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People are too Reliant on Smartphones

By Tim Healey

Nearly every adult in today’s society uses a smartphone in their daily lives. There is no doubt that smartphones can improve quality of life and increase efficiency. They are so widespread and common that even simple changes in software can cause a public outrage or praise. The problem is that today people are too reliant on their phones to do everyday tasks. The classic scenario would be if all smartphones stopped working overnight how would most people react?

Say hypothetically that every smartphone did stop working overnight. A large portion of the populous would certainly oversleep because their alarm has stopped working. We use our phones for such little things that may not be thought of such as an alarm clock, calculator, or other little things that have been phased out over the years and combined into a smartphone. There is a real possibility that smartphones can fail and would cause relatively

major disruptions in a person’s life. Although these simple examples would not result in the end of the world, other more serious consequences may come if a phone is non-functional or simply out of battery.

On a longer journey where the route may not be engraved in your mind many people opt to use a GPS. It is easy to just plug a destination into a phone and get turn by turn instructions in some cases on a large screen in your vehicle. If the cellphones stopped working people would certainly have trouble getting around the country having to use paper maps which many people have simply forgot how to use effectively as they are out of practice.

One reason that the Emergency Services in the United States is so effective is because of quick response times through 911 calls. The use of cell phones is essential for emergency situations. If a cell phone is dead it is nearly impossible to get emergency help without the assistance of another person with a cell phone. This can be particularly problematic if an emergency happens in an area that is not necessarily highly traveled or if an emergency takes place at odd hours. Solutions