Smartphones – Society’s Newest Necessity

Today, the world acts and revolves around several different types of events and standards that occur upon society. From politics to aesthetics, people all over the world live to be themselves and change based off everything around them. Some may do things for the better of their livelihoods and others for satisfaction-  here in Aurora, it’s a little bit of both.

The community itself is one like no other. Commonly known as possibly the most diverse out of all others in Colorado, the social environment here is truly changing every single day. It’s the type of trends and movements that influence how people are going to interact with others.  Everyday, there is always something new to be discussed and it’s not the same generic news that you would hear or see on TV. We live in a world where the pace keeps getting faster and with that, we are bombarded by thousands of different types of information than we can’t honestly handle.

According to Inc.com, “The average person spends over four hours a day on their device.” No matter how one may take that, it isn’t good news. Whether those four hours a day apply to you or not, it shows that humans in general are constantly being fed information throughout the day. So what’s the good in this? For starters, it keeps connections between people no matter where they may be in the world – we all know that. If an international event was to occur, we would know in seconds.  It’s to the point where sooner than later, we may be able to “tell the future” and what is to come of it. In all seriousness though, are we as a society, okay with using our phones for over four hours a day? Is that our routine for our lives now?

Here at Rangeview, you can see students on their phones all the time. The unfortunate truth is that students are always on their phones even during class and teachers will never catch them. Is it a necessity for us? Has it gotten this addictive? Senior Reynaldo Hernandez said he’s “not really sure.”

Hernandez expressed, “I didn’t realize how my social life inside my phone effects me overall, I’m still the same person either way. I prefer to be alert of everything going on in the world than to be left in the unknown.” To some, it’s assurance that is priority but for others, it might be something else.

So how do teachers at Rangeview feel about this rising issue? Ms. Wetzel, a math teacher, said, “I can’t get over how much I can learn from my phone (as many of us can relate to). One thing I worry about though is that we have a generation of kids who don’t know how to communicate face to face with someone nor know how to speak to someone while looking at them in the face because of their phones.”

Overall, this is a social problem that might not have any solutions. People will continue to use their devices for literally anything and everything. Although it may not be a good thing, assurance for the things happening around us is sometimes better than being surprised by the worst. But for how long are humans going to be able to continue this type of lifestyle? This is a question for the future, so for now time to focus on getting Snapchat views up.