[JSR] Do Smartphones Sever Relationships?

With constant developments of technology, people fall into their own little world within their phones. Even at social gatherings, there often is a person who is always on their phone without socializing with others. Especially for introverts, when they have a difficult time interacting with people, they tend to go on their phones. Therefore, technologies may cause people to feel alone or isolated even when he/she is with a crowd.

When in a group, if he/she cannot participate in the conversation, he/she commonly unlocks the phone and locks it again even though that person doesn’t have anything to do on his/her phone. This action now becomes a habit for anyone who feels apart from the rest of the group. Jasmin Yoon, a student at West Ranch High School commented, “I definitely do see people in our school constantly going on their phones even when they are with their friends. That clearly shows that technology has severed relationships because if we didn’t have our phones, people would at least stand there and try to participate in a conversation.” Just as Yoon stated, people should be attentive to others rather than smartphones.

There are now cafes without wifi to encourage customers to talk to each other. According to the New York Times, Hot Black Coffee located in Toronto disabled wifi in their coffee shop to inspire their customers to have a conversation in person and build relationships. This was conducted to create the social vibe where people can freely talk with others. Oftentimes in other cafes, there are people with only smartphones and laptops. It is rare to hear conversations in the coffee shops.

Taylor Lee, who considers herself an introvert, said, “Whenever I am at a social gathering or at parties, if I don’t have anyone to talk to, I just go on my phone. I definitely do feel isolated when I am on my phone and everybody else is having fun.” Problems like this can occur when we are too obsessed with smartphones or technologies. This can eventually make a person become anti-social. This can stop a person from building relationships with people and their self esteem will decrease.

In the end, however, people cannot go a single day without their smartphone. People should be able to manage the amount of time they spend on their smartphone. People should have in their mind that technology was invented to make people’s lives easier rather than to pull relationships apart.