Texting and Driving is One of the Utmost Dangerous Thing

Cell phone use has become extremely popular in the last few decades. In my opinion, it has become an issue in the society we live in. According to the studies from Shollenberger Januzzi & Wolfe, LLP, “It is estimated that 3,000,000,000 text messages are sent out each and every day." Although texting is one of the many motives we have for a cell phone, it is not the only reason. We also use it to check social media, explore the web for valuable information, shopping and a million other things. The use of cell phones has progressed tremendously and has become a problem because of nomophobia; the fear of being without your phone or for some reason not being able to use it, i.e. our phone dying and not having a charger. Humans starting as young as toddler ages all the way up until they are no longer physically able to use one. Statistics shows that the average person taps, clicks, look at their phone 2,617 times a day and spends an average time of 4 hours and thirty-three minutes on their smartphones and tablets daily. (bankmycell) There are several ways that the use of cell phones is causing an issue within our society. To name a few texting and driving, interfering with work, distraction in school, social interactions and your well-being.

Texting and driving is one of the utmost dangerous things that someone can do while behind the wheel of a car. Drivers who are texting while behind the wheel have a 23% higher chance of causing a crash. (Jacob Master) According to CDC (center of disease and control prevention), “Texting while driving is especially dangerous because it combines all three types of distraction, vision, manual and cognitive. Our vision is impaired because we are taking our eyes off the road to take a glance at our phone. The physical part of our body is taking our hands off the wheel as your mind starts to wonder elsewhere therefore, the attention that has all the focus is not being put onto the road. Research shows that when we take your eyes off the road, we can go the length of a whole football field in five seconds if our average speed is 55 miles per hour. There are many reasons that texting and driving is something that should not be done. The number one reason is that someone else’s choices are being taken away without their consent. If the choice is made to text and drive and then end up causing an accident, the other person driving has no say in what decisions are made on our behalf. However, the decision we made to text and drive could affect their lives in more ways than one including the chance of losing it. Having a passenger within the care while the drive is texting and driving it is just as selfish and just as dangerous. The accident then does not have to be with another car to harm your passenger, it could be swerving off the road and hitting a tree. This could also happen if the driver were texting and driving and ran upon a sidewalk where a pedestrian is walking. Now their life has been destroyed without them even being in the car.

Cell phone usage is also causing harm in the workforce. For example, if working on a forklift taking a look at the device instead of the direction that it is heading, it will have the same effect as texting and driving. It is also a distraction if meeting with a customer, and someone picks up their phone instead of paying attention to him or her. That could also lose customer business. Another reason usage of cell phone in the workforce is harming companies is because of the privacy policies. One example would be if the company had a no phone policy in order to keep their information confidential and somebody shares something about the company on Facebook. It may not even accrue to us that we are sharing confidential information but when it happens, the person that published that information will be the one at fault for it. For some companies such as Duke Energy, cell phones with a camera were not allowed at one point. If a camera phone was brought into the workforce it violated their policy which in turn could cost them to lose their job. Studies show that having our phones at work can also cause more stress. The reason that it can cause more stress at work is because we are able to be more connected to our outside personal life. When having a cell phone close by, chances are more likely to check emails, answer text messages, look through social media, etc. When staying connected with the outside world while at work, anything could come across the screen. For example, we might find out exciting news that we want to share with everyone but then again, something might show up that angers us. It brings emotion your work day that otherwise would not have been there. That will affect our mood, and our work ethic for the day at work bringing on more stress than we originally had. Consequently, we will not be able to do our job properly.

When using a cell phone during the weeks that school is in, it takes the focus away from what the students are supposed to be learning. The child is more than likely staying up late at night playing games on their phone, scrolling through social media, talking or texting which will trigger them to be tired the next day possibly falling asleep in class. This can cause their grades to drop. It also brings discouragement to the teacher knowing that the children are not doing well in the class. When using their cellphones in the classroom, it also brings discouragement to the teacher when they look out to their students to see that their eyes are glued to their cell phones instead of engaging in the lesson that was prepare for them. Having a cell phone in the classroom is distracting but can also create larger issues such as cyber bullying. “There is never a stupid question”, is a quote that we often hear inside the classroom. Nevertheless, when a question is asked by a student and other child finds it is “stupid” things start to be said bringing that child down. Another good example of cyber bullying, is when some children do not have the luxury to have as nice things as others or the latest technology device they tend to use that against them. This becomes a problem because then the child is having things said or posted about them making them feel less important or unimportant as the one saying the things all because they are unable to have material things. This can lead to depression on the child that is getting bullied. According to Bankymycell, 71% of teenagers are more likely to commit suicide when they spent five plus hours a day on their cell phone versa a teenager that only spend one or two hours a day on their phones.

According to Statica, there is 2271 million people are on Facebook, followed by 1900 million on YouTube. Apps such as Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram are a big part of society not only for teenagers and young adults but adults as well. Statica stated that as of now in 2019 there are 2.77 billion people on social media and expected to grow to 3.02 in just two years. Social media has a bigger impact on the lives of others than you expected. In fact, there is increasing evidence that the Internet and social media can influence suicide-related behavior. (David D. Luxton, PhD, Jennifer D. June, BA, and Jonathan M. Fairall) The reason for this is that when we only interact with the people on social media, our people interaction skills decrease. When we see our friends hanging out and participating in other activities where we were not invited we feel like we no longer belong or we feel the pressure like we need to keep up. This can also send an unrealistic picture of what we are doing or where we are located to whomever is looking at it. For example, if our friends are posting about them going out and doing something we may feel the need to post something that maybe we did last week in order for them to think that we are out doing that activity right now. To some not being able to have or use our cellphone creates a new sense anxiety, we “have” to have your phone, it’s a “must”. That sense of “must have” is taking a toll on our mental health. The more we use your cell phone the more health issues we come in contact with. For instance, how many people do we let hold our phones, so they can see something or put it on the table or ground so we can pick something else up? We are collecting germs from each of those then putting it back up to our face to talk on the phone or placing our hands on it then touch our face.

Another health issue that might be a little silly, yet true is people are having problems with their thumbs. When using a cell phone the position most people hold their phone in is four fingers behind the phone and your thumb in front for the guide. This can increase the risk of chronic pain. Another reason that using our cell phone for too long is because when we hold use it for "Long periods of cell phone use cause you to arch your neck and hold your body in a strange posture. This can lead to back pain," says Healthcentral.com. Alongside of chronic pain and back pain, staring at our device for hours throughout the day can impair our vision. The reason our vision become impaired is the screen on your cell phone is typically much smaller than a tv or computer. Therefore, we are forced to squint our eyes to see what is on the screen.

” Scientists have reported adverse health effects of using mobile phones including changes in brain activity, reaction times, and sleep patterns.” (Naeem) When looking at research, I found that 52% of people that are on their phone for five or more hours a day are less likely to get seven or more hours of sleep and tend to check their phone and be on it an hour before bed time as well in the first five minutes of them waking up. This not only is affecting your health but causing you to lose concentration throughout the day due to lack of sleep.

Not all cell phone usage is not all bad. We are able to keep up with one another, find information quickly, have it in case of an emergency, there are a lot of good things about them. However, there are a lot of factors that play into why we should not overuse our cell phone. We often times become too distracted by our phones that we forget what we are supposed to be focused on. We start to feel a sense of lost ness without this device that even when we are behind the wheel of the car and know that what choices we make could affect lives of others, we are too selfish to think, and we automatically pick up the phone. When doing so, we are putting our lives as well as others at risk. We use our phones when we know that we are not allowed like at work and in school which could not only get us in trouble but distract us from what the important things we have been ordered to do. Cell phones also can cause harm to us and the surrounding people. It can harm others when used in an irresponsible way such as social media bullying. It can harm us mentally and even physically. We as a society, you as a person, can fix this issue. We need to learn to be okay without our phones attached to our hips. It will help reduce stress and help us live a better life.

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