Cell Phones in America, Research Paper Example

The use of cell phones in America has led to a number of positive and negative dynamic situations within the country and around the world.  Truly the revolutionary nature of the cell phone is seen, as it allows individuals to work and converse with others much better.  The cell phone sees a number of advantages that has changed Americans and America.  However, the use of the cell phone has the opposing dynamic, where it undermines the safety of many drivers and passengers on the roads.

Cell phones can be said to have a role in the productivity of individuals in America.  Individuals who need to travel for business, or who need to be connected to clients, co-workers, and others are able to talk as they move from place to place.  The time that is saved by using a cell phone cannot be underestimated, as many have noted.  Of course, convenience is paramount as well for busy workers who take advantage of cell phone use.

Convenience of the cell phone has added to the laundry list of advantages for the cell phone.  Cell phones allow individuals to be safer, where they can call for car support or emergency services when needed, regardless of where they are, which is especially notable in light of location functions from emergency call centers.  Cell phones connect families and friends, adding levels of convenience beyond the time before cell phones were used.

The technologies present in cell phones have revolutionized America in the more recent past as well.  Many cell phones have global positioning systems (GPS) functionality, which can help people plan walking or driving routes to their destination.  Pictures, videos, and music have allowed individuals to enjoy multimedia on a more mobile scale than previously seen.  These improvements in the technologies of cell phones have added further capabilities, conveniences, and dynamics to the way cell phones have changed American culture, in business and personal contexts.

Of course, the presence of text messaging has been crucial to the way the device has revolutionized aspects of American culture.  Text messaging has been the latest level in which the cell phone has transformed America.  For many individuals text messaging is a useful alternative to cell phone conversations, allowing for the continual written messages on a more mobile scale, similar to that of e-mail.  Its added convenience cannot be underestimated in the conversation of the usefulness of cell phones.

However, cell phone use has not always been revolutionary in a positive sense.  Most notable to this assertion is the use of cell phones while driving.  This dynamic has caused a great deal of traffic accidents due to the distractions cell phones cause while on the road.  Although cell phones add a great level of mobility and convenience, it also adds safety concerns when used while driving.

Extending this dynamic, the use of text messaging while driving has added even more to the safety concerns of cell phone usage on the road.  Text messaging has proved to be more volatile to the safety of passengers and drivers on America’s roads and highways.  It has been one target of lawmakers, where the safety concerns of cell phone usage while driving has been prohibited in some areas and in some manners, most notably in that of text messaging.

Object History

Mobile devices have existed in some capacity since the early 20^th century.  The advancements of Reginald Fessenden are notably in the earliest stages of such developments, with the presence of radio through the time of World War II.  Most critical to the precursor of the cell phone is seen with the first automatic car phone system, which was seen in 1960, known as Mobile System A (MTA), released in Sweden.

The Cell Phone

The first practical cell phone was seen in 1973, from the Motorola researcher Martin Cooper.  This was seen in a kind of race between Motorola and Bell Labs to see who could produce the first portable phone.  Later in 1979, Japan released the first automated cellular network, launched by NTT.  Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway followed suit by releasing the Nordic Mobile Telephone, the first network to include international roaming, released in 1981 (Kempe).

Over the past few centuries the cell phone has continued to evolve.  Along with actual cell phone design, the history of the cell phone has seen improvements in networks from the aforementioned ones in the 1980s.  Second and third generation technologies were developed and launched in the 1990s and early 2000s, respectively.  Today there are quite advanced network capabilities for data transfer speeds and Internet connectivity, for instance.

Text Messaging

The history of text messaging is quite more recent than that of cellular phones, to no surprise.  While the first text message sent occurred by a test engineer in 1992, text messaging slowly entered the American consciousness in the mid-1990s.  Originally companies were slow to take care of billing issues related to the implementation of text messaging to the plans of users on the network.

Text messaging became much more prominent at the start of the 21^st century.  Primarily using Short Message Service (SMS), but with some exceptions (notably in J-Phone and NTT in Japan), text messaging has been utilized quite prominently on a variety of services and individuals in America.  It is the most widely used mobile data service.

Influence

The influence of the cell phone is quite substantial, as examined in this brief overview and analysis.  Taking a look at both the positive and negative characteristics of the implementation of the cell phone in society, we will be able to identify the manners in which the cell phone has impacted American citizens.  Even the positive and negative circumstances of the cell phone offer additional dynamics, such as in the opposing effect in typically good and bad dynamics of the use of the cell phone.

Personal Uses

The cell phone has a number of uses for the average individual in America.  In social conveniences in which the cell phone presents, carrying a call phone has become a way of life for many in America.  It has transformed many Americans to the point where a cell phone is a given in a situation.

Most basically the cell phone allows individuals to connect with others.  Families and friends are able to stay up to date with each other much easily with the cell phone.  No longer must someone be at a certain location in order to receive a call, with virtually unlimited service in the powerful networks that exist today.

American families remain one benefit from the use of cell phones.  It is quite common for middle-class families to have cell phones for all members, beginning at a seemingly younger age.  These added benefits result in a better system of keeping up to date with family members, in the busy lifestyles of American families.  Safety benefits are widely utilized in a family’s use of cell phones, where cell phones are often kept by teenagers and younger children for emergencies.  GPS capabilities are a benefit for parents who wish to keep track of their child’s location.

Business Uses

A critical influence of cell phones on American society is present in how it has changed the landscape of business.  The cell phone allows workers to stay in touch with clients, co-workers, bosses, and other individuals to help in business-related endeavors.  Additional technologies continue to add productivity levels for workers.

On a basic level, workers are commonly more productive with cell phones.  In many professions, cell phones allow a mobility that increases productivity.  For instance, contractors are able to go to different locations and keep in touch with the projects that are occurring.  Business people in general are able to keep in touch with business contacts on a more common and effective basis.

More recent technologies have increasingly revolutionized the business world on cell phones.  Data transfer is of particular notice, where documents may be sent by cell phones via connection to the Internet.  In this business associates are able to transfer important documents on cell phones.  The Internet on the cell phone has truly opened up new avenues, both in personal and business-related contexts, for convenience and productivity.

Negative Personal and Business Associations

Although the cell phone has certainly revolutionized communication in America, there are always some drawbacks in advances in technology.  The convenience of cell phones has led to negative elements in society, where ease of use has resulted in casual and particular drawbacks within American society.  These range in a spectrum from very casual drawbacks of convenience to those that have been applied to special environments and uses.  Some of these tendencies are becoming commonplace within society.

One common and very casual negative effect is in the extension of convenience.  For many the cell phone has become convenient to the point of replacement with other means of contact.  In the growing technologies of cell phones, text messaging, and the Internet, families and friends are increasingly reliant on high-tech forms of communication.  As a result, what can be seen to bring communication to a higher level of convenience, can and has, transformed some into dependence on these means of communication.

This dynamic has extended into the current young generation.  Children growing up in these advancements of cell phone-related technologies are increasingly reliant on them.  One particular negative drawback is the documented battle of some schools against cell phone usage, where young students commonly carry cell phones.  It has led to environments in which they have become a distraction to the learning environment, thus provoking some schools to step up measures of controlling the presence of cell phones by students.

The dependence on cell phones for many individuals in America is a particular concern.  Some find that it is a hazard to their productivity, for instance, when time is spent conversing on the job.  Dating guides address the use of cell phones due to their implementation into peculiar social constructs.  Movie theaters regularly display messages regarding the silencing of cell phones.  Cleary America is quite dependent on cell phone usage.

Cell Phone Use While Driving

Perhaps the most negatively critical influence on cell phones is present in cell phone use on the road.  The dangers of talking or texting on a cell phone while driving have been well-documented, causing some areas in the United States to target such individuals with laws that are being added.  It has been compared to drinking and driving, which we will examine.

Cell phone stimuli create an unsafe environment for the driver of a car and those around the automobile.  The conversation itself draws the attention of the driver away from the road to a degree.  Additionally, the driver is not able to hear the sounds while driving as easily, which is important in many cases, such as for emergency vehicles.

Other considerations add onto the distractions.  As not all drivers use hands free capabilities while speaking on the road;, this incurs a level of danger.  One less hand is not conducive for safe driving.  When multitasking drivers who use a cell phone couple this use with something else, such as eating or writing down a note, driving safety is further compromised and compounded.

These dangers create a self-evident dangerous nature to that of driving while talking on the cell phone.  The stimuli present with cell phone distractions creates a number of dangers that has resulted in incidents on the road.  The following studies have identified these dangers on the road for drivers who talk on a cell phone.

Comparisons

Studies have been performed on the comparisons between the danger of cell phone use and normal conversations with a passenger while driving.  While there is some literature that has documented the risk of passenger conversations while driving, there are studies that demonstrate the increased danger of cell phone use in comparison.

One University of Utah simulation confirms the increased risk of cell phone conversations to passenger conversations (Drews, 2004).  In these and other experiments, drivers are less distracted while talking to passengers than they are when speaking to someone on a cell phone.  This literature confirms the dangerous status of cell phone use while driving, as it is evident that cell phone conversations are more dangerous than those with a passenger.

Research has also demonstrated a higher risk with cell phone use while driving than alcohol use.  This finding is quite shocking.  Intoxicated drivers are not legally permitted to drive automobiles; any equal or higher risk to it should be very revealing.

The University of Utah Psychology department studied this in 2003.  In this study, the researchers found that driving with a cell phone was more dangerous than driving intoxicated (Strayer, 2003).  From these results, it is particularly threatening to the validity of cell phone use while driving, as it is demonstrated to be more dangerous than drunk driving.

Texting

As one might imagine, driving with the cell phone is made even more unsafe when the act of texting is considered.  A self-evident consideration, yet there is a precedent for its use with drivers.  Texting truly undermines the safety of drivers, even more than that of normal cell phone use on the road.

While there is limited testing on the subject, research has demonstrated increased danger with texting while driving.  An unreleased study from the University of Utah saw accidents related to texting increase six times (Livadas, 2007).  Further studies have demonstrated increased risk in auto accidents from texting, even as text messaging rose in the late 2000s as attention increased.  The lack of literature is in part due to the increased self-evident risk involved in texting while driving.

Overall

As we can witness from these comparisons, the use of cell phones while driving on the road is quite shocking.  The statistics reveal this, as cell phone use is believed to account for 1.5 to 5% of contributing factors to distraction-related incidents (Eby).  Difficulties in reporting and factors result in an unknown basis upon which to judge the statistical link between cell phones and driving accidents.

As a result, cell phone usage most directly represents the negative effect upon American society.  Inevitably it can be linked to the basic “relative” negative link between cell phone usage and society, found in the dependence of Americans on cell phones.  Truly cell phones have caused some negative impacts, most certainly on the road, as lawmakers have noticed around the country in efforts to limit cell phone usage on the roads.

Conclusion

Overall cell phones have transformed American society quite noticeably.  In a few decades it has altered the conversation habits of many Americans, both young and old.  It has allowed for increased convenience and productivity for many in the country, a country notably “addicted to work,” as commonly deemed in relationship to typical hours spent on the job by Americans.  It can be seen to aid in the many pursuits of Americans, from social to work-related needs.

However, there are some definitive ways in which the cell phone has transformed Americans negatively.  Many Americans are noticeably linked to their cell phones to a negative extent.  It has begun replacing other means of communication and has made its presence into unwanted constructs, such as the school and other private facilities.  The real danger lies in cell phone usage on the road, where it has caused a number of accidents.  This development is present in the ongoing attempts by levels of government to restrict the use of cell phones and texting in certain areas.

Works Cited

Drews, Frank, Monisha Pasupathi, and David L. Strayer. “Passenger and Cell-Phone Conversations in Simulated Driving” (PDF). Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 48th Annual Meeting. 2004. Web. May 22, 2010.

Eby, David and Lidia Kostyniuk. “Driver Distraction and Crashes: An Assessment of Crash Databases and Review of the Literature” (PDF). The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. May 2003. Web. May 22, 2010.

Hanowski, Richard. “Driver Distraction in Commercial Vehicle Operations”. 2009. Web. May 22, 2010.

Kempe, Anita. “Mobile/1980-90”. Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology. N.D. Web. May 22, 2010.

Livadas, Greg. “Text Messaging Not Illegal but Data Clear on Its Peril”. July 24, 2007. Web. May 22, 2010.

Strayer, David; Frank Drews and Dennis Crouch. “Fatal Distraction? A Comparison of the Cell-Phone Driver and The Drunk Driver” (PDF). University of Utah Department of Psychology. 2003. Web. May 22, 2010.