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Mobile phones do more harm than benefit to teenagers

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Penrose stairsPenrose stairs (PRO)
Why teens are easily addicted to their phones?

1. Puberty
The most important thing of this debate to recognize the characteristics of teenagers. Teenagers are in puberty, so they are more likely to be affected by their peers. Peer pressure is a major concern to them. Teens are afraid to be teased by their schoolmates and friends. Playing games on phones is a trend among teenagers, so teens who don't play games are likely to start playing games, especially after their friends persuade them. Nearly every teenager who live in developed countries have social media accounts. They post pics and videos on their social media, and they often talk about the posts on social media when they see each other face to face. If you don't have a social media account, you are unlikely to be friend with them, because you don't even understand what they are saying. Therefore, more and more teens are turning themselves into social media like Facebook and Instagram. 

2. Self control
The opposition side may argue that this only make teens use their mobile phones, but not causing addiction. However, after nearly all teens are introduced to social media, they are likely to be addicted to it. Teens have poor self control. They usually care about the immediate happiness they get from playing games and texting with friends, rather than the long term problems. They can't control themselves not to use their phone that much. The opposition side may argue that teens will be addicted to something else other than their phones, if smart phones are never invented. But phones are so different to other things. Teens constantly check their phones because they are afraid that they may miss someone's message. They want to be the first one to reply so that their friends would feel happy. This makes them cannot control themselves to check them phones when they are doing homework, studying, chatting with parents or even crossing the street. Yes, drugs, alcohol do more harm than the phones, but usually only a small portion of teens are addicted to those things. Those teens who are addicted to drugs are usually teens who lack family love and perform poorly in exams, but mobile phones addicts are much more common. They are found in teens with all kinds of background, even those who have good family support are addicted to their phones. 
 

What are the problems caused by mobile phone?

1. Affect academic results
When teens are addicted to their phones, they spend a lot of time on their phones, so they have less time to study. They play with their phones until midnight, which make them feel sleepy during lessons. Many teens use their phones and do revision at the same time, which means they can't concentrate at all. Their mind are likely to put the more relaxing games and "important" text message before the boring books in front of them. They will perform bad during exams, and lose confidence in studying. Then. they will put more time on their phones and not study at all. They are unable to get a good job and have a happy life afterwards.

2. Affect the development of social skills
Instant messaging and social media makes teens spend less time talking to each other face to face. When teens hang out with each other, everyone just look at their phones, rather than talking to each other. Therefore, they do not know the proper way of interacting with each other face to face. They choose to send message to each other rather than talking to each other because they think it is less embarrassing and more interesting to use emojis and slang words. After years, they will lose their confidence in talking to each other. This is a big problem because talking to people is still an important skill in the society. 

3. Affect health
Teens are more likely to choose to play games with their phones, rather than playing sports because it is more comfortable to play with their phones, and those games can provide as much excitement as sports. The health problem lead by mobile phones may not be visible now, because teens are still young. As they get older, they will suffer from all kinds of diseases and it will be too late for them to change their lifestyle and habit.


The opposition side may argue that without mobile phones, teens will be addicted to computers and that's the same. But that's not true. Computers are less addictive, because they don't have notification on whatever message you receive. You are not supposed to reply every message immediately because you can just tell your friend that you are not at home, so you can't read and reply the message. Phones are something that you take with you nearly every day. Also, many teens share their computer with their family members, so they cannot use computers at the time, but everyone has their own phone. 

Return To Top | Posted:
2018-03-24 14:15:42
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GuitarKirbyGuitarKirby
Tropie's comment is highly questionable. I think the purpose of the discussion is to point out the fact that teenagers are not always capable of making good decisions, and by having mobile devices be so accessible to them - and even targeting them for advertisements - it causes them to use them in a way that does more harm than good. Because they are often used for the express purpose of social media (something that even adults don't generally understand the full implications of), it hardly seems like a device that ISN'T causing harm.

All this being said, I actually agree that mobile phones do more to benefit young people than they do to harm them. I'm just pointing out a problem in your argument.
Posted 2018-04-03 16:29:04
Tropie SelliboTropie Sellibo
Okay, so I am going to put some salt in this argument. First of all, mobile phones are some of the most used gadgets because of their portability, and of course, the benefits and features they could offer. But today, I'm not going to stress out the benefits and features of these technologies. I'm going to emphasize the word 'used'. As we all know, mobile phones are not like people who can walk on their own, talk on their own, or any moves on their own. I'm pointing out here that it's not in the mobile phone that's causing trouble to teenagers, instead, the teenagers themselves should be responsible enough of their doings. That's all. Mobile phones are just some of the creations of the society that depends on the use of their manipulators. Thank you. Bye.
Posted 2018-03-30 17:04:53
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