhood memories. Both Rosenberg and Barr emphasizes that children’s brains are just at the beginning stages of development, which is hard for children to remember and retain information due to an immoderate amount of time on a smartphone. While Bass emphasizes that children only know a world with smartphones, so they are prone to use smartphones. My view is that smartphones tend to have a negative impact on children because when children are on their smartphones they cannot participate in activities, which are essential for creating memories. When parents decide when the right time to get their child a smartphone, they need to take in consideration the harmful effects it can cause their child, such as their mental, physical and emotional health. Parents should wait until their children are older to get a smartphone because of the concern in health, when they are older there brains will be more developed, and it will also help children not a have a deficiency in memories.

Works Cited

Bass, Pat F. I. “'is My Kid Ready for a Smartphone?': Pediatricians have the Opportunity and

the Responsibility to Help Parents Teach their Children how to Safely Navigate the Digital World of Smart Devices.' Contemporary Pediatrics, vol. 31, no. 12, 2014.

Barr, Rachel. 'Memory Constraints on Infant Learning from Picture Books, Television, and

Touchscreens.' Child Development Perspectives, vol. 7, no. 4, 2013, pp. 205-210.

Rosenberg, Suzanne. 'Cell Phones and Children: Follow the Precautionary Road.' Pediatric

Nursing, vol. 39, no. 2, 2013, pp. 65.  

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