Smart phones, social media, and its effects on our lives

Is technology bringing us closer together, tearing us apart, or just sucking up our time in general? 

A recent poll shared to The Star’s Facebook page just scratched the surface of the complex issue of smartphones, tablets, and their roles in our lives, gathering responses from 23 people on the topic.

Respondents were evenly spread out between ages 25 and 65-plus, with no one 24 or younger responding. 

Four people claimed to look at their phone immediately after waking up, while the majority, 14, said they first looked at their phone from half an hour to an hour after waking. Five people responded that it was an hour or more before they first looked at it. 

Half of respondents said they use their phone as their alarm. 

One of the more interesting results of the poll is how much time people spend on their phones each day. The poll asked users to use the iPhone’s “Screen Time” feature, which provides a daily average, or to otherwise estimate the time. 

Results from the small group were consistent with national figures, with nine respondents reporting they spend 2-3 hours per day on their phone, and eight saying 3-4 hours. That makes for 75% of respondents spending between 2-4 hours a day on their phone. 

On the shorter side, two people said they spent less than an hour per day on their phone, two said 1-2 hours. On the longer side, two people said they were on their phones more than four hours a day. 

An article on pcmag.com titled “Tech Addiction By the Numbers: How Much Time We Spend Online,” shows a growing amount of time people are spending on their smartphones, combined with time spent on laptop or desktop computers. 

Tracking the years 2008 to 2017, the data shows an increase from less than an hour per day spent on mobile devices up until 2011, after which it increases to 1.6 hours in 2012, up to 3.3 hours per day in 2017. Combined with the 2.1 hours per day people reported on their desktop or laptop in 2017, that makes for a total of 5.4 hours between mobile devices and laptop/desktops. 

Televisions and other screens were not figured into the data. 

The majority of respondents to The Star’s poll, between 60% and 78%, said their most-used phone apps were Facebook and email (both at 78%) or texting and phone (65% and 60%, respectively). Games, podcasts, music, news and Instagram were other answers given, with no one claiming to use Twitter.

Asked whether they felt their smartphone or tablet distracts them from connecting with people or engaging in other activities in life that they may value more, 10 respondents said yes, while 13 said no. 

Asked how they felt social media has affected their lives, four people said mostly positively, three said mostly negatively, while 15 said they felt it affected them equally positively and negatively. One rogue warrior said he or she doesn’t use social media. 

When given the chance to offer additional thoughts on smartphones and social media, some respondents weighed in. Their responses include:

“I love using Facebook for those friends who I don’t live close to. I have watched my far away friends kids grow up in fb. But I do agree. Everyone is too busy looking at their phones to enjoy their surroundings or have a good old conversation with people next to you.” 

“Smart phones and the addiction that society has to them is taking away from our ability to socialize with others. People live through their screens. Go to any concert and you will see more people watching the event through their screens while recording it rather than experiencing the actual event. They care more about posting it to social media then actually enjoying the time and moment.”

“Smart devices are dumbing down the world and creating more anti-social people,” another person wrote.

“I think social media is the beginning of our demise, and smart phones enabled that.”

“They are great tools, can stay in touch with distant friends. The selfie feature of smart phones is a real distraction that can bite the person badly.”

Still other users suggested that people need the discipline to use the technology in a positive way. 

“Technology isn’t good or evil. It is how we use it that is good or evil. If it is a negative influence in your life, then you need to discipline yourself to change that or avoid the negative aspects of it.”

“I believe they may take hold of your life if you are not careful and you may miss out on events you used to enjoy before all of these devices. As far as children and teens go you need to make sure to limit their use because these devices are becoming baby sitters and children are becoming lazy and over weight.”

Asking parents to respond to the question of whether they set limits on that age at which their child can get a smartphone, several answers were in the age 13 or junior high range, with one respondent adding “because of sports.” Another respondent said 17, but yet another said, “when they pay for the device and the monthly bill.”

Asked whether they set limits on their children’s screen time, one respondent said one hour per day, another said two hours, another said no screen time between from 9 p.m. - 7 a.m., and another said they wanted equal outside and inside time for their kids. 

A study published by SAGE Journals said that results weren’t conclusive about a link they found between social media and depression and suicide in teenagers, particularly girls, but that an increase in both seems to correlate with the growth of social media in recent years. 

“In contrast, cyclical economic factors such as unemployment and the Dow Jones Index were not linked to depressive symptoms or suicide rates when matched by year,” the study states.

“Adolescents who spent more time on nonscreen activities (in-person social interaction, sports/exercise, homework, print media, and attending religious services) were less likely [to report depression].

Adults seem just as prone to tech addiction. 

The New York Post wrote that “Americans check their phones on average once every 12 minutes – burying their heads in their phones 80 times a day, according to new research.”

“A study by global tech protection and support company Asurion found that the average person struggles to go little more than 10 minutes without checking their phone. And of the 2,000 people surveyed, one in 10 check their phones on average once every four minutes.”

The iPhone’s Screen Time feature, found in the settings app, also counts the number of times you pick up your phone, which app you first look at, and how much time you spend on each app. 

A simple Google search on tech addiction — a search that is becoming more and more common, according to Google — brings up myriad pages from respected publications and independent bloggers alike. Tech addiction treatment is becoming a thing, with people going on retreats to get away from their phones. The effects on dating and relationships comes into question in both positive and negative lights in some of these articles. The wealth of information at our fingertips, typically seen as a good thing, is contrasted with the anxiety that may be caused by receiving alerts related to the news all day every day, as opposed to an hour at night or in the morning. 

With the first iPhone released in 2007, the technology and its effects on our lives, good and bad, are still playing out.