My Experiences with Smartphones and Other Digital Technologies

A reflection of my experience over the years using iPhones and digital technology, and why face-to-face communication has had a more positive impact.

"Communicating face-to-face sends a message before you ever say a word. People will not only hear what you are saying, they will perceive the greater meaning of your tone, voice inflection, emotion, and body language."- Communication and Leadership Expert David Grossman.

This is my photo, taken Feb. 17, 2020, of the first iPhone that I ever bought. It was a very tiny, pocket-sized device that seemed to be worth very little to me at first in 2013. The only other phone I had was an AT&T cell phone, which had almost none of the capabilities that my iPhone had. As I began using my iPhone more frequently, the device had much more value than I had anticipated. You could surf the Internet, play games, and take photos anywhere. It really was the world's first mini-computer. In this tiny device, there was more power than many products that are double the amount of weight.

iPhones were the perfect device to use because you could literally carry it anywhere you went and receive Wifi connection. Yet, this result with a heavy amount of excess with people like me. With the advent of iPhones, I started to become more antisocial. There had been multiple instances in which I was reading my phone at the restaurant with my family. I especially loved reading my phone in my room because no one else walked in and I was left alone. It wasn't uncommon for me to read my phone for a large part of my day. Soon enough, I began receiving headaches often and the inability to sleep I would constantly be surfing the internet.

Even though my situation is pretty bad, there are other people that I know who have worse experiences. I have family and friends who spend time on social media, getting highly into politics. This leads them to getting into online catfights, seeing them say things that they would never state in-person. In many circumstances, the incidents begin to set the mood for the entire day. If it's not about the fights online, it's about the news that arrived on the Facebook feed.

The person that really got me to value face-to-face communication with people is my Mother. She has always loved talking in-person, ever since she was a little girl. My mom noticed that wasn't interacting with the family as I should, so she began meeting up with me. She wanted me to be a social human being and still maintain longterm friendships. After talking to her, I became more cautious of using my iPhone or other devices too much.

Smartphones, the internet and other technology platforms/productions have always wanted to keep the world connected. In many ways, technology has managed to accomplish that. We have been able to keep in touch with family and friends that we haven't seen in decades with this medium. However, you couldn't find a more divisive time to live in America with the Internet. Through face-to-face communication, you are provided with much friendlier and less confrontational than on social media. You're also able to build much stronger relationships with people. The "friends" on social media don't have as close of a relationship with you as the people you're talking in-person with.  Young people are the individuals who need to work on in-person communication the most because they tend to be the ones most affected mentally by the overconsumption of technology. There's a long list of benefits that face-to-face communication provides us in our lives.

Technology has been a real advancement in our lives. But it shouldn't interfere with communicating with the people closest to us.