Compromises family time
I do not think smartphones make you stupid (‘Is your smartphone making you stupid?’, Gulf News, March 11). It provides you with any information you need to know at the touch of a button. Smartphones eat up your time when you could be spending it with your family. In short, smartphones cater to being in touch with strangers and people who you do not meet, and it compromises your time with your family at the same time.
Everything in the right usage benefits all!
From Ms Tania Varghese
UAE
Increasing expectations
Smartphones are saviours to many of us in the current era. They have greatly increased our capacity to know and understand things. We have been empowered by the ever-growing phone applications touching all spheres of life. So, have smartphones made us ‘smarter’? Surely, yes, and this explains our dependency on these devices. These phones do so much for us in this fast paced life that we cannot do without them. People keep records of contacts and meetings through different applications, which they earlier may be doing in their head. But even so, this can be justified because the scope of expectations from a common individual has increased.
Also, it is upon us to remember a few important things in our mind, maybe just as a practice. Why not also socialise a bit rather than being glued to the phone? No one is stopping us from that. It is a matter of choice. So all in all, I think that smartphones are not making us stupid.
From Ms Pratima Pandey
UAE
Takes from confidence
In my opinion, smartphones do not make a person stupid, but very much dependent on it. Even for the things we have prior knowledge about, we first verify it with Google or Wikipedia from our phone and then arrive to a conclusion. Smartphones have become a necessity rather than a luxury just like food, water or clothing. It does have millions of advantages but, on the other hand, it snatches the very essence of being confident about one’s own self.
From Ms Kritika Narayan
Dubai
A gain or a loss?
Smartphone? Whoever named it so was really quite thoughtful as he or she clearly knew that it’s a device that may make a phone smart and a person dull. It has given birth to a new generation - a generation of thoughtless people! A generation that is self obsessed and anti-social. It has indeed given birth to people who may not know who their forefathers were, but they certainly know who is the founder of all sorts of machinery.
The people who pulled all the strings to create a device to make people handle all that’s happening all around the world by just a touch so that we all could be united, surely did not have an iota of an inclination that they are actually drifting people apart. Rather than they staying connected to all, people have lost touch with their immediate family.
Let’s all ponder this. Is it a gain or a loss for civilization? If it’s a gain, then for whom. If it’s a loss, then how big is the loss?
From Ms Sudha Kathuria
UAE
Take care of yourself
Why is it that we are so dependent on technology? You part ways with your phone for a few hours and you feel like you’re missing out on everything. I’d say that when you are constantly on your phone is when you’re missing out on everything. Don’t let technology dominate you.
Albert Einstein rightly said that the day technology will surpass our human interaction; the world will have a generation of idiots. It’s sad, but true that we are living in this day. My smartphone is smart enough to make me stupid.
But then again, it depends on how you use your smartphone. Don’t let a smartphone take over you. You’re smart enough to take care of yourself.
A smartphone is a machine that has made man into a machine. It’s like a world on its own, a world to which once connected, is hard to disconnect from. Today, people prefer listening to music or surfing the internet while they’re out - trust me, I’m no exception - instead of talking to people and widening their knowledge or just observing their surroundings.
Ask yourself this: Is it really ‘smart’ to pay for something that may eventually kill you if used excessively?
From Ms Disha Dadlani
UAE
Use wisely
Advancement in technology has made mankind surprisingly busy instead of making them free. We are now less social because we are very busy on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and many others! That urge of meeting someone to talk face to face is now rarely seen.
I am against this term smartphone. Phones are not smart and we should act smartly and use this wisely and take it as a phone.
From Mr Kashif Ajaz
Dubai
Not stupid, antisocial
I don’t know about stupid, but certainly anti-social! I could fall over from a cardiac arrest and no one would see me do it. Everyone is so engrossed, it is as if they are in their screens.
From Ms Louise Lambert
Dubai
Turning us into machines
I keep looking at my smartphone for almost everything. A friend’s number, to some simple calculations or even remembering my dear ones birthdays or special days. I feel smartphones have made me not so smart over the years. I remember the days when I would know everyone’s phone number and special days by heart. I would know all the roads of my city, and now I can’t find a way without the Global Positioning System (GPS) on phone. I click so many pictures that I do not even see them for sometime after they are saved in my smartphone and, most importantly, even if I don’t have anything important to do with my smartphone, I just keep playing with it. Smartphones are so smart that it has made many just like itself - a machine, but a dumb one.
From Ms Vijaylaxmi Suri
UAE
More productive
My first reaction to the article was: “Why have I never been aware of this?” Then I understood every person is entitled to their own opinion. I don’t believe that a smartphone makes a person stupid, the machine is created to aid you in your every day tasks and manage your social life as well.
For me, a smartphone makes life easier and gives you a chance to concentrate on other responsibilities, as long as you are not distracted easily or unproductive at work or school. Psychology studies show that smartphones affect your productivity levels and interpersonal skills more than your intellectual levels. For instance, many of my friends socialise with new people through Facebook and talk for hours, days and even weeks. However when they meet, there’s no trust between the person or any personal interest.
Moreover, since I am a student, I can easily relate to the level of productivity falling due to a smartphone; if we stop using our phones for one day, our productivity can increase by at least 20 per cent since we have no distractions.
I believe that smartphones don’t make you stupid or less aware of your surroundings. However, they do reflect in your cognitive performance.
From Ms Dhara Bhatia
UAE
Why so negative?
I think that this depends mainly on the type of applications installed on the smartphone. Using a mobile for e-banking services, emails and organisers is very effective. I think we need to lay off the negative sides of using it.
From Mr Bassel Nadim
UAE
Can’t live without it
It has certainly allowed me to stay smart. We need to remember that our lives from generation to generation are changing and evolving. It has become more of an essential part of me. I wonder, what I would do without it? But, everyone is different. For instance, my dad has dumbed down his smartphone to just what a phone is supposed to do. It sends and receives calls. He is very old fashioned that way. Nonetheless, he’s well informed with technology and all those worldly occurrences, even before I learn them. It’s just that his medium and channel of communication is different. So no, I don’t believe that my smartphone has made me stupid.
From Mr Yasir N.
UAE
Losing moments
Smartphones are becoming smarter day-by-day. As more features are being added to smartphones, we reduce our brain usage. Alarms, calendars, meeting reminders, maps, calculations, time estimations, calorie counters and spell checks - the list keeps growing. Once upon a time, this was all done manually. Nowadays, everyone looks to their smartphone to do such simple tasks.
We have become so dumb that we no longer remember our friend’s phone number. How many of us actually write a whole English word while typing?
In public transportation, it is a common scene to find most of the passengers fiddling with their smartphones. Wasn’t there a time in history when people used to look at the outside world and make friends with fellow passengers?
A baby’s first step, surprise birthday parties or our favourite team winning a match, we tend to capture that special moment of our life on our smartphone without realising that we are missing out on the present joy in a hope to share it with friends on social media and to cherish the memory later. Isn’t this proof that smartphones are making us dumb?
From Ms Shajitha Shifa
UAE
A problem for some
This was an interesting article by Gulf News, and I believe that smartphones don’t make you stupid, but they do delay your thought process or ability to work. As a blogger, my world mainly revolves around social media and, yes, you can get distracted waiting for a response or checking how many likes or shares you have received. My sister is lifeless if you ask her to do something when she’s on her phone. Your phone has the basic necessities of a laptop or computer. For most young people, a lot of time is spent on social media and applications like WhatsApp and Snapchat.
From Mr Eman Qadeer
UAE
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