In the past, if someone tells you that mobile phones can be charged byurine, I am sure you wouldn’t believe.
Today, mobile phones can be charged byurine, which shows that technology has greatly improved over the years and ispowerful. According to Daily Mail, more than half of the children under 10years old uses mobile phones and it can cause many impacts.(Transition: Yan Tong) Now, look at your phone with the screen on. Do you know that there arecurrently 30,000 cells of your eyes that are reactive to the blue light rays emittingfrom the phone? Body Bad point: Physical impactsMain: The use of mobile phones causes bad health problems.a) Disrupted sleep· Blue lightrays trick the brain that it is still daytime.· 30,000Cells in your eyes are reactive when blue light rays enter our eyes. This blue light ray emission suppressesmelatonin, a hormone that controls our sleep cycle.
· Melatoninis responsible for regulating bodytemperature, blood pressure and glucose level. Suppressing melatonin causes us to fall asleep slower.· High usageof mobile phones affects melatonin as the blue light rays would trick the brainthat it is still daytime. Leads to insomnia.
· Sleepcycle changes at a young age and causes health issues.b) Blue light radiation from mobile phones· have a higher risk of irreversible eye damage.· Their eyesare still developing, allows blue light ray to enter the eyes and directly intotheir retina.· Whendevices are held close to the eyes, more light exposure, higher risk ofpossible damages.
· Examplesare: it leads to blindness over 50 years old in future and causes earlierincidence of cataracts, which is the clouding of eyes that results in adecrease in vision.c) Brain development· Blue lightrays from mobile phones disrupt DNA, brain’sprotective barrier, and release highly reactive and damaging free radicals· Research on people whohas a phone against their head turned on compared to those who have a phoneagainst their head turned off. There is a higher level of activity for thosewho have their phone turned on.· Young children have athinner skull and more fluid in their brain, which means it can absorb 10 timesmore radiation than others· By absorbing more radiation, it caused developing nervous system tobecome prone to cancer· Electromagnetic raysfrom cell phones affect glucose metabolism and the flow of blood in the brain.(Transition: Chun Chong)The points that she just mentioned are just some ofthe bad impacts of mobile phones bring. On the other hand, have you everthought of the good impacts that mobile phone would bring about for a child?2.
Good point: Social impactsMain: Ease of Communication / Help with learning / Teach childrenresponsibility a) Ease of Communication· Easy toget in touch with one another.· Forexample, in case of emergencies,users can get first-hand notice though voice or video call, making landline telephones useful but it is inflexible because ofthe wired configuration.· Thus, mobile phones have come across a long way to provideease of communication to people. Mobile phones connect everyone.
b) Helping in studies· Mobilephones now have internet access and can help to answer their doubts in studiesthrough study oriented applications.· Mobilephones can also help to answer simple daily questions like daily weather orfinding directions.c) Source of entertainment:· Everyone needs entertainment occasionally to escape from the stressfulwork life· Mobile phones work as a great source of entertainment in that sense.· The availability of internet facilities on mobile phones can be a rewardfor people when they accomplish a goal.· Communicating online through the internet is cheaper. There is a widevariety of TV shows and games that you can download for entertainment.30 seconds -(Transition/Skit: Chun Chong & Timothy): Ah boy, why you think like that? Doyou know mobile phones can bring so many bad impacts to you too? Now I willtell you why some of your points are not necessarily good. Some of the badimpacts are increased cyberbullying, children exposed to graphic videos andnudity, and lastly, children being desensitized.
Bad point: socialMain: Mobile phone causes a badsocial impact.a) Cyberbullying · Increased use of mobilephones amongst the younger generation raises the amount of cyberbullying.· Although mobile phones helpwith convenience to communicate with people, it could also be unhealthy.
b) Exposure to graphic videosand nudity· Children can get exposed tographic videos and nudity.· A study showed that exposureto violence in either games or movies would lead to increasing unwillingness tohelp someone in pain.· Exposure to violence promotesthe acceptance amongst children of “mean world” syndrome, which influencepeople to believe that the world is a dark and sinister place. · It increases their agreementto the idea that violence can solve problems.c) Children desensitized· If children spend a lot oftime using their mobile phones, they lose experiences that help them developempathy, understand emotional nuances and social cues like facial expressionsand body language.· Children lose touch withpeople even when they are talking to them online but not in real life.
· These social skills areimportant as children need them to interact adaptively and survive in theirgiven environment. These social skills also play an important role in a child’semotional health and wellbeing.· These experiences lostdesensitizes them in the long run.(Transition: Fion): As these children and teenagers arebeing impacted physically and socially, they will also be impactedpsychologically. Bad point: Psychological impactsMain: Usage of mobile phones has ledto psychological impacts on children and teenagersa) Mobile phones have made achange to how our brains work· Human’s brains are stilldeveloping · Brain scans were conducted onpeople who use technology· Test results showed thatcomputer savvy shown a sign of change in the activity in the left front part ofthe brain while the group who just started getting used to technology showedminimal activity in the same area· The novices began to show brain activity in the area aftertwo weeks of computer training, proving that technology affects the way ourbrain operatesb) Low self-esteem· Addiction to popularity contests with others online (eg:comparing likes, followers count) · Measure self-worth by thefeedback they get from their posts online· Children are spoilt andpester their parents to buy the upgrade themselves to have a mobile phone,while those who do not have the financial means to do will get looked down upon· A study has shown that younger girls were unhappy of their appearancesdue to pictures on social media in mobile phones which influenced the way theyperceive themselves.· Universities’ study proved that passive following on Facebook triggeredusers to feel jealous and low self-esteem when viewing posts of others (eg:vacation pictures) c) Mobile phones cause a state of anxiousness · Individuals panic andfeel anxious if they have missed out news on their mobile phones, suchsituation is also known as “FoMo, or fear of missing out” · An experiment wasconducted on individuals where their phones were placed within their area ofhearing and their heart rates were recorded· The results showed thatwhen their phones vibrated, there were signs of perspiration and anxiousness toknow what is going on in their phones· Anationwide survey conducted proved that more than 500,000 adolescents spentmore than 3 hours a day using mobile phones and were more likely to experiencemental issues such as suicidal thoughts. Conclusion: To sum it all up, mobile phones bring about positive socialimpacts to young children and teenagers such as ease of communication. However,the negative impacts of using mobile phones still outweigh the positives.
Although only 23.1% of the Singaporean population are children, they are 100%of our future. If we continue to leave this problem unattended, the resultswill be lethal. Let’s save the future by saving the children.
