THE Smart Phone – a blessing or a curse?
I ask the question in the light of growing concern, across the world, about the use of mobile phones and, in particular the impact of social media. A number of governments, Including the new UK government, are considering banning or restricting the use of mobiles by children of school age. Some schools have already banned their use in school.
So, are you and your smart phone, really all that smart?
I could well have been the first person in Warrington to use a mobile phone. It was loaned to me by the BBC to enable me to cover an election count for them. They were carrying out an experiment to see if the use of a mobile would enable them to get election results quicker than by relying on payphones – which is what had been done previously.
The mobile was delivered to me by taxi. It was the size of a large document case and felt as if it was filled with house bricks. The phone – not the taxi!
I was really excited and when I arrived at the count immediately became the centre of attraction. People were much more interested in my “mobile” than the election results.
It worked well enough, although no better than the payphone. When the next election cam e around the BBC had decided to revert to the payphone.
Now, of course, smart phones will fit in your pocket and you don’t even notice them. Except that most people seem to carry them, either glued to their ear or in front of their noses.
I’m not going to get into any argument about whether they pose a health risk. I’m not qualified to have an opinion. But I do recall the days – not that many years ago – when there were demonstrations by banner-carrying crowds who lodged objections every time there was a planning application for a telecommunications mast near their homes or near a school.
Some people more qualified than I to have an opinion on the issue sounded dire warnings about possible health risks. Local councillors sometimes supported the objectors but were told they could not refuse planning permission on health grounds because there was no evidence of a health risk.
I can only observe that there was probably no evidence of a health risk when Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco to Britain in the 16th century. And what about thalidomide, introduced in Britain in 1958?
Today, many of those who campaigned against mobile phone masts are probably using them daily, if not hourly, or even more frequently. You see them walking in the street, riding bicycles, driving cars and even lorries. You see couples having a meal in a restaurant, both intent on their phones. Whatever happened to the art of conversation?
This is where I feel I am qualified to have an opinion. And so do you.
Smart phones have changed human behaviour – and not for the better. They stop people observing the wonderful world around them. They are, through text messaging, destroying the beautiful English language. They expose people to danger by distracting them when they are driving or walking in the street. They enable the spread of rumour or “fake news” through the so-called social media, which from what I have observed would be better described as “anti-social media.”
True, a mobile phone can be useful. In an emergency they could be a life saver. To send or receive an urgent message they are invaluable. That is what they should be used for. But for most people they seem to have become a way of life, or rather a distraction from real living.
In short, the smart phone is a superb piece of technology capable of enriching life. The problem is that the human race is not grown up enough to use it.
