Monday, 9 May 2016

Positive and Negatives of owning a handset

There is undoubtably a large percentage of handset users across the globe. But have we all weighed up the pro's and cons of owning a handset? Do we actually know what the updated negative outcomes are of owning a handset are?
In this post we decided to explore some of the "oh so wonderful's" of owning a handset, and some of the "I actually didn't know that" facts, to help you all keep in mind when using your handsets.
so lets start with some of the positives. It is largely agreed upon that owning a handset has increased communication, accessibility, and convince for us within this modern age. with the technological advances handsets are now, lighter, more compact in size, portable, and you can be reached in a variety of different places. Great right?
you can now communicate with people overseas, have informtion at your fingertips.
what if you dont want to be reached all the time? what are the effects of large cellphone usage? are our handsets taking us away from "the world around us"?
Many students in todays society, take a mobile phone to school, these are usually purchsed by parents wanting to be able reach their child, and importantly, if ever faced with an emergency.
Another prominate feature of the modernized "smart phone", is that it provides us all with entertainment. in an array of different ways, including games, youtube, your own personal music player,streaming, downloading, watching movies etc.
we've all had one of those moments when we've turned to our mobile phones for entertainment either to have that music playing for the bus/ train ride home, those late night Facebook checks we do before we fall asleep. but again has our cellphone usage integrated itself into our lives more than we know, or realise?

Crash data from 2010 to 2014 showed there were 236 crashes where hand-held mobile phone use by drivers was identified as a contributing factor. This included seven fatal crashes and 116 injury crashes. These crash numbers are considered to be under-reported because of the difficulty of finding evidence of illegal mobile phone use at crash scenes. This suggests the size of the problem could be much greater.

From July 2014 to June 2015, more than 35,300 fines were issued to drivers in NSW for using hand-held mobile phones, showing the problem is still prevalent. Pretty scary stuff right?
Now lets take a look at studying . Can you ever think of a time that youve had an essay due the next day, or a big task at hand and your sitting at your laptop, PC, or tablet, and youve opened a tab on the internet, or picked up your handset to visit a website, unrelated to your assighment, and then next thing you know..... *click click click* ..... and you've gone through numerous  websites and you're on a webpage absorbing content unrelated to the task at had? - well I know I have! Its actually not as uncommon as you think, two new studies suggest that our mobile phones are making us "dumber". One found that people who are interrupted by technology score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test. A second demonstrated that some students, even when on their best behavior, can't concentrate on homework for more than two minutes without distracting themselves by using social media or writing an email. Innovation or Imprisionment? thats up to you to decide.
In terms of health Our lecturer Matt Mansour breifly touched on the correlation between cell phones and cancer recently in one of our letures, But heres the 411 from cancer.gov to explain why these claims are circulating.
The three main reasons why people are concerned that cell phones (also known as “mobile” or “wireless” telephones) might have the potential to cause certain types of cancer or other health problems:
  • Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy (radio waves), a form of non-ionizing radiation, from their antennas. Tissues nearest to the antenna can absorb this energy.
  • The number of cell phone users has increased rapidly. As of December 2014, there were more than 327.5 million cell phone subscribers in the United States, according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. This is a nearly threefold increase from the 110 million users in 2000. Globally, the number of subscriptions is estimated by the International Telecommunications Union to be 5 billion.
  • Over time, the number of cell phone calls per day, the length of each call, and the amount of time people use cell phones have increased. However, improvements in cell phone technology have resulted in devices that have lower power outputs than earlier models.
In conclusion, I think first and foremost it is of upmost importance to put your own health and safety as a priority when considering handset use on the roads while driving. Yes handsets definitely have their positives, but it is always important to be mindful and aware of the negative implications of handset use.
Stay safe all.

By Bulesa

Referenced articles:
http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/get-your-hand-off-it/index.html
http://www.thephonetown.com/positive-and-negative-effects-of-mobile-phones/

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/cell-phones-fact-sheet

No comments:

Post a Comment