Look around you next time you are on a bus or a c-train. Almost every single person is using their cell phone, and not just for a minute but sometimes for the whole ride! What is wrong with having a face to face conversation with someone? I know I may sound like a stickler, but when was the last time you had a face to face conversation with your friends outside of school?
I hardly ever use my cell phone to text friends, I mostly just update my morning travels to school with my parents. So what is so appealing about spending all your time in front of a screen? Here are a few answers to this question.
- Everyone else is doing it! Teens always love to stay on trend and do what everyone else is doing.
- It’s “easier” than talking in person. You can stay in your home and talk to someone for less money than a phone call and it’s faster.
- Less worrying about spelling and grammar! You can type what you want, there is an abbreviation for just about everything, and auto correct (sometimes) fixes all of your spelling problems!
On the other hand…
You don’t see people walking around using any texting language, so why do it on your phone? Some texting gets so out of hand that people sitting right next to each other are having conversations via cell phone! You won’t make the effort to move your mouth but you will make the effort to move your thumbs?
In my opinion, cell phones are literally taking over our lives! You don’t have to pay $20 a month to speak in person so why should you pay $20 a month to type to someone across the room? Although it can sometimes be convenient, there are cheaper alternatives. You can use email for example, which is practically the same thing, and it’s FREE! (Plus they don’t update the software or make a new model every 2 months). Also cell phones waste electricity, the big cell phone towers cut land space, and phones  are made out of minerals such as coltan which is rare and difficult to dig up.
So, what I am trying to say is that we could make an effort to spend less time twiddling our thumbs on a key pad and instead spend more time having meaningful conversations with our friends and family.
