Analysis Of Nicholas Carr´s How Smartphones Hijack Our Lives

Smartphones have harmfully changed how teaangers behave in the standard academic classroom, making them unable to concentrate. The article “How Smartphones Hijack our minds” by Nicholas Carr provides several studies to show that the division of attention decrease when the phone is near to a person.

Today, smartphones are everywhere. Just about everybody uses them from the time they get up, to the time they go to bed. With this personal tool, a lot of people have seen positive effects from using the device. However, some believe that people are going to far with a smartphone and that now it’s becoming more than a personal companion. This is what Nicholas Carr believes in “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds.” In the essay Carr argues that smartphones are having a negative effect on people’s minds. He strengthens his argument by use of fact, word choice, and emotional appeal.

Dr. Ward, claims the phone “acts as a 'supernormal stimulus’, one that can ‘hijack’ attention.” “Supernormal” describes the phone to be a stimulus that is extremely above the average stimuli. “Hijack” strongly describes how the phone is “controlling us.” For one of the tests done on college students, he finds the results “striking.” By using “striking”, he expresses his shocked reaction. He comments to another test with: “the evidence that out phone can get inside our head so forcefully is unsettling.” He uses “forcefully” to show a strong action for phones having access to our minds. By using strong diction, Nicholas Carr is able to solidify his claim of phones hijacking our

Also stated in the essay to strengthen his argument is “ If you’re like the typical owner, you’ll be pulling your phone out and using it some 80 times a day, according to data Apple collects” to enlighten that even Apple agrees smartphones can be addictive. Another statistic stated by Carr to strengthen his position on how smartphones affect our minds is as stated “A second experiment conducted by the researchers produced similar results, while also revealing that the more heavily students relied on their phones in their everyday lives, the greater the cognitive penalty they suffered.” Carr also constructs evidence by incorporating

Even though smart phones are supposed to make working easier, studies have shown that they actually hurt our performance. In 2015, a Journal of Experimental Psychology study had 166 people to test. The experiment was to have the participants work on a challenging task while their phones start beeping and buzzing. The results showed that the worker became messier and had their attention elsewhere, whether or not they checked their phone. Dr. Adrian Ward is a psychologist and marketing professor at the University of Texas at Austin, he has been working with the effects of smart phones on our thoughts and decision making. Dr. Ward believes that we have grown so attached to our phones that they reduce our intelligence with their presence. To test this theory, Dr. Ward and three colleagues began a clever experiment to test his idea. They decided to enlist 520 undergraduate students at UCSD and make them perform two standard tests of intellectual acuity. The first test evaluated “available cognitive capacity”, it’s a test to measure how fully a person’s mind can focus on a single task. The second test gauged “fluid intelligence”, a person’s ability to understand and answer an unfamiliar problem. The only difference was the location of the student’s smart phone. Some students had their phone on the desk, while others had it in their bag or pocket. Others were even asked to leave their phone in a different room. The results of this test showed that “As the phone’s proximity increased, brainpower decreased” (pg.3).

In the world today, cell phones are being used more than ever before. Everywhere you go, cell phones are present, and its users range from almost all ages. There is no avoiding the fact that cell phones are a prominent way of communication. They have become so influential in peoples’ everyday lives that many can not imagine life without a cell phone. Cell phones are not necessarily a bad tool, when used in moderation. Cell phones are changing the way people communicate and the way they live their everyday lives.

Murphy’s essay tries to convince the reader that cell phones are limiting and distracting. He compared

As much as I regret to admit it, I’m attached to my phone. I’m constantly reaching into my pocket to check the time, make sure I haven’t gotten a new update, or to send a message. I do this even when I’m not talking to anyone! It’s become an addiction, having to make sure I’m not missing anything, and I'm not the only one who has this problem. Seventy-five percent of the world population has a cell phone, and that number will only increase. With the creation of new technology portions of life have become easier. Technology has changed the way we go through life. It’s made talking to people easier, as well as keeping up with the lives of others. However, the effects have affected the aspects of our lives that don’t include technology.

Can you imagine life without your cell phone? Does the thought give you anxiety? These days, technology plays a huge role in our everyday lives. You can do just about anything on the web and a smart phone provides instant access. In her article “Growing up Tethered,” author and founder of MIT Initiative on Technology and the Self Sherry Turkle discusses the attachments people have with their cell phones, the web, social media, and technology all together. Turkle speaks with numerous high school students about the relationship they have with their phone and the issues that arise from being tethered to it. We learn that communicating through mobile devices and the web takes the personal emotion out of the conversation, and real life interactions

With 87 percent of American adults owning a cell phone (Jerpi, 2013), it becomes obvious that cell phones have become a staple device in today’s society. Although cell phones offer convenience, they arguably come with negative affects. Cell Phones have become one of the fastest emerging technologies (Campbell, 2006). With 87 percent of American adults and teenagers owning a cell phone (Jerpi, 2013), it becomes obvious that cell phones have become a staple device in today’s society. Since the release of the first cell phone, they have immensely evolved and some would say, have become an essential to everyday life. Although cell phones offer convenience, they arguably come with negative and impactful effects on our social

The cell phone has become a centerpiece of everyday life as cell phones are evolving and have been increasing their functionalities. Today, we use them today for many others reasons than what cell phones were originally designed to do. People are using them so often that they are becoming dependent on their phones that they have even become addicted to them. Those who are addicted to their cell phones struggle to stay away from them for a certain period of time and become so indulged in all of the unique things they can provide. With cell phone addiction comes many problems or issues that can occur in an individual’s life. Cell phone addiction has lead to differences in people mentally, physically, and behaviorally.

One problem with cell phones in today’s society is that they have become major distractions. Cell phones are distracting employees in the workplace and are leaving them with their jobs halfway done. Everywhere in the business industries, the employees are hard at work re-tweeting and catching up on the latest newsfeed rather than managing their time more wisely. Not only are cell phones a distraction in the workplace, they are also a distraction and disruptive in school districts, causing students’ attention to be elsewhere. Many students would rather text in the middle of class instead of pay attention to what the teacher is reviewing. In this case, students do not gain the amount of education provided for them. In addition to cell phones being distracting, people often like to multi-task by walking or driving while texting. These things cause them to be unaware of their surroundings. Texting while driving has become a major issue because texting and driving can lead to car crashes which are often fatal. On the other hand, texting and walking isn’t too bad, but can cause a little bit of embarrassment. There are stories of people walking into walls and bumping into people or tripping over a table because their nose seems to be stuck in their phone. To some, being on their cell phone is more important than grades, clients, and others around them.

Did you know that the cancer government, the federal communications commission’s says that hundreds of millions of Americans uses cell phones, and cell phones can cause you to have brain tumors? Did you also know that both adults and children spend most of their time on phone? When using your phone, it might give you a neck problem because in respect to cancer, concern focuses on whether cell phones might increase the risk of brain tumors in the head and neck area. But let me tell you something, as many of us use our phones daily, do we ever stop and think it might affect our body? No because we are so into social media and playing games that we don’t have time to think that it’s going to affect us. People say that phones are safe and other say they aren’t. I say that they can be safe at some time it can also depend what you do, and how long you use it for. Therefore, many of us get distracted easily and it’s pretty hard to get back on track. In 1973, the first portable cell phone was discovered, due to the cause that cell phones may not be safe at some time cell phones are also very important because in case of an emergency you will have a device with you.

Have you ever wondered what would the world resemble in the event that we didn 't have any cell phones? Why is it that we get out of our comfort zone when we do not have access to our phones? Nowadays, cell phones have such a noteworthy effect on our day to day lives, and we owe it to the advancement of technology. In this research paper, we will take a closer look at this phenomenon by examining the evolution of cell phone devices, and it’s effects on society.

If I were to ask each of you if you were able to go an entire day without your mobile device, very few can say they`d be able to do so. In fact, in a recent TIME Magazine Mobility Poll, 84% out of 5000 people surveyed in 8 different countires, admitted that they couldn’t go a single day without their phones and a third of respondents admitted that being without their mobile device for even short periods of time leaves them feeling anxious. It is clear that whenever we`re waiting for those last five minutes before the bell rings to every class, our automatic impulse is to reach for our phone. Do you really need to check anything that important? The sad truth is that we have become far too dependent on our phones. The fear that we might miss the latest gossip, or the most recent updates on all of our social webesites seems more like an addiction than anything else. We`ve clouded our vision as to what is really important, and that is-quality human interaction.