Cell Phones as a Reason of Communication Skills Fading

Here in America our society is very much technology centered, we have cell phones, computers and iPads at our side most all day long. Adolescents are constantly on their cell phones throughout the day, sending info to one another. They are even using their computers and iPads to exchange text, information or just to communicate in general. Teens are slowly losing physical communication skill in America today. 

The way American communicate today, has changed in many ways compared to 30 years ago. In that day and time, it was very rare for anyone to not communicate face to face or in person. They did not have many ways to communicate then, most common ways of talking to people not being face to face was a landline phone or a handwritten letter. Not many people used these methods that meant most corresponding was done in person. 

Teenagers are constantly on their phones as any type of entertainment or communication. When teens get bored and they are looking for things to do, they may suggest something like watching a movie, playing X-box games or even just taking pictures for their social media accounts. Most every teen now days carries a phone, in fact it almost seems in possible to find a teen who does not have a phone. Having the ability to access all of their social media accounts or text messages from their phone seems to be causing teens to be spending many hours on their phones. A cell phone has many channels of communication including emails, text messages, phone call, facetime, all of their Instagram and Facebook or any social media accounts. Teens have an abundant of ways to communicate from their phones they do not even need to leave their bedrooms or house. American teenagers have some many was to correspond with other people at a touch of a button. 

Even though teens see people constantly whether it be at school, a sports games, or in the mall, they may have not actually talked to anyone. It is so easy for teens to get busy with daily task or activities they are doing that they do not actually sit to talk with anyone. It almost seems as if not talking is our normalcy in the society teen live in today. It is so easy for teens to spend hours upon hours texting or looking at someone post, that when they get done they realize they have spent a lot of their day sitting by themselves on their phones, not communicating.

The Kaiser Family Foundation conducted an experiment to see the statistics in which how much the use of cell phones and technology has increased in a matter of years. At the end of the experiment the medial outcome was eight and a half to slightly under eight hours of screen time daily. Male teenagers are spending slightly over nine hours on their phoned just before they go to bed on weekdays. Then they are spending about eleven hours just before bed on weekends. Females are Using their phones before they go to bed on weekday for about eight hours. For weekends they are spending about eleven hours on their phones before bed time. Spending so much time on their phones before bed can be causing them to be tired. When teens are tired they will either watch a movie, take a nap or something that is restful. Now that they are spending many hours on their phones and then taking time out to rest, that is even more time that they are not communicating in person. 

There is so much more to life than looking at a phone screen. Teenagers can get caught up in taking pictures, posting on their social media accounts, looking at other social media accounts, or to just by texting someone in general. Which causes them to not go out and interact with one another, therefore limiting their social skills.

There are many ways that teenagers can improve their social skills and not spend as many hours as they normally do on their cell phones. Setting a times for how long they can spend on their cell phones is one way that could possible help limit the time they spend on their phones daily. They can even divide up the time given to how long they can spend on each thing. An example could be, 20 minutes posting on social media and 30 minutes watching YouTube videos. There are also apps that they can get to help limit their time on phones. Even just deciding to have some friend over for a movie night could help them interact with people. They could even go to other people's houses to hangout or talk with their friends.

Adolescents can spend up to nine hours on their phones daily. As a result, they are normally spending some of those nine hours alone. If teens are alone for many hours every day it can be causing them to not go out and interact with people. Teens are constantly choosing to have their communication on their cell phones and not having physical communication with anyone. Sadly, teenagers are losing their desire as well as ability to communicate adequately.  Helping teens see how long they are spending by themselves can be very helpful to them, It can also push them to go out and be more social.

• https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/facts-and-stats/day-in-the-life/index.html
• https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-app-that-will-help-you-put-down-your-phone-and-enjoy-your-life
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/11/03/teens-spend-nearly-nine-hours-every-day-consuming-media/?utm_term=.5e34876675f1
• https://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/8010.pdf

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