creative writing on importance of mobile phones

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Essay on Mobile Phone: 100 Words, 300 Words, 500 Words

• Updated on  
• Feb 21, 2024

Mobile Phones are portable electronic devices used to make calls, browse the internet, click pictures, and do several other tasks. However, the mobile phones discovered in the early 1970s were quite different from the compact and slim devices we use today. Cell phones were invented by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973.

As modern humans, we all use mobile phones for our day-to-day functioning. At academic and higher education levels, students are given the task of writing an essay on mobile phones. An essay on mobile phones requires a comprehensive and detailed study of their history, major developments and the purposes it serve. In this article, we have provided essays on mobile phones for class 6,7,8.9, 10, and 12th standard students. Students can refer to these sample essays on mobile phones to write their own. Keep reading to find out essays on mobile phones and some fun facts about the device.

Table of Contents

• 1 Sample Essay on Mobile Phone (100 Words)
• 2 Sample Essay on Mobile Phone (300 words)
• 3 Sample Essay on Mobile Phone (500 words)
• 4 Essay on Mobile Phone: 5+ Facts About Smartphones

Sample Essay on Mobile Phone (100 Words)

Also Read: The Beginner’s Guide to Writing an Essay

Sample Essay on Mobile Phone (300 words)

Also Read: Essay on Importance of the Internet

Sample Essay on Mobile Phone (500 words)

Essay on mobile phone: 5+ facts about smartphones.

Here we have listed some of the interesting facts about smartphones. These facts can be added to the ‘essay on mobile phones’ to make it more interesting. Below are the 5 interesting facts about smartphones:

• The most expensive smartphone in the world is the Falcon Supernova iPhone 6 Pink Diamond. It is worth  $48.5 million.
• The cheapest mobile phone in the world is the Freedom 251. It just cost INR 251.
• Apple is the world’s most popular smartphone
• The first phone greeting was “Ahoy-hoy, who’s calling please?” 
• The first smartphone was invented by IBM. It was released by IBM in 1994. The original screen name of the 1st smartphone was “Simon.” 
• The first text message in the world was ‘Merry Christmas’

Also Read: Holi Essay: Free Sample Essays 100 To 500 Words In English

A mobile phone system gets its name from diving the service into small cells. Each of these cells has a base station with a useful range in the order of a kilometre/mile.

Mobile phones have become extremely important due to the ease of communication it has brought about. Moreover, it can perform several major tasks easily and effectively. For example, a calculator. Aside from this mobile phones can help a user connect to the internet, and use social media applications, and other applications. Mobile phones can even assist in online payment. 

The full form or the meaning of a Moble is Modified, Operation, Byte, Integration, Limited, Energy”. John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola discovered the device in 1973. An essay on mobile phones can include the mobile phone full form.

Related Articles

Mobile phones have become an indispensable part of our lifestyle. There are several advantages and disadvantages of having a smartphone. However, the pros outweigh the cons. A mobile phone essay can be written by including both the advantages and disadvantages. To discover more articles like this one, consult the study abroad expert at Leverage Edu.

Blessy George

Blessy George works as a Content Marketing Associate at Leverage Edu. She has completed her M.A. in Political Science and has experience working as an Intern with CashKaro. She has written extensively on studying abroad, English Test preparation, visas, and online courses. During her free time, she likes to read and write poetry, and songs.

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138 Smartphone Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best smartphone topic ideas & essay examples, 💡 most interesting smartphone topics to write about, 🥇 good research topics about smartphone, 📌 list of topics to write about smartphone, ❓ smartphone related questions.

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• Using Smartphones in Learning The other purpose of the study is to understand the recent developments that have been made to the smartphones and how people are able to adopt the changes.
• Smartphones Role in Lifestyles Changes The fast and quick connectivity of smartphones to the internet provides a wide spectrum of understanding issues that individuals face in their professional and social lives. Creativity and innovation that smartphones facilitate lead to enhanced […]
• Apple Inc. Smartphone Marketing Strategy in Australia Weaknesses The biggest drawback most of the mobile phone companies in the Australian market are facing is the limited market and distribution channels.
• The Impact of Smartphones on Young People’s Social Life On the one hand, a cellphone enables young people to call their parents when they are in trouble and need help.
• Smartphones and Information Technology Systems Management Smartphones such as BlackBerry have applications that increase the accessibility of information, which is critical in enhancing the organisations’ effectiveness particularly in the management of tasks and projects.
• Apple’s Competition in Chinese Smartphone Market The analysis will examine the following forces that affect the company: industry competition, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of consumers, the threat of new entrants, and the threat of substitute products.
• Factors Affecting Youth’s Behaviors Towards Purchasing a Smartphone Objectives Understand the background of the smartphone industry Analyze the smartphone market trends and the role played by the youths in this marekts Understand reasons why youths buy smartphones through a survey on 100 people […]
• Nokia Pure View Smartphone Marketing Strategy In order to achieve the above objectives, other key issues such as the geographical environment where the Nokia targets to market the phone, the target population and the competitors in the market will also have […]
• Social Issues: Smartphones’ Positive Impacts In the past, it is expensive to make calls. In the past, it is not convenient to make calls using payphones.
• Samsung Company Smartphone Marketing The article gives a summary of the Smartphone market controlled by Samsung and the ensuing advertising expenditure from mobile marketing and advertisements because of the strategy employed by Samsung.
• New Product Feasibility: Tecno N7 Series Android Smartphone According to Abou-Moghli and Abdallah, product feasibility is one of the essential business marketing elements in the market analysis process, which is deemed as a scientific tool of obtaining relevant information pertinent to the provision […]
• Smartphone Market’s Economic Analysis Thus, the purpose of the current exploration is associated with the analysis of the smartphone market, with the emphasis placed on Samsung and Apple, which are considered significant rivals in the industry.
• Survival of the Fittest in the Smartphone Industry They strive to estimate the potential for Nokia’s revival in the technology industry, understand the factors that led to the company’s demise, evaluate the factors that led to the prosperity of its rivals and formulate […]
• Internet and Smartphone Effect In this essay, I analyze the arguments advanced by experts in five different publications in order to investigate the consequences of internet and smartphone use on human behavior and relationships during the COVID-19 epidemic.
• The Impact of Smartphones on Mental and Emotional Well-Being Twenge, the author argues that the widespread use of smartphones among teenagers and young adults has led to a decline in their mental and emotional well-being.
• Smartphones: Benefits and Side-Effects The findings have led to a greater understanding of smartphones’ influence on young people of school age, which lays the framework for minimizing the harmful effects of smartphone usage in children and adolescents.
• Smartphone-Related Cognitive and Ethical Issues The remarkable rise of smartphones and the rapid adoption of mobile computing are two of the most important developments in contemporary information and communication technology.
• Smartphone Selection: Decision-Making Assistance For the front camera specifications, both iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 have no significant differences. The price for both the Samsung Galaxy s22 and iPhone 14 is $799, but iPhone 14 Pro Max […]
• Smartphone Addiction in the United States With the advent of phones that have the function of many other gadgets, people began to move away from the real world into the virtual one. This paper examines the essence of the issue of […]
• Smartphones: Development and Popularity The claims that, in the future, smartphones will become the most important electronic devices are outdated by now: they already are.
• Exposure to Smartphones on Learning Development in Preschoolers Parents might allow their children to use smartphones not to be distracted during work, to put children to sleep or to make them eat during the appropriate time.
• Assessing Smartphone Brand Preferences or Use Thus, for other mobile manufacturers to get where the Apple brand is in terms of popularity and market shares, they need to develop revolutionary devices that change who people view and use mobile phones.
• Smartphone Technology and Its Brief History One of the ways that prove smartphone technology has impacted the global economy is the dramatic increase in the capacity to communicate and collaborate.
• Smartphones Affect and Change Modern Life Now, it is time to manage technological addiction and enhance the benefits of using smartphones for new creative designs and high-quality data exchange.
• How Smartphones Changed Society and the World Introduction of the smartphone to mass public Driven by iPhone created by Apple and Steve Jobs in 2007 Revolutionized the world of communications and information exchange Smartphone went from being a tool to the […]
• Smartphone Blackberry Company Another important feature of the smart phone is the QWERTY keyboard, which is the same as that of the normal computer.
• Smartphones and Generations: Hyper-Connected World First, it is social network, the essence of which is to communicate with other people and peers, as well as to show the details of their lives.
• US Smartphone Market and the Movie Industry In this work tables and other statistical graphics are used to plan, collect and prepare data on the US smartphone market and the movie industry.
• Privacy and Smartphone Apps: Documentary Review The documentary is about the privacy risks posed by the many apps that people are using on their smartphones. If a person is not ready to give access to the information the application wants, they […]
• Apple and Its Product Range in the UK Smartphone Market The history of Apple Inc.is closely tied to that of the technology industry, with the company being one of the best-recognized developers and sellers of smartphones, computers, and software.
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• Blackberry and iPhone: Exploits of Smartphones The trends in mobile technology changed the entire concept of mobile phones and different models are entering the market. Unauthorized calls from Blackberry and iPhones have, in many cases, caused threats to the security of […]
• Social Media, Smartphones and Confidentiality in the Healthcare System The purpose of the paper is to provide an in-depth understanding of the consequences of the breach of patients’ confidentiality with social media and cell phones, as well as of regulatory acts on the issue.
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• Smartphones for Work: Advantages and Disadvantages Employees are not bound to the office, and they can negotiate different working hours that are comfortable for them and their customers.
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• Smartphones in Europe & Asia: Marketing Management Therefore, to market the organization producing smartphones for Europe and Asia, one will need to build the competitive advantage that will allow target audiences to pay closer attention to the brand in question. The key […]
• “Are Smartphones Really Destroying the Lives of Teenagers?” by Flora By showing the inconsistencies in research results, the author suggests that the use of smartphones on its own is not a dangerous behavior, but how teens use smartphones could play both a positive and a […]
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• Risky Business: Students and Smartphones The study builds upon the previous research, and it is made visible in the introduction where the authors referred to the findings of many different studies concerning the issues or mobile security, their prevalence, the […]
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• Steering Wheel and Smartphone: A Deadly Combination Moreover, being distracted by mobile devices can cause harm not only to their owners but also to total strangers who merely happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• The Smartphone: Anatomy of an Industry The smartphones industry, which has phone makers like Apple, HTC, LG, Samsung, and Lenovo, falls under the Electronic Computer Manufacturing section of the NAICS, with code 33-4111.
• Smartphones for Children: Design and Usage To reduce the above challenges, the software should follow a design that enables the children to use them conveniently. Additionally, the software needs to have features that match the demand presented by the children.
• Technologies: Customized Smartphones for Children The rising demand for the Smartphone took place because of the benefits that it has for both the parents and the children.
• Smartphones and Dumb Behavior On the one hand, the use of smartphones negatively affects development of short-term memory in people. On the other hand, it is also found that the abundance of information negatively affects people.
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• Value of Smartphone Security The security standards include the use keystroke dynamics, monitoring the time of key holding, the flight time, multiplayer access regulations, priority regarding the application accessibility.
• Apple Inc. Smartphones Strategic Marketing Plan Within the market segment, the objectives of the marketing mix includes To ensure sales increase by 40% To ensure increase in the sales margin by more than 20% To ensure increase in the total Smartphones […]
• Social Networks Application in Smartphone With the emergence and widespread use social networks applications, the challenge of distance should no longer be a hindrance in a relationship, especially in the wake of Smartphones.
• Apple Inc. Smartphone Marketing Strategy Presentation The popularity of the brand has enabled the company to be successful and become the leader in Smartphones market under a highly competitive and volatile environment.
• Blackberry Smartphone Consumer Behavior Description of Internal Variables Consumer Personality: the personality of the consumer especially that of the middle class has a significant influence on the purchase decisions. With the brand and the specific outlet in mind, a […]
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• Can Smartphone Apps That Use Biofeedback Help Reduce Stress?
• What Values and Motives Are the Drivers of Smartphone Use Activity?
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• What Are the Pros and Cons of a Smartphone, Does It Help Our Lives?
• How Does Parents’ Use of Smartphones Affect Their Children?
• Does the Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduce Available Cognitive Capacity?
• What Is the Relationship Between Smartphone Use and Sleep Quality in Chinese Students?
• How Does Smartphone Advertising Affect Consumers’ Willingness to Buy?
• What Factors Influence the Intention to Purchase a Smartphone?
• Is Prolonged Smartphone Use Before Bed Associated with Altered Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Insula?
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• How Does Frequent Smartphone Use Affect Social Skills?
• Can Smartphone Applications Serve as Effective Cognitive Training Tools in Healthy Aging?
• What Is the Effect of Smartphone Use and Group Conversation on Pedestrian Speed?
• Should Children Own a Smartphone?
• What Product Features Influence Smartphone Purchase Decisions?
• How Are Young People’s Smartphone Use and Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Related?
• What Is the Percentage of Smartphone Users in the US?
• Does the Fingerprint Sensor Take Smartphone Security to a Whole New Level?
• How Are Emotional Intelligence, Self-Regulation, and Smartphone Addiction Related to Student Well-Being and Quality of Life?
• What Are the Barriers, Benefits, and Beliefs About Brain Training Apps for Smartphones?
• Could a Person’s Impaired Decision-Making Process Be a Consequence of Smartphone Addiction?
• What Is the Relationship Between Smartphone Application Use and Student Performance?
• How Does the Use of Smartphones Negatively Affect Society?
• What Are the Effects of Late-Night Smartphone Use on Sleep?
• Are Telecom Firms Under Pressure to Keep Up with Smartphone Obsession?
• What Are the Driving Forces for the Smartphone Industry?
• How Are Sedentary Lifestyles and Problematic Smartphone Use Related in Chinese Adolescents?
• Why Do Mobile Users Trust Smartphone Social Networking Services?
• Does Smartphone Use Affect Gender and Income?
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IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). 138 Smartphone Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/smartphone-essay-topics/

"138 Smartphone Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/smartphone-essay-topics/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '138 Smartphone Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "138 Smartphone Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/smartphone-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "138 Smartphone Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/smartphone-essay-topics/.

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IvyPanda . "138 Smartphone Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/smartphone-essay-topics/.

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Communicating with loved ones, colleagues, friends, and more has never been simpler. According to Techspirited , “By allowing instant access to any desired destination across the globe, mobile phones have changed the landscape of communication. Not only globally, cell phones are important in day-to-day life” (“Advantages of Mobile Phones”). Besides the ease of communication, expressing oneself creatively has also never been so straightforward. As Wired says, “The smartphone, like the PC and the Internet before it, has turned into a unique outlet for our creative impulses, and it will affect our creative lives even more fundamentally” (Capps, Robert). With our applications, we can easily draw, take photographs, write, edit, paint, make videos, and more. Besides an ease of expression, the entertainment aspect of mobile phones is substantial. The website Outsource to India states that, “Entertainment and multimedia apps have many usages across industry verticals. These include video and audio players which play a variety of formats – such as remote control applications which play music tracks on your computer, apps that let you buy and sync music from the online stores and other devices, compose and record songs, personalized radio, digital TV, streaming of live scores and so on. Music and video apps are perhaps the most glaring example of the rise of multimedia in entertainment, and include notable examples such as S potify, TuneIn Radio, Apple Music, Play Music, Groove Music, Pandora , etc.” (“Entertainment and Multimedia Apps for Mobile Phones – O2I”). Basically, the mobile phone has become a miniature laptop computer in terms of its entertainment capabilities. Mobile phones are not only fantastic for increasing communication, creativity, and entertainment opportunities, but also for keeping us safe. According to Love to Know , mobile phones allow us to call for help, aid us in finding our cars, give us the opportunity to employ GPS to make sure we do not get lost, and gives us a hard weapon in hand (Tucker, Laura). The more applications you have, the greater chance you are safe. You might have a flashlight app, an emergency call app, find your home app, and much more. The key is to have these apps handy in case a difficult situation arises, instead of filing them away on your phone. Finally, mobile phones have a huge advantage over non-smartphones: the opportunity to use the internet. The internet allows you to search for information so quickly, that even competent people are often slower at recalling and coming up with the information you need. Even with an internet connection based on data, a Google search takes little time. You can search for the restaurant you want to go to, a word that you forgot, the location of the nearest police office for aid, and find any other pertinent information. With its help, we can be as smart and informed as we want to be at any given moment. It is hard to imagine, but we have all the data and information we will ever need on our mobile phone—that is a benefit that cannot be overlooked. As it has been shown, mobile phones give us the benefit of communicating easily, engaging in creative work through simple applications, being able to be entertained wherever we go, to be safer, and to access the internet with the press of a button. Who knows what more advantages the mobile phone will garner in the near future. Expository essays can be complex. They need a certain level of investigation, evaluation, and argumentation of ideas. Sometimes, it’s not easy to compile all the gained thoughts together. Some best paper writing services reviews show that there are websites that can provide you with assistance in putting your words on paper.

Beyond Communication: The Expansive Role of Mobile Phones in Education and Social Interaction

Continuing from the advantages already discussed, mobile phones also serve a substantial role in education and learning, fostering multitasking, and playing a crucial role in our daily life. Additionally, their importance in promoting digital communication, particularly through social media, cannot be underestimated.

Education and learning have been revolutionized due to the convenience and accessibility of mobile phones. In today’s era, smartphones can readily function as portable classrooms. According to an article published by Edutopia, mobile phones have drastically enhanced the accessibility of educational resources. Applications like Khan Academy, Coursera, and Duolingo have transformed our phones into hubs of knowledge, offering a broad spectrum of lessons, from languages to coding, all accessible at our fingertips. This remarkable shift promotes lifelong learning, enabling users to acquire new skills and knowledge in a manner that is convenient and tailored to their schedule.

Smartphones have also become an integral tool for multitasking . They are not just communication devices but are also calendars, music players, personal trainers, cameras, and even wallets. We can check our emails while listening to music, or take conference calls while reviewing presentation slides. This simultaneous handling of tasks boosts our efficiency and optimizes time management. However, it’s also essential to strike a balance and not let our smartphones become a source of constant distraction. Moreover, the use of mobile phones in our daily life is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Whether it is setting an alarm to wake up, tracking physical activity, ordering groceries, or paying bills, cell phones have become our personal assistants, simplifying tasks, and adding value to our lifestyle.

When it comes to fostering digital communication , mobile phones, especially through social media , have significantly influenced the way we interact. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have made it possible to stay connected with people across the globe, share opinions, and even mobilize social change. Mobile technology has not only made it easier for us to express ourselves but has also provided a platform to voice social issues, shaping the discourse of societal norms and values.

As we look towards the future, the importance of mobile phones in our lives is likely to grow even further. With the constant advancement in technology, the features and capabilities of mobile phones are expanding, enhancing connectivity and accessibility. This has profound implications for sectors such as healthcare, where mobile phones can support telemedicine, and in remote work, where they can facilitate better work-life integration.

As it has been demonstrated, mobile phones, through their numerous features and applications, contribute significantly to various aspects of our lives, including communication, creativity, education, entertainment, and safety. They have become indispensable tools in the modern world, influencing our daily lives, enhancing our learning experiences, and shaping our social interactions.

Works Cited

“Advantages of Mobile Phones.” Techspirited , Techspirited, techspirited.com/advantages-of-mobile-phones. Capps, Robert. “How Smartphones Have Unleashed Humanity’s Creative Potential.” Wired , Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, www.wired.com/2014/07/smart-phone-creativity/. “Entertainment and Multimedia Apps for Mobile Phones – O2I.” Outsource to India , www.outsource2india.com/software/mobile-applications/articles/entertainment-multimedia-mobile-applications.asp. Tucker, Laura. “How Can We Use Cell Phones to Keep Us Safe?” LoveToKnow , LoveToKnow Corp, cellphones.lovetoknow.com/how-can-we-use-cell-phones-keep-us-safe.

How are mobile phones enhancing the field of education and learning?

Mobile phones have revolutionized the realm of education by functioning as portable classrooms. The accessibility of educational resources has drastically improved with the proliferation of mobile phones. Several educational applications like Khan Academy, Coursera, and Duolingo have turned these devices into knowledge hubs, offering a wide range of lessons from languages to coding. This promotes lifelong learning, enabling users to gain new skills and knowledge at their convenience and in alignment with their schedules.

How do mobile phones contribute to our daily life?

In today’s world, the use of mobile phones is not just a luxury but a necessity. Mobile phones serve as our personal assistants, assisting us in a myriad of tasks such as setting alarms, tracking physical activity, ordering groceries, and paying bills. These devices simplify our daily tasks and add value to our lifestyle. They play a pivotal role in fostering digital communication, particularly through social media, shaping the way we interact, express ourselves, and discuss social issues.

How is the constant advancement in technology influencing the importance of mobile phones?

With continuous advancements in technology, the features and capabilities of mobile phones are expanding, enhancing connectivity and accessibility. The growing importance of mobile phones is likely to impact various sectors, including healthcare and remote work. For example, in healthcare, mobile phones can support telemedicine, and in the context of remote work, they can facilitate better work-life integration. These developments underscore how mobile phones, with their numerous features and applications, have become indispensable tools in the modern world.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Mobile phones: The effect of its presence on learning and memory

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Psychology, Sunway University, Selangor, Malaysia

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

• Clarissa Theodora Tanil, 
• Min Hooi Yong

• Published: August 13, 2020
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219233
• See the preprint
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

Our aim was to examine the effect of a smartphone’s presence on learning and memory among undergraduates. A total of 119 undergraduates completed a memory task and the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS). As predicted, those without smartphones had higher recall accuracy compared to those with smartphones. Results showed a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought, “how often did you think about your phone”, and memory recall but not for SAS and memory recall. Phone conscious thought significantly predicted memory accuracy. We found that the presence of a smartphone and high phone conscious thought affects one’s memory learning and recall, indicating the negative effect of a smartphone proximity to our learning and memory.

Citation: Tanil CT, Yong MH (2020) Mobile phones: The effect of its presence on learning and memory. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0219233. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219233

Editor: Barbara Dritschel, University of St Andrews, UNITED KINGDOM

Received: June 17, 2019; Accepted: July 30, 2020; Published: August 13, 2020

Copyright: © 2020 Tanil, Yong. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript.

Funding: MHY received funding from Sunway University (GRTIN-RRO-104-2020 and INT-RRO-2018-49).

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Smartphones are a popular communication form worldwide in this century and likely to remain as such, especially among adolescents [ 1 ]. The phone has evolved from basic communicative functions–calls only–to being a computer-replacement device, used for web browsing, games, instant communication on social media platforms, and work-related productivity tools, e.g. word processing. Smartphones undoubtedly keep us connected; however, many individuals are now obsessed with them [ 2 , 3 ]. This obsession can lead to detrimental cognitive functions and mood/affective states, but these effects are still highly debated among researchers.

Altmann, Trafton, and Hambrick suggested that as little as a 3-second distraction (e.g. reaching for a cell phone) is adequate to disrupt attention while performing a cognitive task [ 4 ]. This distraction is disadvantageous to subsequent cognitive tasks, creating more errors as the distraction period increases, and this is particularly evident in classroom settings. While teachers and parents are for [ 5 ] or against cell phones in classrooms [ 6 ], empirical evidence showed that students who used their phones in class took fewer notes [ 7 ] and had poorer overall academic performance, compared to those who did not [ 8 , 9 ]. Students often multitask in classrooms and even more so with smartphones in hand. One study showed no significant difference in in-class test scores, regardless of whether they were using instant messaging [ 10 ]. However, texters took a significantly longer time to complete the in-class test, suggesting that texters required more cognitive effort in memory recall [ 10 ]. Other researchers have posited that simply the presence of a cell phone may have detrimental effects on learning and memory as well. Research has shown that a mobile phone left next to the participant while completing a task, is a powerful distractor even when not in use [ 11 , 12 ]. Their findings showed that mobile phone participants could perform similarly to control groups on simple versions of specific tasks (e.g. visual spatial search, digit cancellation), but performed much poorer in the demanding versions. In another study, researchers controlled for the location of the smartphone by taking the smartphones away from participants (low salience, LS), left the smartphone next to them (high salience/HS), or kept the smartphones in bags or pockets (control) [ 13 ]. Results showed that participants in LS condition performed significantly better compared to HS, while no difference was established between control and HS conditions. Taken together, these findings confirmed that the smartphone is a distractor even when not in use. Further, smartphone presence also increases cognitive load, because greater cognitive effort is required to inhibit distractions.

Reliance on smartphones has been linked to a form of psychological dependency, and this reliance has detrimental effect on our affective ‘mood’ states. For example, feelings of anxiety when one is separated from their smartphones can interfere with the ability to attend to information. Cheever et al. observed that heavy and moderate mobile phone users reported increased anxiety when their mobile phone was taken away as early as 10 minutes into the experiment [ 14 ]. They noted that high mobile phone usage was associated with higher risk of experiencing ‘nomophobia’ (no mobile phone phobia), a form of anxiety characterized by constantly thinking about one’s own mobile phones and the desire to stay in contact with the device [ 15 ]. Other studies reported similar separation-anxiety and other unpleasant thoughts in participants when their smartphones were taken away [ 16 ] or the usage was prohibited [ 17 , 18 ]. Participants also reported having frequent thoughts about their smartphones, despite their device being out of sight briefly (kept in bags or pockets), to the point of disrupting their task performance [ 13 ]. Taken together, these findings suggest that strong attachment towards a smartphone has immediate and lasting negative effects on mood and appears to induce anxiety.

Further, we need to consider the relationship between cognition and emotion to understand how frequent mobile phone use affects memory e.g. memory consolidation. Some empirical findings have shown that anxious individuals have attentional biases toward threats and that these biases affect memory consolidation [ 19 , 20 ]. Further, emotion-cognition interaction affects efficiency of specific cognitive functions, and that one’s affective state may enhance or hinder these functions rapidly, flexibly, and reversibly [ 21 ]. Studies have shown that positive affect improves visuospatial attention [ 22 ], sustained attention [ 23 ], and working memory [ 24 ]. The researchers attributed positive affect in participants’ improved controlled cognitive processing and less inhibitory control. On the other hand, participants’ negative affect had fewer spatial working memory errors [ 23 ] and higher cognitive failures [ 25 ]. Yet, in all of these studies–the direction of modulation, intensity, valence of experiencing a specific affective state ranged widely and primarily driven by external stimuli (i.e. participants affective states were induced from watching videos), which may not have the same motivational effect generated internally.

Present study

Prior studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of one’s smartphone on cognitive function (e.g. working memory [ 13 ], visual spatial search [ 12 ], attention [ 11 ]), and decreased cognitive ability with increasing attachment to one’s phone [ 14 , 16 , 26 ]. Further, past studies have demonstrated the effect of affective state on cognitive performance [ 19 , 20 , 22 – 25 , 27 ]. To our knowledge, no study has investigated the effect of positive or negative affective states resulting from smartphone separation on memory recall accuracy. One study showed that participants reporting an increased level of anxiety as early as 10 minutes [ 14 ]. We also do not know the extent of smartphone addiction and phone conscious thought effects on memory recall accuracy. One in every four young adults is reported to have problematic smartphone use and this is accompanied by poor mental health e.g. higher anxiety, stress, depression [ 28 ]. One report showed that young adults reached for their phones 86 times in a day on average compared to 47 times in other age groups [ 29 ]. Young adults also reported that they “definitely” or “probably” used their phone too much, suggesting that they recognised their problematic smartphone use.

We had two main aims in this study. First, we replicated [ 13 ] to determine whether ‘phone absent’ (LS) participants had higher memory accuracy compared to the ‘phone present’ (HS). Second, we predicted that participants with higher smartphone addiction scores (SAS) and higher phone conscious thought were more likely to have lower memory accuracy. With regards to separation from their smartphone, we hypothesised that LS participants will experience an increase of negative affect or a decrease in positive affect and that this will affect memory recall negatively. We will also examine whether these predictor variables–smartphone addiction, phone conscious thought and affect differences—predict memory accuracy.

Materials and methods

Participants.

A total of 119 undergraduate students (61 females, M age = 20.67 years, SD age = 2.44) were recruited from a private university in an Asian capital city. To qualify for this study, the participant must own a smartphone and does not have any visual or auditory deficiencies. Using G*Power v. 3.1.9.2 [ 30 ], we require at least 76 participants with an effect size of d = .65, α = .05 and power of (1-β) = .8 based on Thornton et al.’s [ 11 ] study, or 128 participants from Ward’s study [ 13 ].

Out of 119 participants, 43.7% reported using their smartphone mostly for social networking, followed by communication (31.1%) and entertainment (17.6%) (see Table 1 for full details on smartphone usage). Participants reported an average smartphone use of 8.16 hours in a day ( SD = 4.05). There was no significant difference between daily smartphone use for participants in the high salience (HS) and low salience groups (LS), t (117) = 1.42, p = .16, Cohen’s d = .26. Female participants spent more time using their smartphones over a 24-hour period ( M = 9.02, SD = 4.10) compared to males, ( M = 7.26, SD = 3.82), t (117) = 2.42, p = .02, Cohen’s d = .44.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219233.t001

Ethical approval and informed consent

The study was conducted in accordance with the protocol approved by the Department of Psychology Research Ethics Committee at Sunway University (approval code: 20171090). All participants provided written consent before commencing the study and were not compensated for their participation in the study.

Study design

Our experimental study was a mixed design, with smartphone presence (present vs absent) as a between-subjects factor, and memory task as a within-subjects factor. Participants who had their smartphone out of sight formed the ‘Absent’ or low-phone salience (LS) condition, and the other group had their smartphone placed next to them throughout the study, ‘Present’ or high-phone salience (HS) condition. The dependent variable was recall accuracy from the memory test.

Working memory span test.

A computerized memory span task ‘Operation Span (OS)’ retrieved from software Wadsworth CogLab 2.0 was used to assess working memory [ 31 ]. A working memory span test was chosen as a measure to test participants’ memory ability for two reasons. First, participants were required to learn and memorize three types of stimuli thus making this task complex. Second, the duration of task completion took approximately 20 minutes. This was advantageous because we wanted to increase separation-anxiety [ 16 ] as well as having the most pronounced effect on learning and memory without the presence of their smartphone [ 9 ].

The test comprised of three stimulus types, namely words (long words such as computer, refrigerator and short words like pen, cup), letters (similar sound E, P, B, and non-similar sound D, H, L) and digits (1 to 9). The test began by showing a sequence of items on the left side of the screen, with each item presented for one second. After that, participants were required to recall the stimulus from a 9-button box located on the right side of the screen. In order to respond correctly, participants were required to click on the buttons for the items in the corresponding order they were presented. A correct response increases the length of stimulus presented by one item (for each stimulus category), while an incorrect response decreases the length of the stimulus by one item. Each trial began with five stimuli and increased or decreased depending on the participants’ performance. The minimum length possible was one while the maximum was ten. Each test comprised of 25 trials with no time limit and without breaks between trials. Working memory ability was measured through the number of correct responses over total trials: scores ranged from 0 to 25, with the highest score representing superior working memory.

Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS).

We used PANAS to assess the current mood/affective state of the participants with state/feeling-descriptive statements [ 32 ]. PANAS has ten PA statements e.g. interested, enthusiastic, proud, and ten NA statements e.g. guilty, nervous, hostile. Each statement was measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging from very slightly or not at all to extremely, and then totalled to form overall PA or NA score with higher scores representing higher levels of PA or NA. In the current study, the internal reliability of PANAS was good with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .819, and .874 for PA and NA respectively.

Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS)

SAS is a 33-item self-report scale used to examine participants’ smartphone addiction [ 33 ]. SAS contained six sub-factors; daily-life disturbance that measures the extent to which mobile phone use impairs one’s activities during everyday tasks (5 statements), positive anticipation to describe the excitement of using phone and de-stressing with the use of mobile phone (8 statements), withdrawal refers to the feeling of anxiety when separated from one’s mobile phone (6 statements), cyberspace-oriented relationship refers to one’s opinion on online friendship (7 statements), overuse measures the excessive use of mobile phone to the extent that they have become inseparable from their device (4 statements), and tolerance points to the cognitive effort to control the usage of one’s smartphone (3 statements). Each statement was measured using a six-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, and total SAS was identified by totalling all 33 statements. Higher SAS scores represented higher degrees of compulsive smartphone use. In the present study, the internal reliability of SAS was identified with Cronbach's alpha correlation coefficient of .918.

Phone conscious thought and perceived effect on learning

We included a one-item question for phone conscious thought: “During the memory test how often do you think of your smartphone?”. The aim of this question was two-fold; first was to capture endogenous interruption experienced by the separation, and second to complement the smartphone addiction to reflect current immediate experience. Participants rated this item on a scale of one (none to hardly) to seven (all the time). We also included a one-item question on how much they perceived their smartphone use has affected their learning and attention: “In general, how much do you think your smartphone affects your learning performance and attention span?”. This item was similarly rated on a scale of one (not at all) to seven (very much).

We randomly assigned participants to one of two conditions: low-phone salience (LS) and high-phone salience (HS). Participants were tested in groups of three to six people in a university computer laboratory and seated two seats apart from each other to prevent communication. Each group was assigned to the same experimental condition to ensure similar environmental conditions. Participants in the HS condition were asked to place their smartphone on the left side of the table with the screen facing down. LS participants were asked to hand their smartphone to the researcher at the start of the study and the smartphones were kept on the researcher’s table throughout the task at a distance between 50cm to 300cm from the participants depending on their seat location, and located out of sight behind a small panel on the table.

At the start of the experiment, participants were briefed on the rules in the experimental lab, such as no talking and no smartphone use (for HS only). Participants were also instructed to silence their smartphones. They filled in the consent form and demographic form before completing the PANAS questionnaire. They were then directed to CogLab software and began the working memory test. Upon completion, participants were asked to complete the PANAS again followed by the SAS, phone conscious thought, and their perception of their phone use on their learning performance and attention span. The researcher thanked the participants and returned the smartphones (LS condition only) at the end of the task.

Statistical analysis

We examined for normality in our data using the Shapiro-Wilk results and visual inspection of the histogram. For the normally distributed data, we analysed our data using independent-sample t -test for comparison between groups (HS or LS), paired-sample t test for within groups (e.g. before and after phone separation), and Pearson r for correlation. Non-normally distributed or ranked data were analysed using Spearman rho for correlation.

Preliminary analyses

Our female participants reported using their smartphone significantly longer than males, and so we examined the effects of gender on memory recall accuracy. We found no significant difference between males and females on memory recall accuracy, t (117) = .18, p = .86, Cohen’s d = .03. Subsequently, data were collapsed, analysed and reported on in the aggregate.

Smartphone presence and memory recall accuracy

An independent-sample t- test was used to examine whether participants’ performance on a working memory task was influenced by the presence (HS) or absence (LS) of their smartphone. Results showed that participants in the LS condition had higher accuracy ( M = 14.21, SD = 2.61) compared to HS ( M = 13.08, SD = 2.53), t (117) = 2.38, p = .02, Cohen’s d = .44 (see Fig 1 ). The effect size ᶇ 2 = .44 indicates that smartphone presence/salience has a moderate effect on participant working memory ability and a sensitivity power of .66.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219233.g001

Relationship between Smartphone Addiction Score (SAS), higher phone conscious thought and memory recall accuracy

Sas and memory recal..

We first examined participants’ SAS scores between the two conditions. Results showed no significant difference between the LS (M = 104.64, SD = 24.86) and HS (M = 102.70, SD = 20.45) SAS scores, t (117) = .46, p = .64, Cohen’s d = .09. We predicted that those with higher SAS scores will have lower memory accuracy, and thus we examined the relationship between SAS and memory recall accuracy using Pearson correlation coefficient. Results showed that there was no significant relationship between SAS and memory recall accuracy, r = -.03, n = 119, p = .76. We also examined the SAS scores between the LS and HS groups on memory recall accuracy scores. In the LS group, no significant relationship was established between SAS score and memory accuracy, r = -.04, n = 58, p = .74. Similarly, there was no significant relationship between SAS score and memory accuracy in the HS group, r = .10, n = 61, p = .47. In the event that one SAS subscale may have a larger impact, we examined the relationship between each subscale and memory recall accuracy. Results showed no significant relationship between each sub-factor of SAS scores and memory accuracy, all p s > .12 (see Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219233.t002

Phone conscious thought and memory accuracy.

We found a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought and memory recall accuracy, r S = -.25, n = 119, p = .01. We anticipated a higher phone conscious thought for the LS group since their phone was kept away from them during the task and examined the relationship for each condition. Results showed a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought and memory accuracy in the HS condition, r S = -.49, n = 61, p = < .001, as well as the LS condition, r S = -.27, n = 58, p = .04.

Affect/mood changes after being separated from their phone

We anticipated that our participants may have experienced either an increase in negative affect (NA) or a decrease in positive affect (PA) after being separated from their phone (LS condition).

We first computed the mean difference (After minus Before) for both positive ‘PA difference’ and negative affect ‘NA difference’. A repeated-measures 2 (Mood change: PA difference, NA difference) x 2 (Conditions: LS, HS) ANOVA was conducted to determine whether there is an interaction between mood change and condition. There was no interaction effect of mood change and condition, F (1, 117) = .38, p = .54, n p 2 = .003. There was a significant effect of Mood change, F (1, 117) = 13.01, p < .001, n p 2 = .10 (see Fig 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219233.g002

Subsequent post-hoc analyses showed a significant decrease in participants’ positive affect before ( M = 31.12, SD = 5.79) and after ( M = 29.36, SD = 6.58) completing the memory task in the LS participants, t (57) = 2.48, p = .02, Cohen’s d = .28 but not for the negative affect, Cohen’s d = .07. A similar outcome was also shown in the HS condition, in which there was a significant decrease in positive affect only, t (60) = 3.45, p = .001, Cohen’s d = .37 (see Fig 2 ).

PA/NA difference on memory accuracy.

We predicted that LS participants will experience either an increase in NA and/or a decrease in PA since their smartphones were taken away and that this will affect memory recall negatively. Results showed that LS participants who experienced a higher NA difference had poorer memory recall accuracy ( r s = -.394, p = .002). We found no significant relationship between NA difference and memory recall accuracy for HS participants ( r s = -.057, p = .663, n = 61) and no significant relationship for PA difference in both HS ( r s = .217, p = .093) and LS conditions ( r s = .063, p = .638).

Relationship between phone conscious thought, smartphone addiction scale and mood changes to memory recall accuracy

Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity, multicollinearity and homoscedasticity. There was a significant positive relationship between SAS scores and phone conscious thought, r S = .25, n = 119, p = .007. Using the enter method, we found that phone conscious thought explained by the model as a whole was 19.9%, R 2 = .20, R 2 Adjusted = .17, F (4, 114) = 7.10, p < .001. Phone conscious thought significantly predicted memory recall accuracy, b = -.63, t (114) = 4.76, p < .001, but not for the SAS score, b = .02, t (114) = 1.72, p = .09, PA difference score, b = .05, t (114) = 1.29, p = .20, and NA difference score, b = .06, t (114) = 1.61, p = .11.

Perception between phone usage and learning

For the participants’ perception of their phone usage on their learning and attention span, we found no significant difference between LS ( M = 4.22, SD = 1.58) and HS participants ( M = 4.07, SD = 1.62), t (117) = .54, p = .59, Cohen’s d = .09. There was also no significant correlation between perceived cognitive interference and memory accuracy, r = .07, p = .47.

We aimed [ 1 ] to examine the effect of smartphone presence on memory recall accuracy and [ 2 ] to investigate the relationship between affective states, phone conscious thought, and smartphone addiction to memory recall accuracy. For the former, our results were consistent with prior studies [ 11 – 13 ] in that participants had lower accuracy when their smartphone was next to them (HS) and higher accuracy when separated from their smartphones (LS). For the latter, we predicted that the short-term separation from their smartphone would evoke some anxiety, identified by either lower PA or higher NA post-test. Our results showed that both groups had experienced a decrease in PA post-test, suggesting that the reduced PA is likely to have stemmed from the prohibited usage (HS) and/or separation from their phone (LS). Our results also showed lower memory recall in the LS group who experienced higher NA providing some evidence that separation from their smartphone does contribute to feelings of anxiety. This is consistent with past studies in which participants reported increased anxiety over time when separated from their phones [ 14 ], or when smartphone usage was prohibited [ 17 ].

We also examined another variable–phone conscious thought–described in past studies [ 11 , 13 ], as a measure of smartphone addiction. Our findings showed that phone conscious thought is negatively correlated to memory recall in both HS and LS groups, and uniquely contributed 19.9% in our regression model. We propose that phone conscious thought is more relevant and meaningful compared to SAS as a measure of smartphone addiction [ 15 ] because unlike the SAS, this question can capture endogenous interruptions from their smartphone behaviour and participants were to simply report their behaviour within the last hour. The SAS is better suited to describe problematic smartphone use as the statements described behaviours over a longer duration. Further, SAS statements included some judgmental terms such as fretful, irritated, and this might have influenced participants’ ability in recalling such behaviour. We did not find any support for high smartphone addiction to low memory recall accuracy. Our participants in both HS and LS groups had similar high SAS scores, and they were similar to Kwon et al. [ 33 ] study, providing further evidence that smartphone addiction is relatively high in the student population compared to other categories such as employees, professionals, unemployed. Our participants’ high SAS scores and primary use of the smartphone was for social media signals potential problematic users [ 34 ]. Students’ usage of social networking (SNS) is common and the fear of missing out (FOMO) may fuel the SNS addiction [ 35 ]. Frequent checks on social media is an indication of lower levels of self-control and may indicate a need for belonging.

Our results for the presence of a smartphone and frequent phone conscious thought on memory recall is likely due to participants’ cognitive load ‘bandwidth effect’ that contributed to poor memory recall rather than a failure in their memory processes. Past studies have shown that participants with smartphones could generally perform simple cognitive tasks as well as those without, suggesting that memory failure in participants themselves to be an unlikely reason [ 1 , 3 , 5 ]. Due to our study design, we are unable to tease apart whether the presence of the smartphone had interfered with encoding, consolidation, or recall stage in our participants. This is certainly something of consideration for future studies to determine which aspects of memory processes are more susceptible to smartphone presence.

There are several limitations in our study. First, we did not ask the phone conscious thought at specific time points during the study. Having done so might have determined whether such thoughts impaired encoding, consolidating, or retrieval. Second, we did not include the simple version of this task as a comparison to rule out possible confounds within the sample. We did maintain similar external stimuli in their environment during testing, e.g. all participants were in one specific condition, lab temperature, lab noise, and thereby ruling out possible external factors that may have interfered with their memory processes. Third, the OS task itself. This task is complex and unfamiliar, which may have caused some disadvantages to some participants. However, the advantage of an unfamiliar task requires more cognitive effort to learn and progress and therefore demonstrates the limited cognitive load capacity in our brain, and whether such limitation is easily affected by the presence of a smartphone. Future studies could consider allowing participants to use their smartphone in both conditions and including eye-tracking measures to determine their smartphone attachment behaviour.

Implications

Future studies should look into the online learning environment. Students are often users of multiple electronic devices and are expected to use their devices frequently to learn various learning materials. Because students frequently use their smartphones for social media and communication during lessons [ 34 , 36 ], the online learning environment becomes far more challenging compared to a face-to-face environment. It is highly unlikely that we can ban smartphones despite evidence showing that students performed poorer academically with their smartphones presented next to them. The challenge is then to engage students to remain focused on their lessons while minimising other content. Some online platforms (e.g. Kahoot and Mentimeter) create a fun interactive experience to which students complete tasks on their smartphones and allow the instructor to monitor their performance from a computer. Another example is to use Twitter as a classroom tool [ 37 ].

The ubiquitous nature of the smartphone in our lives also meant that our young graduates are constantly connected to their smartphones and very likely to be on SNS even at work. Our findings showed that the most frequently used feature was the SNS sites e.g. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Being frequently on SNS sites may be a challenge in the workforce because these young adults need to maintain barriers between professional and social lives. Young adults claim that SNS can be productive at work [ 38 ], but many advise to avoid crossing boundaries between professional and social lives [ 39 , 40 ]. Perhaps a more useful approach is to recognise a good balance when using SNS to meet both social and professional demands for the young workforce.

In conclusion, the presence of the smartphone and frequent thoughts of their smartphone significantly affected memory recall accuracy, demonstrating that they contributed to an increase in cognitive load ‘bandwidth effect’ interrupting participants’ memory processes. Our initial hypothesis that experiencing higher NA or lower PA would have reduced their memory recall was not supported, suggesting that other factors not examined in this study may have influenced our participants’ affective states. With the rapid rise in the e-learning environment and increasing smartphone ownership, smartphones will continue to be present in the classroom and work environment. It is important that we manage or integrate the smartphones into the classroom but will remain a contentious issue between instructors and students.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our participants for volunteering to participate in this study, and comments on earlier drafts by Louisa Lawrie and Su Woan Wo. We would also like to thank one anonymous reviewer for commenting on the drafts.

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From “brick” to smartphone: the evolution of the mobile phone

• FEATURES POSTERMINARIES
• Published: 05 March 2021
• Volume 46 , pages 287–288, ( 2021 )

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• Steve Moss 1  

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Telephony began in the 1870s with the invention of the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent for his version of the telephone at the US Patent Office in Washington, DC, on February 14, 1876, just a few hours before his competitor Elisha Gray filed his patent based upon independent work. 1 Since then, materials research has pushed this field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services, particularly in recent years.

The proliferation of telephones did not make a great overnight leap. In fact, as late as 1950, only 62% of American households contained a telephone, 2 and that number had been significantly smaller before World War II. Most communications were by telegram, letter, or through face-to-face discussions. One significant hindrance to communication was natural disasters, which often led to long periods of no information between family and friends.

On the evening of January 3, 1949, a devastating tornado struck the small town of Warren, Ark. 3 The tornado left more than 50 dead and more than 300 injured. My dad’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew, as well as many friends, lived in Warren at that time and were affected. Telephone lines were destroyed. My parents and I lived far away and had no way to get in contact with them. More than a week passed before we received word that they were okay.

My father later accepted a faculty position at Arkansas A&M College in Monticello, 16 miles from Warren, to be closer to his family. When we moved to a farm near the campus, our first telephone line was a party line, which consisted of a single channel shared by many people. This offered little in the way of privacy, as others outside of your household could listen to conversations. We eventually upgraded to a private landline. The phone was located in a central part of the house, and the cord was only a few feet long, which meant that you were essentially tethered to that spot when making or answering a call, not ideal for any teenager craving privacy.

People then didn’t have the luxury of cell phones, and instead often used pay phones by inserting money or calling collect. Jim Croce has a wonderful song, “Operator,” 4 about an unsuccessful attempt to connect with some old friends. I often wonder if younger people understand the significance of the lyrics, including the phrase “You can keep the dime.”

Today, humanity is more connected than ever through the use of cell phones. However, mobile phones didn’t start in their current, sleek style. The first mobile phone by Motorola in 1983 5 was so big and heavy that it was nicknamed “the brick.” Current phones are significantly more lightweight and compact and have the capability to text, email, access social media, access the Internet, and much more.

According to recent surveys, 75% of the world’s population owns a cell phone. 6 , 7 Surveys in 2019 indicated that there were 5.11 billion unique mobile phone users, and that 2.71 billion of them used smartphones. People from China (> 782 million users) and India (> 386 million users) are the largest consumers of smartphones, followed by the United States (> 235 million users).

If you search for technological advances that facilitated progress to the current state of cell phone technology, you will find lists that include the Internet, global positioning systems, touch screens, cameras, high-speed modems, displays, batteries, and a host of other materials and technologies. 8 , 9

The computers that drive recent smartphones have 64-bit architectures. 10 , 11 They are usually fabricated as a system-on-a-chip and include multiple cores and extra features, such as neural engines and embedded motion coprocessors. They contain cameras with more than 10 megapixels and multi-element lens systems and include zoom capabilities and two-axis stabilization. The phones support a wide variety of standard communication protocols, including accessibility features for those who wear hearing aids. Recent smartphone microprocessors have been built with fin field-effect transistors (finFETs) 12 manufactured at the 10 nm, 7 nm, and 5 nm processing scales. They also include a range of sensors, including for facial identification, a barometer, a three-axis gyro, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, a Hall sensor, and a RGB light sensor. 10 , 11

These systems are also designed to take advantage of fifth-generation (5G) cell phone networks with advantages in bandwidth and data rates (eventually up to 10 Gbps). 13

Integrating even a fraction of these capabilities into the early Motorola mobile phone would have likely expanded the size, weight, and power requirements well beyond what one person could have easily carried. (As I write this, an image of a famous body-builder, Arnold Schwarzenegger, struggling to lift this enhanced “brick” popped into my head, as he was trailed by a large generator on wheels to power the phone.) This does not factor in the fact that many of these technologies did not exist at the time.

Microelectronics has evolved through a range of technologies and materials developments over the years 14 , 15 that have affected transistors (bipolar junction transistors, various metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors, including finFETs), dielectrics (thermal oxides, high- k dielectrics), metallization (aluminum, polysilicon, copper, tungsten vias), high levels of integration, including multilayer metallization, and integration of billions of transistors per chip. Fabrication of modern microchips involves many hundreds of process steps that have to be performed within narrow tolerances. It is remarkable that these fabrication lines yield in numbers high enough to be economically viable. If any step falls outside of the tolerances, then yield can fall catastrophically. This would kick off an investigation to determine the root cause(s) of the problem and can shut down fabrication lines for long periods of time—an expensive proposition. Developing these technologies and the processes that allow them to be inserted into high-yield fabrication lines have occupied hordes of materials researchers for decades.

I could write similar discussions of materials advances in batteries, displays, touch screens, and camera systems that have relied on similar hordes of materials researchers. However, I’m out of space for this article, so those stories will have to wait until another time.

The features described, the ease of carrying modern cell phones, and their economic affordability are driving the surge in worldwide usage. Access to information is only as good as the information. We are constantly bombarded with inaccurate information as well as disinformation. Filtering all of that can be difficult and time consuming. Instantaneous access to information using cell phone and other electronic technologies provides the unwary with an opportunity to make huge mistakes quickly.

The use of landline phones reached a peak in the 2000s. Now they are down to around 40% of American households and declining. 16 I am one of those neo-Luddites who has chosen to keep my landline. I find that, for now, it gives me some comfort to have it available.

Warts and all, the proliferation of cell phone systems is good. Widespread outages due to local events are unlikely to destroy all cell towers in a local community. Therefore, people are likely to maintain some capability for communication, even if impacted by tornados such as the one on January 3, 1949, in Warren, Ark.

The invention of the telephone - Ericsson

https://www.statista.com/statistics/189959/housing-units-with-telephones-in-the-united-states-since-1920/

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Moss, S. From “brick” to smartphone: the evolution of the mobile phone. MRS Bulletin 46 , 287–288 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-021-00067-7

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• Mobile Phone Essay in English for Students

Essay on Mobile Phone for Students

What is an essay? An essay is a write-up from one’s perspective or jotting down one’s thoughts in one place regarding any topic. Writing an essay helps one to develop their writing skills and inculcate creativity in their writing. Likewise, all the parents should teach their kids how to write an essay. 

For your convenience, we have provided a sample essay on ‘Mobile Phone’ in the following. Take a glance through the article so that it becomes easy for you to teach how to write an essay effortlessly.

Mobile Phone

In the era of technical advancement, mobile phones play a very significant role. Technology has made our life quite easier. Life without a mobile phone seems to be quite impossible these days. Precisely, we become handicapped without a phone in hand.

Speaking of mobile phones, it is also referred to as ‘cellular phone’ or ‘smartphone’. Martin Cooper of Motorola produced the first handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on 3 April 1973. 

Earlier it was only used for calling. But these days, everything is possible through a mobile phone. From sending a message to video calling, internet browsing, photography to video games, emailing and a lot more services can be availed through this handheld phone. 

Advantages of Using Mobile Phones

There are several advantages to using a mobile phone. Here are some provided in the following. 

Helps to Communicate:

Life is easier with mobiles. It helps you to communicate with your near and dear ones through calls, video chats, text messages, emails. Apart from that, it helps you to book a cab, show the map direction, order groceries and many more things. The main advantage of having a mobile is it helps to keep you connected with the entire world irrespective of your location.

A Medium of Entertainment:

With the advent of mobile, now you will be able to get entertained wherever you are. Now the world of entertainment is available just a click away, such as you can watch movies, listen to music, or watch your favorite sports or browse on social media networks etc. 

Mobile Banking:

Can you imagine doing all of your banking transactions and other relevant work through your cell phone? Yes, now everything is possible with the advancement of technology. Be it making a quick payment or transferring money to your family or checking the transaction history or accessing the bank accounts, everything is possible with just a tap of your button. So, it is quite efficient and saves a lot of your precious time.

Office Work Through Mobile:

These days mobiles are used for different types of official work such as scheduling meetings, giving presentations, sending and receiving important documents, applying for jobs, etc. Mobiles have become an essential device in every working person’s life.

Disadvantages of Using Mobile Phones

Creating distance:

While mobile phones claim to connect people and help to communicate with each other, the irony here is that it is creating more distance between people. Nowadays people are more hooked on their phones. So, they mostly spend their time browsing social media or texting each other rather than meeting and talking face to face. 

No Privacy:

These days one of the major concerns is losing one’s privacy through mobile usage. Now anyone could easily access all the important information related to you with just one tap. Not only your information, information about your family, friends, personal life, career, everything is pretty easily accessible. 

Waste of a Lot of Time and Money:

Time and money both are precious in everyone’s life. As the utilization of mobile phones is increasing day by day, the waste of time and money is also increasing gradually. People are becoming addicted to their phones, be it surfing the internet or playing games or checking social media. Besides, the smarter a phone becomes, the more money people spend to buy that phone instead of spending the money on something useful.

FAQs on Mobile Phone Essay in English for Students

1. What is essay writing?

An essay is a piece of writing that expresses the author's point of view; yet, the definition is ambiguous, merging with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short fiction. Formal and casual essays have typically been divided into two categories. The formal essay has a serious objective, dignity, logical organization, and length, whereas the informal essay has a personal element, humor, graceful language, rambling structure, unconventionality or freshness of theme," and so on.

Literary critique, political manifestos, academic arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author are all popular uses for essays. Although almost all modern essays are written in prose, compositions in verse have often been labeled as essays. While an essay is typically defined by its brevity, works such as John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population are exceptions. To garner more information, click here.

2. Give a brief overview of mobile phones and their history.

Mobile phones are quite important in this age of technological growth. Our lives have been made much easier by technological advancements. These days, life appears to be impossible without a cell phone. Without a phone in our hands, we become disabled.

When it comes to mobile phones, they're also known as 'cellular phones' or smartphones.' On April 3, 1973, Motorola's Martin Cooper made the first handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC device.

It was formerly only used for calling. However, nowadays, everything is possible via a mobile phone. This handheld phone can do anything from sending a message to video calling, internet browsing, photography, video games, and emailing, among other things.

3. What are some advantages of using mobile phones?

Using a mobile phone has several benefits. The following are a few suggestions.

Aids in Communication:

Mobile phones make life easier. It allows you to contact your loved ones via phone conversations, video chats, text messages, and emails. Apart from that, it assists you in booking a cab, displaying map directions, ordering groceries, and a variety of other tasks. The biggest benefit of owning a mobile phone is that it allows you to stay connected to the rest of the world regardless of where you are.

An Entertainment Medium:

With the introduction of mobile phones, you may now be amused wherever you are. The world of entertainment is now just a click away, with options such as watching movies, listening to music, watching your favorite sports or browsing social media networks.

4. State some of the drawbacks of using mobile phones.

Some of the drawbacks of using mobile phones are:

Creating a buffer:

While mobile phones claim to connect people and make it easier for them to interact, the irony is that they create more distance between them. People nowadays are more reliant on their phones. As a result, they choose to spend their time on social media or texting instead of meeting and talking face to face.

There is no privacy:

One of the major issues these days is losing one's privacy due to cell phone usage. With just one swipe, anyone may now readily access all of your vital information. Not only is your information easily accessible, but so is information about your family, friends, personal life, and work.

A waste of time and money:

In everyone's life, time and money are both quite valuable. As the number of people using mobile phones grows, so does the amount of time and money spent on them.

5. How is an essay writing useful to students?

Writing essays help students develop important abilities and functions in their education, making them more useful. One, writing essays allows students to practice and improve abilities that they can apply throughout their academic careers and into their careers. For example, one can improve their reading and writing skills, as well as their capacity to think, organize thoughts, and communicate effectively.

Two, it enables pupils to develop a formal and orderly writing style that reliably conveys information. Three, it aids in the organization of your thoughts on what you are learning, the development of vocabulary, and the development of a distinct writing style. Get free study materials through the Vedantu app and website.

• Mobile Phones

Essay on Mobile Phones

500 + words uses of mobile phones essay.

Mobile phones, chiefly used to make voice calls to people, are also popular as cell/cellular phones. The current technological developments have made our lives more comfortable. We are becoming more and more dependent on mobile phones for our communication. From calling to emailing or texting and even making purchases online, the uses of mobile phones are numerous. For this reason, mobile phones are also known as “smartphones” now.

Mobile Phones Essay

The fact that we should also avoid overdependence on mobile phones is also discussed in this essay on the mobile phone. This mobile phone essay in English discusses the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones. Learn from this essay how to write a persuasive essay on mobile phones for students and help them ace essay writing.

Advantages of Mobile Phones Essay

This section of the mobile essay talks about the advantages of mobile phones. See here what this mobile phone paragraph has to say.

• Stay connected: – Mobile phones are the best way to stay connected with your friends and family living away from you. Voice calls, video calls, emails, messages and texts- thus, the communication modes via cell phones are multitude.
• Mode of entertainment: – As technology advances, you can now find the entire entertainment industry at your fingertips on your mobile. There are apps on mobiles to watch films, series/ shows, documentaries, news, read books, listen to music and much more.
• Managing office work :- With working from home becoming more popular now due to the Covid-19 pandemic, mobile phones can also simplify our work. From creating and getting reminders about meeting schedules, online meetings, sending and receiving emails/ files, giving presentations, setting alarms and applying for jobs to setting up a calendar to do jobs, mobile phones are beneficial for working people. Instant messaging and official emails via mobile phones also flow forth to connect with office people.

Disadvantages of Mobile Phones Essay

There are also cons to using mobile phones. Find here the disadvantages of mobile phones.

• Become overdependent on mobile phones :- It is seen that people tend to become overdependent on mobile phones, thus wasting their time. With technological advancement, the use of mobile phones has increased, making people addicted to them.
• People become more non-communicable :- They use mobile phones more as a mode of communication or to entertain themselves, thus meeting people less or talking less. As time goes by, they become rather incommunicable.
• Privacy loss:- Loss of privacy is another primary concern on the rise due to over usage of mobile phones. It is now possible to get personal details like where you live, details of your friends and family, job and education and so on via mobile phones.

Thus, see how there are pros and cons to using a mobile phone, from these advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones essay. Seeing as how mobile phones are now an integral part of our lives, it’s up to us to know how to use them properly to lead a hassle-free life without misusing them.

Also Read: Social Media Essay | Essay on Health is Wealth | Essay On Constitution of India

Frequently Asked Questions on Mobile Phones Essay

Who invented the mobile.

The mobile phone was invented in the year 1973 by Martin Cooper.

What is the role of mobile phones in our lives?

Mobile phones are a part of our lives now. Some of its main roles are storing data, instant communicative purposes, digital cameras, etc.

How can a mobile phone be of use to the student?

Students can use mobile phones for various study and research purposes. An abundant amount of information which is useful for students can be accessed through mobile phones.

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Mobile phones: The effect of its presence on learning and memory

Clarissa Theodora Tanil

Department of Psychology, Sunway University, Selangor, Malaysia

Min Hooi Yong

Associated data.

All relevant data are within the manuscript.

Our aim was to examine the effect of a smartphone’s presence on learning and memory among undergraduates. A total of 119 undergraduates completed a memory task and the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS). As predicted, those without smartphones had higher recall accuracy compared to those with smartphones. Results showed a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought, “how often did you think about your phone”, and memory recall but not for SAS and memory recall. Phone conscious thought significantly predicted memory accuracy. We found that the presence of a smartphone and high phone conscious thought affects one’s memory learning and recall, indicating the negative effect of a smartphone proximity to our learning and memory.

Introduction

Smartphones are a popular communication form worldwide in this century and likely to remain as such, especially among adolescents [ 1 ]. The phone has evolved from basic communicative functions–calls only–to being a computer-replacement device, used for web browsing, games, instant communication on social media platforms, and work-related productivity tools, e.g. word processing. Smartphones undoubtedly keep us connected; however, many individuals are now obsessed with them [ 2 , 3 ]. This obsession can lead to detrimental cognitive functions and mood/affective states, but these effects are still highly debated among researchers.

Altmann, Trafton, and Hambrick suggested that as little as a 3-second distraction (e.g. reaching for a cell phone) is adequate to disrupt attention while performing a cognitive task [ 4 ]. This distraction is disadvantageous to subsequent cognitive tasks, creating more errors as the distraction period increases, and this is particularly evident in classroom settings. While teachers and parents are for [ 5 ] or against cell phones in classrooms [ 6 ], empirical evidence showed that students who used their phones in class took fewer notes [ 7 ] and had poorer overall academic performance, compared to those who did not [ 8 , 9 ]. Students often multitask in classrooms and even more so with smartphones in hand. One study showed no significant difference in in-class test scores, regardless of whether they were using instant messaging [ 10 ]. However, texters took a significantly longer time to complete the in-class test, suggesting that texters required more cognitive effort in memory recall [ 10 ]. Other researchers have posited that simply the presence of a cell phone may have detrimental effects on learning and memory as well. Research has shown that a mobile phone left next to the participant while completing a task, is a powerful distractor even when not in use [ 11 , 12 ]. Their findings showed that mobile phone participants could perform similarly to control groups on simple versions of specific tasks (e.g. visual spatial search, digit cancellation), but performed much poorer in the demanding versions. In another study, researchers controlled for the location of the smartphone by taking the smartphones away from participants (low salience, LS), left the smartphone next to them (high salience/HS), or kept the smartphones in bags or pockets (control) [ 13 ]. Results showed that participants in LS condition performed significantly better compared to HS, while no difference was established between control and HS conditions. Taken together, these findings confirmed that the smartphone is a distractor even when not in use. Further, smartphone presence also increases cognitive load, because greater cognitive effort is required to inhibit distractions.

Reliance on smartphones has been linked to a form of psychological dependency, and this reliance has detrimental effect on our affective ‘mood’ states. For example, feelings of anxiety when one is separated from their smartphones can interfere with the ability to attend to information. Cheever et al. observed that heavy and moderate mobile phone users reported increased anxiety when their mobile phone was taken away as early as 10 minutes into the experiment [ 14 ]. They noted that high mobile phone usage was associated with higher risk of experiencing ‘nomophobia’ (no mobile phone phobia), a form of anxiety characterized by constantly thinking about one’s own mobile phones and the desire to stay in contact with the device [ 15 ]. Other studies reported similar separation-anxiety and other unpleasant thoughts in participants when their smartphones were taken away [ 16 ] or the usage was prohibited [ 17 , 18 ]. Participants also reported having frequent thoughts about their smartphones, despite their device being out of sight briefly (kept in bags or pockets), to the point of disrupting their task performance [ 13 ]. Taken together, these findings suggest that strong attachment towards a smartphone has immediate and lasting negative effects on mood and appears to induce anxiety.

Further, we need to consider the relationship between cognition and emotion to understand how frequent mobile phone use affects memory e.g. memory consolidation. Some empirical findings have shown that anxious individuals have attentional biases toward threats and that these biases affect memory consolidation [ 19 , 20 ]. Further, emotion-cognition interaction affects efficiency of specific cognitive functions, and that one’s affective state may enhance or hinder these functions rapidly, flexibly, and reversibly [ 21 ]. Studies have shown that positive affect improves visuospatial attention [ 22 ], sustained attention [ 23 ], and working memory [ 24 ]. The researchers attributed positive affect in participants’ improved controlled cognitive processing and less inhibitory control. On the other hand, participants’ negative affect had fewer spatial working memory errors [ 23 ] and higher cognitive failures [ 25 ]. Yet, in all of these studies–the direction of modulation, intensity, valence of experiencing a specific affective state ranged widely and primarily driven by external stimuli (i.e. participants affective states were induced from watching videos), which may not have the same motivational effect generated internally.

Present study

Prior studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of one’s smartphone on cognitive function (e.g. working memory [ 13 ], visual spatial search [ 12 ], attention [ 11 ]), and decreased cognitive ability with increasing attachment to one’s phone [ 14 , 16 , 26 ]. Further, past studies have demonstrated the effect of affective state on cognitive performance [ 19 , 20 , 22 – 25 , 27 ]. To our knowledge, no study has investigated the effect of positive or negative affective states resulting from smartphone separation on memory recall accuracy. One study showed that participants reporting an increased level of anxiety as early as 10 minutes [ 14 ]. We also do not know the extent of smartphone addiction and phone conscious thought effects on memory recall accuracy. One in every four young adults is reported to have problematic smartphone use and this is accompanied by poor mental health e.g. higher anxiety, stress, depression [ 28 ]. One report showed that young adults reached for their phones 86 times in a day on average compared to 47 times in other age groups [ 29 ]. Young adults also reported that they “definitely” or “probably” used their phone too much, suggesting that they recognised their problematic smartphone use.

We had two main aims in this study. First, we replicated [ 13 ] to determine whether ‘phone absent’ (LS) participants had higher memory accuracy compared to the ‘phone present’ (HS). Second, we predicted that participants with higher smartphone addiction scores (SAS) and higher phone conscious thought were more likely to have lower memory accuracy. With regards to separation from their smartphone, we hypothesised that LS participants will experience an increase of negative affect or a decrease in positive affect and that this will affect memory recall negatively. We will also examine whether these predictor variables–smartphone addiction, phone conscious thought and affect differences—predict memory accuracy.

Materials and methods

Participants.

A total of 119 undergraduate students (61 females, M age = 20.67 years, SD age = 2.44) were recruited from a private university in an Asian capital city. To qualify for this study, the participant must own a smartphone and does not have any visual or auditory deficiencies. Using G*Power v. 3.1.9.2 [ 30 ], we require at least 76 participants with an effect size of d = .65, α = .05 and power of (1-β) = .8 based on Thornton et al.’s [ 11 ] study, or 128 participants from Ward’s study [ 13 ].

Out of 119 participants, 43.7% reported using their smartphone mostly for social networking, followed by communication (31.1%) and entertainment (17.6%) (see Table 1 for full details on smartphone usage). Participants reported an average smartphone use of 8.16 hours in a day ( SD = 4.05). There was no significant difference between daily smartphone use for participants in the high salience (HS) and low salience groups (LS), t (117) = 1.42, p = .16, Cohen’s d = .26. Female participants spent more time using their smartphones over a 24-hour period ( M = 9.02, SD = 4.10) compared to males, ( M = 7.26, SD = 3.82), t (117) = 2.42, p = .02, Cohen’s d = .44.

Ethical approval and informed consent

The study was conducted in accordance with the protocol approved by the Department of Psychology Research Ethics Committee at Sunway University (approval code: 20171090). All participants provided written consent before commencing the study and were not compensated for their participation in the study.

Study design

Our experimental study was a mixed design, with smartphone presence (present vs absent) as a between-subjects factor, and memory task as a within-subjects factor. Participants who had their smartphone out of sight formed the ‘Absent’ or low-phone salience (LS) condition, and the other group had their smartphone placed next to them throughout the study, ‘Present’ or high-phone salience (HS) condition. The dependent variable was recall accuracy from the memory test.

Working memory span test

A computerized memory span task ‘Operation Span (OS)’ retrieved from software Wadsworth CogLab 2.0 was used to assess working memory [ 31 ]. A working memory span test was chosen as a measure to test participants’ memory ability for two reasons. First, participants were required to learn and memorize three types of stimuli thus making this task complex. Second, the duration of task completion took approximately 20 minutes. This was advantageous because we wanted to increase separation-anxiety [ 16 ] as well as having the most pronounced effect on learning and memory without the presence of their smartphone [ 9 ].

The test comprised of three stimulus types, namely words (long words such as computer, refrigerator and short words like pen, cup), letters (similar sound E, P, B, and non-similar sound D, H, L) and digits (1 to 9). The test began by showing a sequence of items on the left side of the screen, with each item presented for one second. After that, participants were required to recall the stimulus from a 9-button box located on the right side of the screen. In order to respond correctly, participants were required to click on the buttons for the items in the corresponding order they were presented. A correct response increases the length of stimulus presented by one item (for each stimulus category), while an incorrect response decreases the length of the stimulus by one item. Each trial began with five stimuli and increased or decreased depending on the participants’ performance. The minimum length possible was one while the maximum was ten. Each test comprised of 25 trials with no time limit and without breaks between trials. Working memory ability was measured through the number of correct responses over total trials: scores ranged from 0 to 25, with the highest score representing superior working memory.

Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)

We used PANAS to assess the current mood/affective state of the participants with state/feeling-descriptive statements [ 32 ]. PANAS has ten PA statements e.g. interested, enthusiastic, proud, and ten NA statements e.g. guilty, nervous, hostile. Each statement was measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging from very slightly or not at all to extremely, and then totalled to form overall PA or NA score with higher scores representing higher levels of PA or NA. In the current study, the internal reliability of PANAS was good with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .819, and .874 for PA and NA respectively.

Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS)

SAS is a 33-item self-report scale used to examine participants’ smartphone addiction [ 33 ]. SAS contained six sub-factors; daily-life disturbance that measures the extent to which mobile phone use impairs one’s activities during everyday tasks (5 statements), positive anticipation to describe the excitement of using phone and de-stressing with the use of mobile phone (8 statements), withdrawal refers to the feeling of anxiety when separated from one’s mobile phone (6 statements), cyberspace-oriented relationship refers to one’s opinion on online friendship (7 statements), overuse measures the excessive use of mobile phone to the extent that they have become inseparable from their device (4 statements), and tolerance points to the cognitive effort to control the usage of one’s smartphone (3 statements). Each statement was measured using a six-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, and total SAS was identified by totalling all 33 statements. Higher SAS scores represented higher degrees of compulsive smartphone use. In the present study, the internal reliability of SAS was identified with Cronbach's alpha correlation coefficient of .918.

Phone conscious thought and perceived effect on learning

We included a one-item question for phone conscious thought: “During the memory test how often do you think of your smartphone?”. The aim of this question was two-fold; first was to capture endogenous interruption experienced by the separation, and second to complement the smartphone addiction to reflect current immediate experience. Participants rated this item on a scale of one (none to hardly) to seven (all the time). We also included a one-item question on how much they perceived their smartphone use has affected their learning and attention: “In general, how much do you think your smartphone affects your learning performance and attention span?”. This item was similarly rated on a scale of one (not at all) to seven (very much).

We randomly assigned participants to one of two conditions: low-phone salience (LS) and high-phone salience (HS). Participants were tested in groups of three to six people in a university computer laboratory and seated two seats apart from each other to prevent communication. Each group was assigned to the same experimental condition to ensure similar environmental conditions. Participants in the HS condition were asked to place their smartphone on the left side of the table with the screen facing down. LS participants were asked to hand their smartphone to the researcher at the start of the study and the smartphones were kept on the researcher’s table throughout the task at a distance between 50cm to 300cm from the participants depending on their seat location, and located out of sight behind a small panel on the table.

At the start of the experiment, participants were briefed on the rules in the experimental lab, such as no talking and no smartphone use (for HS only). Participants were also instructed to silence their smartphones. They filled in the consent form and demographic form before completing the PANAS questionnaire. They were then directed to CogLab software and began the working memory test. Upon completion, participants were asked to complete the PANAS again followed by the SAS, phone conscious thought, and their perception of their phone use on their learning performance and attention span. The researcher thanked the participants and returned the smartphones (LS condition only) at the end of the task.

Statistical analysis

We examined for normality in our data using the Shapiro-Wilk results and visual inspection of the histogram. For the normally distributed data, we analysed our data using independent-sample t -test for comparison between groups (HS or LS), paired-sample t test for within groups (e.g. before and after phone separation), and Pearson r for correlation. Non-normally distributed or ranked data were analysed using Spearman rho for correlation.

Preliminary analyses

Our female participants reported using their smartphone significantly longer than males, and so we examined the effects of gender on memory recall accuracy. We found no significant difference between males and females on memory recall accuracy, t (117) = .18, p = .86, Cohen’s d = .03. Subsequently, data were collapsed, analysed and reported on in the aggregate.

Smartphone presence and memory recall accuracy

An independent-sample t- test was used to examine whether participants’ performance on a working memory task was influenced by the presence (HS) or absence (LS) of their smartphone. Results showed that participants in the LS condition had higher accuracy ( M = 14.21, SD = 2.61) compared to HS ( M = 13.08, SD = 2.53), t (117) = 2.38, p = .02, Cohen’s d = .44 (see Fig 1 ). The effect size ᶇ 2 = .44 indicates that smartphone presence/salience has a moderate effect on participant working memory ability and a sensitivity power of .66.

Relationship between Smartphone Addiction Score (SAS), higher phone conscious thought and memory recall accuracy

Sas and memory recal.

We first examined participants’ SAS scores between the two conditions. Results showed no significant difference between the LS (M = 104.64, SD = 24.86) and HS (M = 102.70, SD = 20.45) SAS scores, t (117) = .46, p = .64, Cohen’s d = .09. We predicted that those with higher SAS scores will have lower memory accuracy, and thus we examined the relationship between SAS and memory recall accuracy using Pearson correlation coefficient. Results showed that there was no significant relationship between SAS and memory recall accuracy, r = -.03, n = 119, p = .76. We also examined the SAS scores between the LS and HS groups on memory recall accuracy scores. In the LS group, no significant relationship was established between SAS score and memory accuracy, r = -.04, n = 58, p = .74. Similarly, there was no significant relationship between SAS score and memory accuracy in the HS group, r = .10, n = 61, p = .47. In the event that one SAS subscale may have a larger impact, we examined the relationship between each subscale and memory recall accuracy. Results showed no significant relationship between each sub-factor of SAS scores and memory accuracy, all p s > .12 (see Table 2 ).

Phone conscious thought and memory accuracy

We found a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought and memory recall accuracy, r S = -.25, n = 119, p = .01. We anticipated a higher phone conscious thought for the LS group since their phone was kept away from them during the task and examined the relationship for each condition. Results showed a significant negative relationship between phone conscious thought and memory accuracy in the HS condition, r S = -.49, n = 61, p = < .001, as well as the LS condition, r S = -.27, n = 58, p = .04.

Affect/mood changes after being separated from their phone

We anticipated that our participants may have experienced either an increase in negative affect (NA) or a decrease in positive affect (PA) after being separated from their phone (LS condition).

We first computed the mean difference (After minus Before) for both positive ‘PA difference’ and negative affect ‘NA difference’. A repeated-measures 2 (Mood change: PA difference, NA difference) x 2 (Conditions: LS, HS) ANOVA was conducted to determine whether there is an interaction between mood change and condition. There was no interaction effect of mood change and condition, F (1, 117) = .38, p = .54, n p 2 = .003. There was a significant effect of Mood change, F (1, 117) = 13.01, p < .001, n p 2 = .10 (see Fig 2 ).

Subsequent post-hoc analyses showed a significant decrease in participants’ positive affect before ( M = 31.12, SD = 5.79) and after ( M = 29.36, SD = 6.58) completing the memory task in the LS participants, t (57) = 2.48, p = .02, Cohen’s d = .28 but not for the negative affect, Cohen’s d = .07. A similar outcome was also shown in the HS condition, in which there was a significant decrease in positive affect only, t (60) = 3.45, p = .001, Cohen’s d = .37 (see Fig 2 ).

PA/NA difference on memory accuracy

We predicted that LS participants will experience either an increase in NA and/or a decrease in PA since their smartphones were taken away and that this will affect memory recall negatively. Results showed that LS participants who experienced a higher NA difference had poorer memory recall accuracy ( r s = -.394, p = .002). We found no significant relationship between NA difference and memory recall accuracy for HS participants ( r s = -.057, p = .663, n = 61) and no significant relationship for PA difference in both HS ( r s = .217, p = .093) and LS conditions ( r s = .063, p = .638).

Relationship between phone conscious thought, smartphone addiction scale and mood changes to memory recall accuracy

Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity, multicollinearity and homoscedasticity. There was a significant positive relationship between SAS scores and phone conscious thought, r S = .25, n = 119, p = .007. Using the enter method, we found that phone conscious thought explained by the model as a whole was 19.9%, R 2 = .20, R 2 Adjusted = .17, F (4, 114) = 7.10, p < .001. Phone conscious thought significantly predicted memory recall accuracy, b = -.63, t (114) = 4.76, p < .001, but not for the SAS score, b = .02, t (114) = 1.72, p = .09, PA difference score, b = .05, t (114) = 1.29, p = .20, and NA difference score, b = .06, t (114) = 1.61, p = .11.

Perception between phone usage and learning

For the participants’ perception of their phone usage on their learning and attention span, we found no significant difference between LS ( M = 4.22, SD = 1.58) and HS participants ( M = 4.07, SD = 1.62), t (117) = .54, p = .59, Cohen’s d = .09. There was also no significant correlation between perceived cognitive interference and memory accuracy, r = .07, p = .47.

We aimed [ 1 ] to examine the effect of smartphone presence on memory recall accuracy and [ 2 ] to investigate the relationship between affective states, phone conscious thought, and smartphone addiction to memory recall accuracy. For the former, our results were consistent with prior studies [ 11 – 13 ] in that participants had lower accuracy when their smartphone was next to them (HS) and higher accuracy when separated from their smartphones (LS). For the latter, we predicted that the short-term separation from their smartphone would evoke some anxiety, identified by either lower PA or higher NA post-test. Our results showed that both groups had experienced a decrease in PA post-test, suggesting that the reduced PA is likely to have stemmed from the prohibited usage (HS) and/or separation from their phone (LS). Our results also showed lower memory recall in the LS group who experienced higher NA providing some evidence that separation from their smartphone does contribute to feelings of anxiety. This is consistent with past studies in which participants reported increased anxiety over time when separated from their phones [ 14 ], or when smartphone usage was prohibited [ 17 ].

We also examined another variable–phone conscious thought–described in past studies [ 11 , 13 ], as a measure of smartphone addiction. Our findings showed that phone conscious thought is negatively correlated to memory recall in both HS and LS groups, and uniquely contributed 19.9% in our regression model. We propose that phone conscious thought is more relevant and meaningful compared to SAS as a measure of smartphone addiction [ 15 ] because unlike the SAS, this question can capture endogenous interruptions from their smartphone behaviour and participants were to simply report their behaviour within the last hour. The SAS is better suited to describe problematic smartphone use as the statements described behaviours over a longer duration. Further, SAS statements included some judgmental terms such as fretful, irritated, and this might have influenced participants’ ability in recalling such behaviour. We did not find any support for high smartphone addiction to low memory recall accuracy. Our participants in both HS and LS groups had similar high SAS scores, and they were similar to Kwon et al. [ 33 ] study, providing further evidence that smartphone addiction is relatively high in the student population compared to other categories such as employees, professionals, unemployed. Our participants’ high SAS scores and primary use of the smartphone was for social media signals potential problematic users [ 34 ]. Students’ usage of social networking (SNS) is common and the fear of missing out (FOMO) may fuel the SNS addiction [ 35 ]. Frequent checks on social media is an indication of lower levels of self-control and may indicate a need for belonging.

Our results for the presence of a smartphone and frequent phone conscious thought on memory recall is likely due to participants’ cognitive load ‘bandwidth effect’ that contributed to poor memory recall rather than a failure in their memory processes. Past studies have shown that participants with smartphones could generally perform simple cognitive tasks as well as those without, suggesting that memory failure in participants themselves to be an unlikely reason [ 1 , 3 , 5 ]. Due to our study design, we are unable to tease apart whether the presence of the smartphone had interfered with encoding, consolidation, or recall stage in our participants. This is certainly something of consideration for future studies to determine which aspects of memory processes are more susceptible to smartphone presence.

There are several limitations in our study. First, we did not ask the phone conscious thought at specific time points during the study. Having done so might have determined whether such thoughts impaired encoding, consolidating, or retrieval. Second, we did not include the simple version of this task as a comparison to rule out possible confounds within the sample. We did maintain similar external stimuli in their environment during testing, e.g. all participants were in one specific condition, lab temperature, lab noise, and thereby ruling out possible external factors that may have interfered with their memory processes. Third, the OS task itself. This task is complex and unfamiliar, which may have caused some disadvantages to some participants. However, the advantage of an unfamiliar task requires more cognitive effort to learn and progress and therefore demonstrates the limited cognitive load capacity in our brain, and whether such limitation is easily affected by the presence of a smartphone. Future studies could consider allowing participants to use their smartphone in both conditions and including eye-tracking measures to determine their smartphone attachment behaviour.

Implications

Future studies should look into the online learning environment. Students are often users of multiple electronic devices and are expected to use their devices frequently to learn various learning materials. Because students frequently use their smartphones for social media and communication during lessons [ 34 , 36 ], the online learning environment becomes far more challenging compared to a face-to-face environment. It is highly unlikely that we can ban smartphones despite evidence showing that students performed poorer academically with their smartphones presented next to them. The challenge is then to engage students to remain focused on their lessons while minimising other content. Some online platforms (e.g. Kahoot and Mentimeter) create a fun interactive experience to which students complete tasks on their smartphones and allow the instructor to monitor their performance from a computer. Another example is to use Twitter as a classroom tool [ 37 ].

The ubiquitous nature of the smartphone in our lives also meant that our young graduates are constantly connected to their smartphones and very likely to be on SNS even at work. Our findings showed that the most frequently used feature was the SNS sites e.g. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Being frequently on SNS sites may be a challenge in the workforce because these young adults need to maintain barriers between professional and social lives. Young adults claim that SNS can be productive at work [ 38 ], but many advise to avoid crossing boundaries between professional and social lives [ 39 , 40 ]. Perhaps a more useful approach is to recognise a good balance when using SNS to meet both social and professional demands for the young workforce.

In conclusion, the presence of the smartphone and frequent thoughts of their smartphone significantly affected memory recall accuracy, demonstrating that they contributed to an increase in cognitive load ‘bandwidth effect’ interrupting participants’ memory processes. Our initial hypothesis that experiencing higher NA or lower PA would have reduced their memory recall was not supported, suggesting that other factors not examined in this study may have influenced our participants’ affective states. With the rapid rise in the e-learning environment and increasing smartphone ownership, smartphones will continue to be present in the classroom and work environment. It is important that we manage or integrate the smartphones into the classroom but will remain a contentious issue between instructors and students.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our participants for volunteering to participate in this study, and comments on earlier drafts by Louisa Lawrie and Su Woan Wo. We would also like to thank one anonymous reviewer for commenting on the drafts.

Funding Statement

MHY received funding from Sunway University (GRTIN-RRO-104-2020 and INT-RRO-2018-49).

Data Availability

• PLoS One. 2020; 15(8): e0219233.

Decision Letter 0

27 Aug 2019

PONE-D-19-17118

Dear Dr. Yong, ,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Your study addresses an interesting question about the impact of mobile phones on memory.  One area that raised o concerns was your assessment of phone conscious thought.  First you need to provide a clear conceptual  definition of this construct and also your rationale for how to assess it.  In the discussion you seem to imply that phone conscious thought is measuring separation anxiety while there was no assessment of anxiety. Also what is the rationale for measuring affect before and after the memory assessment/?  This point needs to be clarified.    There are also concerns about the analysis of mood changes before and after the memory assessment.  These analyses need to be described more clearly.  Both reviewers raised concerns about your design in terms of your control group.  You need to acknowledge the limitations of your design in the discussion and discuss  how it limits your theoretical interpretation. Overall much more care must be given to the writing of the manuscript.  Reviewer 1 has pointed out numerous examples of how the writing could be improved or clarified.  You must address all points raised by both reviewers in your revised manuscript.  

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Reviewers' comments:

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Reviewer #2: Partly

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Reviewer #1: The present study examined the mnemonic consequences associated with the presence of a smartphone. Overall, the authors found that participants without their cellphones had higher accuracy scores than those who had their cell phones present. They also found a negative correlation between accuracy and "phone conscious thought."

Overall, I think this is an interesting area of research. However, the following issues need to be addressed before I can recommend publication. I will start with the larger issues before moving to the smaller issues:

Larger issues

-Probably the biggest issue I found was the interpretation of their results. For example, on pg. 17, the authors state that "Although we did not find a significant relationship between SAS to memory accuracy, our measurements to 'phone conscious thought' is more relevant and meaningful because it measured participants separation anxiety..." This simply cannot be true: First, the question representing" phone conscious thought" asks "During the memory test how often do you think of your smartphone?" What does this even mean, exactly? How did participants interpret this question? Either way, I think it is quite a stretch to consider this anxiety. And, second, the SAS included a "'Withdrawal' sub-factor [that] describ[ed] the feeling of anxiety when separated from one's mobile phone." (pg. 9), but the authors found no significant correlations for any of the subfactors. Thus, not sure how a vague question about thoughts better represents anxiety than the specify subfactor of the SAS.

-Additionally, the authors suggestion that the decrease in positive affect is the result of "prohibited usage/or separation from their phone" (pg. 18). But the authors have no data to support this. For all they know, the participants had a decrease in positive affect simply because they were participating in a study since both groups exhibited this.

-In terms of the procedure, I'm a little concerned that only the "HS group" were told "no phone use." Obviously, I get the logic of this given that the phone was present for them but not for the "LS group." However, this could be a significant confound. Indeed, this could have drawn the participants attention to the fact that they couldn't use it and, in turn, could have distracted them, not simply because it was present but because of the fact that they were told they couldn't use their phone.

-Additionally, did the authors run any preliminary analysed based on how many participants were in each group when they participated? Given the importance just the mere presence of a cell is for the present study, the present of others could have influenced their results as well.

Smaller Issues:

-How is the reader supposed to know what "phone conscious though" means in the abstract?

-Pg. 2, Lines 13-14: A citation is needed to support this.

-Pg. 2 and throughout: "e.g." and "i.e." should only be used in parentheses. Otherwise, it should be "for example" and "that is" respectively and should always have commas around them.

-Pg. 2, Line 19: "Undoubtedly, the constant connectivity is applauded and desired..." This is way too editorial.

-Pg. 3, Line 38: Describe what the "digit cancelation task" is

-Pg. 3, Lines 41-42: "a mobile phone or a phone-sized notebook placed on participant's table before complete the tasks." Is not a complete sentence.

-Pg. 3, Line 42: "...showed no significant on..." Awkward. Reword

-Pg. 3, Line 43: Insert "the" between "during" and "simple"

-Pg. 3, Line 52: "in" should be "on" (there are a lot of typos throughout. I won't highlight them all, but a careful proofreading is necessary

-Pg. 3, Lines 54 & 57: Why do the authors provide the citation number to Ward et al., at the second instance and not the first?

-Pg. 4, Lines 73-78: I think all those sentences could be integrated and stated much more succinctly

-Pg. 5, Line 89 and throughout: The authors use the term "memory" throughout. However, there are many different types of memory. They should specify what they mean exactly by "memory" at each instance.

-Pg. 5, Prior to "present study": I think the authors could do a better job of more explicitly stating what gap in the literature the their study will fill.

-Results: Generally speaking, all t-tests should include cohen's d

-Pg. 7, Line 138: "begun" should be "began."

-Pg. 8, Line 153 & 161: Technically, the 5 should be spelled out. However, at the very least, keep it consistent. That is, the authors us 5 and spell out six.

-Smartphone addiction Scale: Many of the sentences in this section have errors and need to be fixed. Additionally, the authors use "secondly" on line 167, but there's no "first" and there's no "third," etc... Also, examples of each of the sub-factors should be included.

-Pg. 10: Some of this should be in the materials, not the procedure.

-Pg. 11, Gender: Why not include this analysis as a preliminary analysis. If gender, alternatively, is an important issue, then is should be set up as such in the lit review and the authors should examine the interaction with an F-test.

-Pg. 12, Lines 215-220: This should be a preliminary analysis. There's no reason to expect a difference between the groups assuming they were assigned randomly

-Pg. 13 (and elsewhere): The authors sometimes repeat the question in the results. This isn't needed. It's redundant.

-Pg. 14: Why didn't the authors run an ANOVA to examine for an interaction between mood change and condition?

-Pg. 15: More information is needed in terms of the variables included in the model.

-Pg. 18: There are no studies suggested under "Further Studies." The closest is a meaningless sentence: "Future studies should look into the online learning environment."

-Pgs. 18-19: "These behaviors are likely to remain the same when students graduate and move into the workforce." Can the authors provide a citation to back this up or what are the authors basing this on?

-Pg. 19, Lines 327-330: I don't understand this sentence or example...

-Pg. 19, Lines 342-343: "...the extent of the device purpose..." is awkward sounding.

Overall, many typos and awkward phrases. A careful proofreading is necessary.

Reviewer #2: 1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

• How was sample size determined? Seems arbitrary, with no power analysis.

• The addition of “phone-conscious thought” is a construct that does not seem to be validated in the peer reviewed literature. It’s ok to include this, but the methods behind the development of these questions should be clearly stated, and the authors must define this construct. There are some problems with how it is defined, because the question used relies specifically on phone-related thoughts during the task, while the phone is either in their presence (HS) or absent (LS). So, this question appears to serve as more of a manipulation check rather than a true measurement of phone-conscious thought. There are many issues with the construct of “phone-conscious thought” in the current manuscript.

• Why is affect measured both before and after the memory test? Explain the rationale. Is the memory test expected to influence mood in any way?

• The inclusion of the phone-conscious thought question in the beginning of the study may have primed participants to think about their phones more overall, and this may have inflated the differences between the LS and HS groups.

• There should have been a 3rd control group where participants were given no instruction about what to do with their phone. This would help assess whether the LS group experienced lower recall or if the HS group experienced higher recall, relative to baseline.

*2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

• Results for the affect/mood changes are very unclear and should be edited to be more precise. Needs to be much more descriptive.

*3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

*4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

The writing is unclear at times with strange vocabulary choices (e.g. “Undoubtedly, the constant connectivity is applauded and desired but this has also spiralled into an obsession with the device for many individuals” lines 19-20). What do the authors mean by “applauded and desired”? Further, writing around the explanations of the relevant literature is imprecise and should be cleaned up so that no previous findings can be mischaracterized. Requires rigorous editing to be publishable, in my opinion.

Lines 57-58: In which direction? And in which tasks? All of them? Needs much greater precision.

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Author response to Decision Letter 0

18 Oct 2019

18 October 2019

Dear Academic Editor,

We would like to express our thanks and gratitude for the helpful comments raised in our paper. Below is a point-by-point response to each comment/question. Please note that the line numbers and pages is taken from the clean version of the revised manuscript. The citations and references are also taken from the clean manuscript, and as such the numbering of the references will be off in this letter.

Best regards,

C Tanil & MH Yong

** we thank you for your insightful comments. We have addressed each point in subsequent pages.

*** We thank the reviewer for this comment.

We should explain our reasoning for asking ‘phone conscious thought’ question. In Ward et al.’s study, they included three questions post-task, and we used two out of three questions. The two questions were (1) phone conscious thought “how often were you thinking about your cellphone” and (2) “…to what extent they believed their phones affected their performance and attention spans” (p. 145). The third question was about phone location, and we did not ask this question because we only had two locations and is a pointless question in our study. Ward et al. found that as smartphone salience increases (measured by the 3 questions), available cognitive capacity decreases – which is an indication that this particular question is meaningful to tap endogenous interruptions due to smartphone-related usage throughout the task. Even though the participants in both LS and HS conditions were not allowed to use their phone, their high phone use (average use per day in our sample was 8.16 hours, and 47% participants or 56 out of 119, are considered as addicted when compared to Kwon’s sample) might have evoked such thoughts, as suggested by Wilmer and Chien (2017) in their review. Some participants consider their smartphone as a ‘limb’ and losing this ‘limb’ is more common and has powerful effects than previously thought.

In Kwon et al.’s paper, the authors described the withdrawal sub-factor as “…involves being impatient, fretful, and intolerable without a smartphone, constantly having one’s smartphone in one’s mind even while not using it, never giving up using one’s smartphone, and becoming irritated when bothered while using one’s smartphone…” (p. 7). The 6 specific questions are as follows:

1. Won’t be able to stand not having a smartphone

2. Feeling impatient and fretful when I am not holding my smartphone

3. Having my smartphone in my mind even when I’m not using it

4. I will never give up using my smartphone even when my daily life is already greatly affected by it.

5. Getting irritated when bothered while using my smartphone

6. Bringing my smartphone to the toilet even when I am in a hurry to get there

One of the bigger challenges in using self-reported survey such as SAS is that these questions brings further attention to their behaviour which may then indirectly affects their response behaviour “social desirability” and/or inability to recall the frequency of such behaviour. Having the phone conscious thought is more spot-on and without the risk of both social desirability (negative terms such as impatient, fretful, irritation) and asking individuals to reflect on their past behaviour.

As to what our participants thought of seeing this question, we think that this is a simple straightforward question. We have since added more information about phone conscious thought in Abstract (page 2, line 6), Introduction (page 6, line 91-97), and Discussion (page 19, line 347-353).

*** We thank the reviewer for this comment. Indeed, both LS and HS groups experienced a decrease in PA. We realised that the sentences were misleading, and we apologise for the confusion. We have since reworded the sentences, see below and also on page 20, Line 364-369.

“While both groups showed a decrease in PA after completing the tasks, it is possible that the reduced PA is likely to have stemmed from the prohibited usage “HS” and/or separation from their phone “LS”. This is consistent with Cheever et al. (15), whose participants reported increased anxiety over time when separated from their phones and with Clayton, Leshner and Almond (18) findings, where participants were unable to use their phone.”

*** Thank you for this comment. The participants were informed to put their phones on silent, and either leave them at their side (HS) or hand them over to the researcher (LS). No phone use instruction was provided to both groups to prevent one group from accessing their phone over another. We have included this confound in the Discussion and suggested improvements. Please see revised section on page 20, line 369-373.

“Future studies could consider allowing participants to use their phone in both conditions and including eye tracking measures to determine their phone attachment behaviour.”

*** We thank the reviewer for this comment. We did not analyse for the presence of others as each session was mainly comprised of 3 participants only. We only had 2 sessions of 6 pax per session throughout.

*** Thank you for highlighting this. Please see revised section on page 2, line 6.

*** Thank you. We have added a new citation “GeekWire”. Please see the addition on page 3, line 14.

*** Thank you. We have made the changes throughout.

*** Thank you. We have revised the sentence (see below) and on page 3, line 18-19.

“Smartphones today have many functions that allows one to be constantly connected to others but this …”

*** Thank you for highlighting this omission. We have added the following sentence on page 4, line 40-44.

“The digit cancellation task involves crossing out one digit from a series of numbers with reference to a target number. Performance is measured by referring to the number of lines completed and a cancellation score based on the total number of targets possible for the lines completed minus the number of errors made (failure to cancel a target or mistakenly cancelled an inappropriate number).”

*** Thank you. We have revised the sentence to “…two groups; a mobile phone or a phone-sized notebook, which were placed on participant’s table before...” Please see page 4, line 46.

*** Thank you. We have revised the sentence to “…significance difference on performance between the phone and notebook condition for the simple digit ….” Please see page 4, line 47.

*** Thank you. Please refer to the above comment as the sentence has been revised.

*** Thank you. We have engaged a native English speaker to proof read our revised manuscript.

*** Thank you for highlighting this. We have since revised this.

*** Thank you. We have made the changes. Please see page 5, line 77-83.

*** Thank you. We have since included specific types of memory when describing past studies in earlier and subsequent pages.

*** Thank you. We have included a research gap in our aim under Present Study. Please see section below, and also found on page 7, line 112-121.

“Prior studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of one’s smartphone on cognitive function (e.g. working memory (13), visual spatial search (14), attention (12)), and decreased cognitive ability with increasing attachment to one’s phone (15,17,20). In addition to the presence of a mobile phone , it is also possible that one’s current affective state influences cognitive performance (21–23). But we are uncertain whether one’s current positive or negative affective / mood states plays a bigger role on cognitive function such as memory recall accuracy, suggesting a more complex relationship between current mood states and memory recall accuracy. To our knowledge, no study has examined the relationship between mood states and memory recall accuracy, with smartphone addiction and phone conscious thought as potential mediators. We hypothesised … “

*** Thank you. We have added Cohen’s d for all t-tests.

*** Thank you. We have made the change.

*** Thank you. We have made the changes to include sample questions for each sub-factor. Please see page 10-11, line 190-216.

*** We have since relooked at our procedure and move out some items (e.g. phone conscious thought, and perception on learning) into Materials.

*** Thank you for this comment. Gender is not of interest in this study. However, we found that in our sample, females spent more time on their phone compared to males and wanted to determine if there is a gender effect on memory accuracy. We have included a preliminary analysis to include gender analysis under Results section. Please see page 14, line 255-258.

*** Indeed, we agree with this comment that there should not be any difference. However, this analysis is more of a precautionary measure. Please see page 14, line 258-261.

*** We have now changed our sentences to better reflect our findings.

*** Thank you for this suggestion. We have not only added this, but also explained what is PA and NA difference. Please see page 17, line 298-303.

“We first computed the mean difference (After minus Before) for both positive ‘PA difference’ and negative affect ‘NA difference’. A repeated-measures 2 (Mood change: PA difference, NA difference) x 2 (Conditions: LS, HS) ANOVA was conducted to determine whether there is an interaction between mood change and condition. There was no interaction effect of mood change and condition, F (1, 117) = .38, p = .54, np2 = .003. There was a significant effect of Mood change, F (1, 117) = 13.01, p < .001, np2 = .10 (see Fig 2).”

*** Thank you. We have added more information about PA and NA difference score in the earlier results. Please see the above explanation.

*** Thank you. What we meant is actually Implications, rather than Future Studies. We have now reworded the sub-heading.

*** We have revised this section. Please refer to page 21, line 387-395.

“The ubiquitous nature of the smartphone in our lives also meant that our young graduates are constantly connected to their phones and very likely to be on SNS even at work. Our findings showed that the most frequently used feature was the SNS sites e.g. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Being frequently on SNS sites may be a challenge in the workforce because these young adults need to maintain barriers between professional and social lives. Young adults claim that SNS can be productive at work (33), but many advise to avoid crossing boundaries between professional and social lives (34,35). Perhaps a more useful approach is to recognise a good balance when using SNS to meet both social and professional demands for the young workforce.”

*** We have reworded this section. Please see above.

*** We have revised it to “… integrate the phones into the classroom but will remain as a contentious issue between… “ See page 21, line 405.

*** Thank you for this comment. We reported observed power of .66 in our findings, and effect size of ᶇ2 = .44. Please see the added content below and on page 8, line 134-136.

“Using G*Power v. 3.1.9.2 , we need 76 participants with an effect size of d = .65, α = .05 and power (1-β) = .8 based on Thornton et al.’s study, and 128 participants based on numbers from Ward’s study. “

*** we thank the reviewer for this insightful comment. We certainly did not intend this question to be a manipulation check about their phones. We acknowledged that we omitted a fair amount of phone conscious thought in our earlier submission. We have since added more information about phone conscious thought in Abstract (page 2, line 6), Introduction (page 6, line 91-97), and Discussion (page 19, line 347-353).

*** we thank the reviewer for this comment. We realised that this is a major oversight on our part. The main reason for including affect measurement before and after was derived on the possibility that one’s mood may affect your cognitive function, and not simply due to phone presence. We have since made this clearer under Present Study (refer to page 7, line115-121 and in Results (refer to page 16-17, line 295-309).

*** we thank the reviewer for this comment. The phone conscious thought was asked at the end of the memory task. This was included in the Procedure section, page 12, line 243.

*** We thank the reviewer for this comment. One of the objectives in this study to examine the effect of a phone presence when participants are completing a simple learning and memory task. For this objective, we had two conditions; phone present (HS) and phone absent (LS). By having a third control with no instructions on what to do with the phone is addressing a different objective and that’s not part of our study objectives. We acknowledged that instruction on phone use may possibly be a confound and as such, we have addressed this limitation in our Discussion (see page 20, line 371-373).

*** We noted this. We have since revised this section. Please see page 16-17, line 295-309

*** We thank the reviewer for this comment. We have engaged a native English speaker to proofread our manuscript in accordance with academic writing practices.

*** we thank the reviewer for this comment. We have revised this sentence to better inform the reader on Ward et al.’s findings.

Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx

Decision Letter 1

PONE-D-19-17118R1

Dear DR. Yong,

I am very sorry for the delay in getting a decision for you.  It was difficult to get reviewers for your paper.  However I now have the response of two reviewers.  The first reviewer thought that your changes made the paper much better.  However there is still a fundamental question about what your paper is addressing.  The second reviewer raised this point as well and made an excellent suggestion that you need to discuss what mechanisms may explain your results and describe how they might be investigated.  You also need to work more on the overall writing style and make sure that the grammar is correct.  If you feel that you can address these issues please submit a revised version of the paper.Please note Reviewer One's points about the role of emotion and discuss how you might investigate its role in a future design as well as why that would be important.  Address all comments raised by the reviewers in your revision or justify why you are not addressing them.

We would appreciate receiving your revised manuscript by April 30 2020. When you are ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: (No Response)

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

Reviewer #3: Partly

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #3: Yes

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

6. Review Comments to the Author

Reviewer #1: Overall, I congratulate the authors on the revisions they've made already. The paper is much better for it.

However, I still have some concerns.

Most notably, as far as I can tell, the contribution this manuscript makes to the literature is in the inclusion of emotion. Indeed, the authors make this point quite clear in their "Present Study" section. Indeed, they state "But it is uncertain whether one's current positive or negative affective/mood states plays a bigger role on cognitive function..." but this doesn't seem to cohere very well with the rest of the paper. Barely anything is mentioned about emotion in the intro/lit. review (till the very end). In the analyses, the stats including emotion seem almost like an afterthought. Additionally, emotion is barely mentioned in the discussion. I realize that the authors found no statistical difference across groups, and therefore don't focus on them, but that raises another possible issue: interpreting a null result. If the primary motivation for this study was emotion, it seems to me that one would devise a different design whereby you also manipulate emotion and then examine the different conditions in terms of mobile phone salience.

Thus, at the heart of it, the present paper replicates prior research and then finds a null effect for their primary research question, making interpretations difficult.

For these reasons, I, unfortunately, am recommending rejection.

For the authors reference moving forward, the paper was still a bit hard to parse in places due to language issues throughout. I know the authors state that a native English speaker proofread it, but more diligent proofreading is needed in the future.

Reviewer #3: The experiment presented in this paper is aimed at primarily investigating whether the salience of a phone (high vs. low) impacts memory accuracy. It is a fairly straightforward experimental design and set of results. My main concern is that the paper lacks a clear mechanism to explain the results. Is the main result (i.e., HS leads to lower memory accuracy than LS) due to the fact that high salience participants are distracted during encoding? Is it due to retrieval deficits? Do they not consolidate the information properly? Is it evidence of a bandwidth effect, by which phone-related thought intrusion interferes with memory processes?

My sense is that not only that the experimental design did not attempt to answer the question mechanistically, but there is no attempt to theoretically scaffold the results in a potential mechanism. I would advise the authors to at least speculate as to what could explains the set of results they obtained and to hint at possible investigation of the mechanism involved.

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article ( what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

Reviewer #3: No

Author response to Decision Letter 1

26 Apr 2020

*** We thank you for this. We do agree that we have omitted a fairly huge amount on the affective state and have since revised the Introduction to explain the interactions between emotion and cognition. Please see Page 4-5, Line 60-73 in Introduction. We have also reorganised the Aim/Hypotheses section – please see Page 5-6, Line 75-92.

*** We do apologise for this and have since secured a second proof reader. We hope that the manuscript is far more legible now. We have also reorganised parts of the manuscript to make it more coherent.

*** Thank you for this feedback. We will first address the question on whether the memory recall accuracy was due to encoding, consolidation or retrieval failure. From previous studies, simple versions of a cognitive task was not an issue between low salience (LS) and high salience (HS) participants (1–3) for they had similar performance levels. This suggests it is unlikely that participants had problems at either encoding, consolidation or retrieval for the simple tasks.

However in our study, we used OS Span task which is considered a complex task compared to simple memory span (4). Although we did not include simple memory span as a contrast to OS Span, previous studies suggest that this is not necessary because of similar performance levels across conditions. One of our aims was to replicate a previous study in investigating whether the presence of a smartphone was sufficient to affect memory recall accuracy (5). We found that our participants had significant difference in memory recall accuracy between HS and LS conditions, p = .02. While our results concurred with previous study findings, we are unable to tease apart whether the presence of the smartphone had interfered with encoding, consolidation, or recall phase in our participants. However there is a possibility that the separation from their smartphones may have caused feelings of anxiety, and anxiety may interrupt memory consolidation as suggested by some (6,7). This is certainly something of consideration for future studies.

Second, to the bandwidth effect interfering memory processes, we suspect that this might be the case, rather than an issue of failure in a specific memory process. This is because participants with smartphones or texters could generally perform simple cognitive tasks as well as those without, and the presence of the smartphone next to the participant is responsible for the increase in cognitive load (1,3,5).

Other than the smartphone presence to increase cognitive load, we intended to manipulate participants’ affective state by prohibiting smartphone usage (HS) or taking it away (LS). Previous research has shown that experiencing positive affect (PA) or negative affect (NA) would influence cognitive performance (6–8). We predicted that the short-term separation from smartphone would evoke some anxiety, measured either having lower positive affect (PA) or higher negative affect (NA) post-test. We also predicted that separation from the phone is directly correlated to lower memory recall (LS condition) (part of hypothesis 2). An increase in NA or decrease in PA (as an indicator of separation anxiety to their smartphones) often have a negative effect on cognition (6,7). Further, one study shown an increased level of anxiety even in 10 minutes (9) and OS Span generally takes 20 minutes. Our results supported this hypothesis for LS participants who experienced a stronger negative affect had poorer memory recall accuracy (rs = -.394, p = .002, n = 58). This suggests that phone separation anxiety does increases cognitive load. We did not find any significant relationship between NA and memory recall accuracy for the HS participants and also for the PA difference in both groups (see Results, page 14-15, line 259-265).

We also examined another variable – phone conscious thought – described in past studies (3,5). Here, we found that phone conscious thought is negatively correlated to memory recall in both HS and LS conditions (see Results page 15, line 273), and uniquely contributed 19.9% in our regression model.

Taken together, the results showed that phone conscious thought is a significant contributor to the bandwidth effect interrupting their memory processes, and not the change in affective states as we had originally predicted. We do not think that participants’ memory failed at critical points e.g. encoding, retrieval, consolidation. Our participants memory processes are not likely to be impaired as they are neurotypical young adults, unlike well-documented cases in ageing or traumatic brain injury populations. In conclusion, the presence of the smartphone and frequent thoughts of their smartphone were contributors that interrupted their memory processes.

We do acknowledge several limitations in our study. First, we did not ask the phone conscious thought at specific time points in this study. Having done so might determine whether such thoughts hindered encoding, consolidating, or retrieval. Second, we did not include the simple version of this task as a comparison to rule out possible confounds within the sample. We did maintain similar external stimuli in their environment during testing, e.g. all participants were in one specific condition, lab temperature, lab noise, and thereby ruling out possible external factors that may have interfered with their memory processes. Third, the OS task itself. This task is complex and unfamiliar, thus may have caused some disadvantages to some. However, the advantage of this task being likely to be more unfamiliar – requiring more cognitive effort to learn and progress – demonstrates the limited cognitive capacity in our brain, and whether such limitation is easily affected by a smartphone presence.

1. Ito M, Kawahara J-I. Effect of the presence of a mobile phone during a spatial visual search. Jpn Psychol Res. 2017 Apr 1;59(2):188–98.

2. Bowman LL, Levine LE, Waite BM, Gendron M. Can students really multitask? An experimental study of instant messaging while reading. Comput Educ. 2010 May 1;54(4):927–31.

3. Thornton B, Faires A, Robbins M, Rollins E. The mere presence of a cell phone may be distracting: Implications for attention and task performance. Soc Psychol. 2014;45(6):479–88.

4. Francis G, Neath I, VanHorn D. CogLab On A CD, Version 2.0. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth; 2008.

5. Ward AF, Duke K, Gneezy A, Bos MW. Brain drain: The mere presence of one’s own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. J Assoc Consum Res. 2017 Apr 1;2(2):140–54.

6. Levine LJ, Lench HC, Karnaze MM, Carlson SJ. Bias in predicted and remembered emotion. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2018 Feb 1;19:73–7.

7. Okon-Singer H. The role of attention bias to threat in anxiety: mechanisms, modulators and open questions. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2018 Feb 1;19:26–30.

8. Gray JR. Integration of Emotion and Cognitive Control. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2004 Apr 1;13(2):46–8.

9. Cheever NA, Rosen LD, Carrier LM, Chavez A. Out of sight is not out of mind: The impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users. Comput Hum Behav. 2014 Aug 1;37:290–7.

Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers PONE-D-19-17118R1 Yong.docx

Decision Letter 2

25 Jun 2020

PONE-D-19-17118R2

Dear Dr. Yong,

I and another reviewer have carefully read your paper and the revisions that you made.  You have addressed many of the points but a few more changes need to be implemented before it can be accepted.  The main issues concern the introduction.  One phrase in Line 62 has no verb and therefore can not be a sentence.  You need to correct the grammatical structure.  Secondly it would be good if the introductory sentence to the paragraph beginning on line 61 indicated the relationship between cognition and affect is important for understanding the impact of mobile phone use on memory.  As it is written the paragraph does link well to the previous paragraphs.  Further line 82 makes reference to smart phone addiction very briefly but the discussion focuses a great deal on smart phone addiction.  You need to define smart phone addiction  and indicate why it is important to examine this construct in your study. Further you need to define the subscales in of the SAS in the methods and also justify under phone consious thought why you are including this question.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Aug 09 2020 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at gro.solp@enosolp . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see:  http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: The authors addressed my comments satisfactorily, so I recommend acceptance for the manuscript. I doubt, though, that anxiety plays a huge role in these dynamics, given that it is hard to imagine that one would be able to create the levels of anxiety necessary for the disruption of cognitive function by simply temporarily removing their phones.

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool,  https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at  gro.solp@serugif . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Author response to Decision Letter 2

14 Jul 2020

1. The main issues concern the introduction. One phrase in Line 62 has no verb and therefore can not be a sentence. You need to correct the grammatical structure.

*** We thank the editor for pointing this out. We have since removed the sentence.

2. Secondly it would be good if the introductory sentence to the paragraph beginning on line 61 indicated the relationship between cognition and affect is important for understanding the impact of mobile phone use on memory. As it is written the paragraph does link well to the previous paragraphs.

*** We thank the editor for this comment. We have revised the paragraph, please see Line 60-61, page 4.

“Further, we need to consider the relationship between cognition and emotion to understand how frequent mobile phone use affects memory e.g. memory consolidation. Some empirical findings … “

3. Further line 82 makes reference to smart phone addiction very briefly but the discussion focuses a great deal on smart phone addiction. You need to define smart phone addiction and indicate why it is important to examine this construct in your study.

*** We thank the reviewer for omission on our part. Please find the newly added sentences below on Line 83-88, page 5-6.

“One in every four young adults is reported to have problematic smartphone use and this is accompanied by poor mental health e.g. higher anxiety, stress, depression (Sohn et al., 2019). One report showed that young adults reached for their phones 86 times in a day on average compared to 47 times in other age groups (Deloitte Development LLC, 2017). Young adults also reported that they “definitely” or “probably” used their phone too much, suggesting that they recognised their problematic smartphone use. “

4. Further you need to define the subscales in of the SAS in the methods and also justify under phone consious thought why you are including this question.

*** We thank the reviewer for this comment. Please see the inclusion for SAS subscales on Line 159-166, page 9.

“SAS contained six sub-factors; daily-life disturbance that measures the extent to which mobile phone use impairs one’s activities during everyday tasks (5 statements), positive anticipation to describe the excitement of using phone and de-stressing with the use of mobile phone (8 statements), withdrawal refers to the feeling of anxiety when separated from one’s mobile phone (6 statements), cyberspace-oriented relationship refers to one’s opinion on online friendship (7 statements), overuse measures the excessive use of mobile phone to the extent that they have become inseparable from their device (4 statements), and tolerance points to the cognitive effort to control the usage of one’s smartphone (3 statements).”

We have also added the justification to the phone conscious thought. Please see this inclusion on Line 173-175, page 9.

“The aim of this question was two-fold; first was to capture endogenous interruption experienced by the separation, and second to complement the smartphone addiction to reflect current immediate experience.”

5. How frequent do we reach for our phones?

*** Surprisingly, high, but unsurprisingly higher for young adults. Deloitte 2017 survey reported that the average American reaches for their phones 47 times while young adults (aged between 18 to 24) reach for 86 times. The same survey also reported that 89% looked at their phone within an hour of waking up and that 81% also looked at their phone within an hour before going to bed. Further, 90% of young adults reported using their phones in their daily activities ranging from shopping, leisure time, talking to friends, crossing the road, and this trend has been consistent for the past three years. The young adults also reported that they “definitely” or “probably” use their phone too much, suggesting some form of recognising their addiction (Deloitte Development LLC, 2017). Another poll reported that one in every 10 Americans check their phones every four minutes, and that most people struggle to go beyond 10 minutes without checking their phone (SWNS, 2017).

We have added couple of sentences to further highlight on mobile phone addiction under Research Aim (see Line 85-88, page 5-6).

Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers PONE-D-19-17118R2 Yong.docx

Decision Letter 3

PONE-D-19-17118R3

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Acceptance letter

Dear Dr. Yong:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact gro.solp@sserpeno .

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Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

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on behalf of

Dr. Barbara Dritschel

Uses of Mobile Phones Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on uses of mobile phones.

Mobile phones are one of the most commonly used gadgets in today’s world. Everyone from a child to an adult uses mobile phones these days. They are indeed very useful and help us in so many ways.

Mobile phones indeed make our lives easy and convenient but at what cost? They are a blessing only till we use it correctly. As when we use them for more than a fixed time, they become harmful for us.

Uses of Mobile Phone

We use mobile phones for almost everything now. Gone are the days when we used them for only calling. Now, our lives revolve around it. They come in use for communicating through voice, messages, and mails. We can also surf the internet using a phone. Most importantly, we also click photos and record videos through our mobile’s camera.

The phones of this age are known as smartphones . They are no less than a computer and sometimes even more. You can video call people using this phone, and also manage your official documents. You get the chance to use social media and play music through it.

Moreover, we see how mobile phones have replaced computers and laptops . We carry out all the tasks through mobile phones which we initially did use our computers. We can even make powerpoint presentations on our phones and use it as a calculator to ease our work.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Disadvantages of Mobile Phones

While mobile phones are very beneficial, they also come to a lot of disadvantages. Firstly, they create a distance between people. As people spend time on their phones, they don’t talk to each other much. People will sit in the same room and be busy on their phones instead of talking to each other.

Subsequently, phones waste a lot of time. People get distracted by them easily and spend hours on their phones. They are becoming dumber while using smartphones . They do not do their work and focus on using phones.

Most importantly, mobile phones are a cause of many ailments. When we use phones for a long time, our eyesight gets weaker. They cause strain on our brains. We also suffer from headaches, watery eyes, sleeplessness and more.

Moreover, mobile phones have created a lack of privacy in people’s lives. As all your information is stored on your phone and social media , anyone can access it easily. We become vulnerable to hackers. Also, mobile phones consume a lot of money. They are anyway expensive and to top it, we buy expensive gadgets to enhance our user experience.

In short, we see how it is both a bane and a boon. It depends on us how we can use it to our advantage. We must limit our usage of mobile phones and not let it control us. As mobile phones are taking over our lives, we must know when to draw the line. After all, we are the owners and not the smartphone.

FAQs on Uses of Mobile Phones

Q.1 How do mobile phones help us?

A.1 Mobile phones are very advantageous. They help us in making our lives easy and convenient. They help us communicate with our loved ones and carry out our work efficiently. Furthermore, they also do the work of the computer, calculator, and cameras.

Q.2 What is the abuse of mobile phone use?

A.2 People are nowadays not using but abusing mobile phones. They are using them endlessly which is ruining their lives. They are the cause of many ailments. They distract us and keep us away from important work. Moreover, they also compromise with our privacy making us vulnerable to hackers.

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Robert Capps

How Smartphones Have Unleashed Humanity's Creative Potential

Look at your smartphone. Think about the decisions you will make on it today. You may snag a dinner reservation, tell your spouse you're running late, or craft a response to an email from your boss. But you might also decide that the light peering through the trees is worth an Instagram or figure out how to describe your exasperation with a troubling new development in Iraq in 140 characters. You may write something longer on Facebook about the joy of seeing your 5-year-old make a new friend at the park, or the frustration of watching your father get old and need to move into a home. You may choose a song on Spotify, stream a movie on Netflix, or open a Kindle book. You may decide how to frame a selfie to send to a friend or lover.

It's easy to think of our digital revolutions—the desktop computer, the Internet—as purely technological achievements. Cheaper microprocessors let everyone have a PC at home. Internet protocols allowed computers to talk to each other. But that doesn't capture the reasons these breakthroughs mattered so much to us.

At their core, these were also creative revolutions. The PC didn't truly touch us until the rise of desktop publishing, followed by the rise of multimedia development tools, followed by the rise of web development tools. Its emotional power arrived with the ability to create amazing things on it. Likewise, the Internet revolution really took off when we used it not just to download facts and figures but as a platform to share music, writing, movies, and pictures. The number one site on the web may be Google, but number two and three are Facebook and YouTube, respectively—both primarily outlets for personal expression. We created the desktop computer and the Internet as tools for efficiency, productivity, and communication. But they came to have real meaning for us when our natural creative drive took them over.

Now it's the phone's turn. The smartphone began with a promise of productivity. Its first “killer app,” in the parlance of those developing for it, was email. Smartphones let us send messages without launching a computer; that's what made them smart. Web browsing followed, but the device was still seen as a surrogate for the computer at your desk—something to keep you productive while out in the world. Today, though, the phone has become something else. The smartphone, like the PC and the Internet before it, has turned into a unique outlet for our creative impulses, and it will affect our creative lives even more fundamentally.

It's a cliché in the tech and business realms to say that the world is going mobile. Mobile first! Mobile only! Mobile native! We accept that this is happening, but we seldom explore what it means to us as people. Our phones, always connected and always with us, have become incredibly personal. They belong to us, to an extent that no previous device ever achieved. Because of that we belong to them too, and it's a bond that shapes us at the deepest level—in how we express ourselves, in what we hold out as beautiful and compelling, in how we try to emotionally connect, in ways abstract and literal, with our friends and muses. Our phones are now indelibly bound up with our aesthetic souls. And today both are always on.

Brenda Stolyar

Jeremy White

Eric Ravenscraft

Medea Giordano

Adrienne So

David Nield

Essay on Mobile Phone for Students [100, 150, 250, 400 Words]

Essay on Mobile Phone: Mobile Phone is a wonderful gift of science. In this article, you are going to learn to write an essay on Mobile Phone in English (100, 150, 250 and 400 Words). So, let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Essay on Mobile Phone: 100 Words

The mobile phone is one of the greatest gifts of modern science. It is also called cell phone or smart phone.  It is a great medium of communication. In earlier times mobile phones were used only for communication. But now-a-days a mobile phone is used as an entertainment device. We can use it for watching videos, listening to music, capturing pictures, web browsing, calculating, navigating and many more purposes.

The mobile phone has many advantages but we should use it in moderation. Excessive use of mobile phones can affect our physical and mental health. Students often misuse it and their study is affected badly. We should use our mobile phones very wisely.

Mobile Phone Essay: 150 Words

The mobile phone is a miracle of science. From a minor student to an ordinary Worker, everyone possesses a cell phone. Indeed, this is a very popular item today. It is truly, a mark of modern living, a part of the modern life-style. Of course, its usefulness is undeniable. Now a man can have communication anywhere, anytime to anyone sitting thousands of kilometers from him.

Today it is not only a communication device. It can be used for a number of purposes like online ticket booking, navigation, playing video games, taking pictures, recording videos, web browsing, video calling etc. In fact, now we use mobile phone for taking online classes. Hence it is called a Smart Phone. At the same time, the excessive craze for this is not desirable and may even prove dangerous. Mobile phone is to be taken as an utility service, and not as a show-piece.

Also Read: Paragraph on Computer in English

Essay on Mobile Phone: 250 Words

A mobile phone or cell phone is a hand-held portable radiophone that uses the cellular or satellite network for voice or data communication. Unlike landline phones, which are fixed, mobile phones can be easily carried, and one can contact a person anywhere whether at home, on the bus, in street, or in a meeting. Apart from talking, it can be used for sending SMS, e-mail and for taking photos and videos.

High-end mobiles act as mini computers, offering services like internet, diary, music, iPod, calculator, alarm clock, etc. It is extremely useful in emergencies. But there is a tendency to abuse it. To many, it is an Addiction rather than a necessity. A cell phone ringing in an auditorium is most annoying. Using a mobile phone while driving a car or a motorbike and crossing a road or a railway track had led to many accidents.

Teleshopping is a great nuisance. Privacy is often violated, as most mobile users are unaware that they could be photographed or tracked. Terrorists use this gadget to trigger bombs and achieve their ends. Mobiles can also cause health hazards. The radiations from mobiles may cause injury to the brain. Cellphones on vibration mode put in front pocket may damage the heartbeat system. With all its advantages, what is, therefore, needed is moderation in the use of mobile phones.

Also Read: Essay on Television in English

Essay on Mobile Phones: 400 Words

When telephone was first introduced in the world in the 1950s, people were keenly interested in it. As an easier way of communication, telephone has its own merit. Of late, the introduction of mobiles makes an easy access to communication. It is in fact inevitable in the present day of hurry and business. People have warmly accepted mobiles as the blessing of science. There is little doubt that without the use of mobiles none is nowadays able to lead one’s life quite normally. One is capable of communicating with people, staying far away very quickly. Thus many a problem can be well- solved by way of using these mobiles.

But everything has its merit and demerit. As science is a bane as well as a boon, mobiles are to some extent to be cursed. People, especially the young generation, have been abusing mobiles. They not only chat in an unexpected way but also indulge themselves in leading immoral life by abusing mobiles. Apart from this, several mercenary companies exploit the advantage of mobiles to meet their selfish ends. They do business through mobiles. As a result, young people have been misguided. To use mobiles is for them to be up to date. They avail themselves of the opportunity of the internet connection in their mobiles and do whatever they like to do. Obscene video clippings and some other versions of immoral entertainment are now available in mobiles. Therefore, the students have now tremendous fascination for the mobiles. Consequently, instead of studying, concentrate on using mobiles for sheer fun.

Another demerit is that because of the excessive use of the mobiles different companies plunge themselves into doing profitable business. Consequently, numerous towers have been erected for the network of mobiles. It is well known that a particular wave which is responsible for the mobile network does harm to the ecological balance of the environment. It is evident in the pale colors of the trees and fruits adjacent to the mobile towers.

Thus, it is the time to be conscious of the abuse of the mobiles. The concerned authority should take immediate steps to stop immoral business which is proliferating in abusing mobiles. All should remember that the sole purpose of mobile is to communicate. Entertainment may be available in the network of mobiles. But there should be no immoral design. Above all, the government should restrict the use of mobiles, so much so that anti-social activities may not be done through mobiles.

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Opinion: Influences of mobile phones on people’s lives

Nowadays, mobile phones are seen in people’s daily lives. As people live in the technological world, the devices have become a necessity in every human being. Just like the surroundings around people, such as friends, mobile devices have both positive and negative effects in people’s lives.

Have you ever taken the time to think of those effects? Throughout this article, a detailed analysis of cell phone usage will be presented, and this will be achieved by conveying both the positive and negative lights of it.

There are various ways mobile phones can impact people: from entertainment to emergencies. People cannot live without one action: enjoyment. Thanks to mobile devices, people are entertained from morning to night with posts on social media, communication from texting, and records on games. Furthermore, mobile phones are the best way to communicate anywhere and at anytime. For instance, people can easily keep in touch with loved ones and long-distance relatives and friends.

The entertaining aspect of mobile phones is not quality distant from our community.

“I entertain myself by reading on my phone, watching movies and TV shows, playing games, listening to music, and communicating with others,” Ami Min, a senior at Central High School said.

Not only are entertainment opportunities appealing to mobile phones but also another aspect that captivates many people’s attention is saving lives. Imagine you find yourself in an emergency situation where you need to reach the police department as quickly as possible. What will be the first item you take out? Using mobile phones is the most preferable option in situations because you can immediately dial 911 to call for help.

After reading these beneficial effects of mobile phones, you may seem very thankful to have them in your life, but be ready to face the non-beneficial effects of what your portable device is doing to you. Mobile phones have various disadvantages on people’s lives, from distractions to health issues.

There are countless number of accidents caused by the usage of mobile phones. The temptation to pick up even a trivial call or text when driving can be fatal. According to the DMV in 2015, cell phone usage brought to 3,477 total deaths, 3,196 fatal car wrecks, and 391,000 injuries in the year alone.

In addition, mobile phones create a huge impact on teenagers. As teenagers become addicted to their cell phones for talking, messaging, and playing games, they forget the real usage of the device and waste their time through useless interactions over their mobile device.

The pejorative effects are intimate and have spread into our everyday lives, affecting a great number of our community.

“The notifications and social applications on my phone prevent me from finishing my homework. Sometimes I am on my phone for a couple of hours without noticing the time flying by,” Maya Preciado, a freshman at Golden Valley High School said.

Moreover, the frequent use of a mobile phone can damage one’s eyesight, increase stress level, cause headaches or brain tumors, and cause certain types of cancer. The negative impacts do not end here; additionally, mobile phone usage can distract people from driving and working.

As society and technology develop, cell phones become more and more important in people’s daily lives. The more important cell phones become, the more prominent their setbacks appear to the ordinary person. It may be true that mobile phones have conquered a part of our life that renders it to be unproductive and inefficient in terms of time management and personal health regulation issues.

However, we should not be discouraged by this temporary drawback. Certainly, cell phones can be integrated into our daily lives as an important and helpful tool rather than a weapon used against us. All in all, in order to achieve this, an individual effort is essential with proper time regulation being the most salient example.

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Paragraph on Mobile Phone

Students are often asked to write a paragraph on Mobile Phone in their schools. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 200-word, and 250-word paragraphs on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

Paragraph on Mobile Phone in 100 Words

A mobile phone is a small phone that you can carry around. It lets you talk to family and friends, send messages, and take pictures. You can also play games on it and listen to music. Some mobile phones are smart. They can do many things like a tiny computer. People use them to look at maps, watch videos, and learn new stuff. It is important to use a mobile phone nicely and not play with it too much. Always remember to be safe and not talk to strangers on the phone. Mobile phones are very useful but remember to play outside too! (100 words)

Paragraph on Mobile Phone in 200 Words

A mobile phone is like a tiny computer that you can carry in your pocket. It lets you talk to your family and friends no matter where they are. You can also send messages, which are like short letters, and get answers back in no time. It’s not just for talking; you can play games on it, take pictures, and even make videos. Some mobile phones have a map that can help you find places, so you won’t get lost. People use their mobile phones to listen to songs and watch cartoons or movies, too. It’s very important to use a mobile phone carefully. You should not use it too much because it’s good to do other things like playing outside or reading books. And when you are walking or crossing the road, you should not look at your mobile phone because you need to watch where you are going. Always remember to be polite and not use the phone when you’re having dinner or talking to someone in person. Mobile phones are really useful, but it’s good to remember that playing with friends and talking with your family is fun, too. (Word count: 200)

Also check:

• Essay on Mobile Phone

Paragraph on Mobile Phone in 250 Words

A mobile phone is a small, portable device that lets you talk, send messages, and use the internet almost anywhere you go. It’s like having a tiny computer in your pocket. Years ago, phones were mostly for talking, but now they can do so much more. You can take pictures and videos, play games, listen to music, and watch movies. It’s also great for staying in touch with friends and family through apps that let you send messages and share your day with them. Plus, with a phone, you have a map that helps you find places, so getting lost is much harder. You can also learn new things by looking up information or watching educational videos. It’s important to remember that while phones are useful, they should be used responsibly. Spending too much time on your phone can be bad for your eyes and can take away from other important activities like studying, playing outside, or spending time with people face-to-face. Some people worry that mobile phones might not always be good for our health, but as long as you use them in the right way, they can be a big help in our daily lives. Remember to take breaks, don’t use your phone late at night, and make sure you’re not always staring at the screen. If you use your mobile phone smartly, it can be a powerful tool that makes your life easier and more fun.

That’s it! I hope the paragraphs have helped you.

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Creative Writing: What It Is and Why It Matters

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on Published: January 13, 2023  - Last updated: January 15, 2023

Categories Writing

Writing can be intimidating for many people, but creative writing doesn’t have to be. Creative writing is a form of self-expression that allows writers to create stories, characters, and unique settings. But what exactly is creative writing? And why is it important in today’s society? Let’s explore this further.

How We Define Creative Writing

Creative writing is any form where writers can express their thoughts and feelings imaginatively. This type of writing allows authors to draw on their imagination when creating stories and characters and play with language and structure. While there are no boundaries in creative writing, most pieces will contain dialogue, description, and narrative elements.

The Importance of Creative Writing

Creative writing is important because:

• It helps us express ourselves in ways we may not be able to do with other forms of communication.
• It allows us to explore our creativity and think outside the box.
• It can help us better understand our emotions by exploring them through storytelling or poetry.
• Writing creatively can also provide much-needed escapism from everyday life, allowing us to escape into a world of our creation.
• Creative writing helps us connect with others by sharing our experiences through stories or poems they can relate to. This way, we can gain insight into other people’s lives while giving them insight into ours.

Creative Writing: A Path to Mental and Emotional Wellness

Writing is more than just a way to express your thoughts on paper. It’s a powerful tool that can be used as a form of therapy. Creative writing has been shown to improve emotional and mental well-being.

Through creative writing, we can gain insight into our emotions, develop self-expression and communication skills, cultivate empathy and understanding of others, and boost our imagination and creativity.

Let’s examine how creative writing can relieve stress and emotional catharsis.

Stress Relief and Emotional Catharsis

Writing has the power to reduce stress levels significantly. Writing about our experiences or about things that are causing us anxiety or distress helps us to release those complicated feelings constructively. By expressing ourselves through creative writing, we can work through the emotions associated with stressful situations without having to confront them directly.

This is especially helpful for people who struggle to share their emotions verbally or in person.

Improved Communication and Self-Expression

Creative writing is also beneficial for improving communication skills. Through creative writing, we can explore our thoughts and feelings more intensely than by speaking them aloud. This allows us to think more clearly about what we want to say before actually saying it out loud or in written form, which leads to improved self-expression overall.

Additionally, writing out our thoughts before speaking aloud allows us to articulate ourselves better when communicating with others—which is essential for healthy personal and professional relationships.

Increased Empathy and Understanding of Others

Through creative writing, we can also increase our empathy towards others by exploring different perspectives on various topics that may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable for us—such as racism, homophobia, sexism, etc.—and allowing ourselves the opportunity to see the situation from someone else’s point of view without judgment or bias. This helps us become better communicators and more understanding individuals overall.

The Professional Benefits of Creative Writing

Creative writing is a powerful tool that can help you communicate better and more effectively in the professional world. It can also help you develop various skills that prove invaluable in many industries. Whether you’re looking to build your résumé or improve your communication, creative writing can effectively achieve both.

Let’s take a closer look at how creative writing can benefit your career.

Preparing Students for Careers in Writing, Editing, and Publishing

Creative writing is the perfect foundation for anyone interested in pursuing a career in writing, editing, or publishing. It teaches students the basics of grammar and composition while allowing them to express their ideas in imaginative ways.

Creative writing classes also allow students to learn from professionals who have experience as editors, agents, and publishers. They can use this knowledge to learn creative writing, refine their craft and gain valuable experience before entering the job market.

Improving Skills in Storytelling and Marketing for Various Careers

Creative writing teaches students to think critically about stories and craft compelling narratives that draw readers in. This skill is precious for those who wish to pursue careers outside traditional writing roles—such as marketing or advertising—where storytelling is key.

People who understand the fundamentals of creative writing will be able to create persuasive copy that resonates with readers and effectively conveys a message.

Enhancing Team Collaboration and Leadership Skills

Creative writing isn’t just about expressing yourself through words; it also provides an opportunity to practice working collaboratively with others on projects. Many creative writing classes require students to work together on group projects, which helps them develop essential teamwork skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.

As they work together on these projects, they will also gain confidence in their ability to lead teams effectively—an invaluable asset no matter what industry they pursue after graduation.

Uncovering the Power of Creative Writing

Creative writing has become an increasingly powerful force in shaping our society. Creative writing has many uses, from preserving cultural heritage to promoting social change.

Preserving Cultural Heritage with Creative Writing

Creative writing has long been used to preserve and share cultural heritage stories. This is done through fictional stories or poetry that explore a particular culture or group’s history, values, and beliefs. By weaving these stories in an engaging way, writers can bring a culture’s history and traditions to life for readers worldwide. This helps bridge cultural gaps by providing insight into what makes each culture unique.

Promoting Social Change & Activism with Creative Writing

Creative writing can also be used for activism and social change. Writers can craft stories that help promote awareness about important issues such as poverty, race relations, gender equality, climate change, and more.

With the power of words, writers can inspire readers to take action on these issues and work towards creating positive change in their communities.

Through creative writing, writers can raise awareness about important topics while fostering empathy toward individuals who may be facing difficult or challenging situations.

Fostering Creativity & Innovation with Creative Writing

Finally, creative writing can foster creativity and innovation in various fields. For example, businesses can use creative copywriting techniques to create compelling content that captures the attention of customers or potential investors.

Aspiring entrepreneurs can use storytelling techniques when pitching their ideas or products to potential partners or investors to make their cases more persuasive and memorable.

By harnessing the power of words through creative writing techniques, businesses can create content that resonates with their target audience while inspiring them to take action on whatever message they’re trying to convey. It often aids the overall creative process.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of creative writing.

Creative writing has many benefits, both for the writer and the reader. For the writer, it can be therapeutic, helping them to explore their emotions and better understand themselves. It can also be used as entertainment or communication, allowing them to share their ideas with the world. For the reader, creative writing can provide enjoyment, escapism, and insights into the human condition.

How can I improve my creative writing skills?

There are several ways you can improve your creative writing skills. Firstly, make sure you allow yourself time to write regularly. Use a writing prompt to inspire a short story. Secondly, read as much as you can; great writers are also great readers. Thirdly, experiment with different styles and genres to find one that suits you best. Fourthly, join a writers’ group, writing workshop, or creative writing program to get feedback from other writers. Finally, keep a journal to track your progress and reflect on your work as a creative writer.

What is the importance of imagery in creative writing?

Imagery is an important element of creative writing, as it helps to create a more vivid picture for the reader. By using sensory and descriptive language, writers can transport readers into their stories and help them relate to their characters or themes. Imagery can bring a scene alive with detail and evoke emotion by helping readers create strong visual images in their minds. Furthermore, imagery can help make stories more memorable by giving readers a deeper connection with the characters or setting.

What are the elements of creative writing?

The elements of creative writing include plot, character, dialogue, setting, theme, and point of view. The plot is the structure or main storyline, while the character is the personage involved in this story. Dialogue includes conversations between characters to give insight into their emotions and relationships. Setting refers to the place or time in which a story takes place, while theme explores deeper meanings behind a story’s narrative. Finally, point of view defines how readers experience a story through first-person or third-person omniscient narration.

What’s the difference between creative writing and other types of writing?

The main difference between creative writing and other types of writing is that it allows the writer to create their own story, characters, settings, and themes. Creative writing also encourages writers to be inventive with their style and use descriptive language to evoke emotion or bring stories alive in readers’ minds. Other academic or technical writing types typically involve more research-based information and are usually more objective in their presentation. Additionally, most forms of non-creative writing will have stricter rules regarding grammar, structure, and syntax.

What is the golden rule of creative writing?

The golden rule of creative writing is to show, not tell. It’s the core creative writing skill. When it comes to creative writing, it’s essential to use descriptive language that immerses readers in the story and allows them to experience the events through their emotions and imaginations. This can be done through metaphors, similes, sensory language, and vivid imagery.

How important is creativity in writing?

Creativity is essential in writing as it allows writers to craft a unique story and evoke emotion from the reader. Creativity can bring stories alive with fresh perspectives and exciting plot lines while creating an escape for readers and giving them more profound insights into the human condition. Writers who combine creativity with technical aspects such as grammar, structure, language usage, and flow will create pieces that capture their audience’s attention and provide an enjoyable reading experience.

Mobile Phone Essay & Paragraph in English

A mobile phone essay or mobile phone paragraph is a common writing topic for students, examinees, and beginner writers. It is a wonder of science . There are a bunch of essays and paragraphs on mobile phones, often referred to as cell phones or smartphones. These talk about the importance, role, advantages, disadvantages, uses, and abuses of mobile phones. Attempts have been made to write these pieces in simple English so that they can be useful for students and examinees of different classes.

Table of Contents

Mobile Phone Essay in English, 600 Words

By: Haque | For Class 11, 12 | 28-06-’22

Advantages and Uses of Mobile Phones

Mobile phones, which were luxury possessions not until a decade ago, have now become a necessity for the common man. The entry of private service providers with CDMA, GSM, and of course, 3G, and 4G technologies have changed the communication sector beyond imagination. Mobiles have become an essential commodity in day-to-day life. It has become an unavoidable thing in almost all aspects of human activity.

Many new competitors have entered the mobile market resulting in a reduction of the STD rates and local call rates. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) enables mobile users to switch over to other service providers without changing their numbers.

The number of mobile users has increased tremendously in the last decade. Even rural areas of densely populated countries like India and Bangladesh have been connected to the mobile network. Mobile phones are now in the hands of people of all ages and professions. Young people, in particular, have welcomed and embraced smartphones with open arms.

The decrease in call rates can be imagined from the fact that it cost around 16 rupees per minute when mobiles were introduced in India and today it costs as little as 1 paisa per 2 seconds. Even the size of mobile phones has become smaller and the design has become more user-friendly within a very short time. They were like walkie-talkies when they were introduced. The shape of those phones just a few years ago now makes people laugh.

A mobile phone has versatile uses. It allows us to call anyone from anywhere, send text messages to anyone when they are busy, send and receive emails, surf the internet, set alarm clocks, check the time, use calculators, keep a presence on social media like Facebook and Twitter , set reminders, keep notes , make voice calls, video calls and send pictures, videos and messages to any part of the world with apps like WhatsApp .

Navigation apps like Google Maps on mobile phones guide us when we travel to unfamiliar areas. Modern smartphones have high-resolution cameras, so we can take clear pictures of any scene. Due to the easy availability of mobile phones, mobile banking has now been introduced, which has made money transactions much easier and hassle-free. Now we don’t have to look for hawkers to know the news from home and abroad because one can read newspapers of any country and any language in the world right now on a smartphone. The role of a mobile phone in entertainment is even greater. It includes listening to music, watching movies, enjoying dramas, movies, or religious ceremonies, and attending various live shows.

Mobile phone, the small and light device, has revolutionized people’s lives. Today, anyone with a phone can be available around the clock and get up-to-date information on anything. Especially, the availability of the internet on mobile phones has greatly increased its usefulness. This has brought speed in trade and commerce. A rural farmer in India or Tunisia can now learn the rates in the remote market through a cellphone and sell his fruits, crops, and vegetables at reasonable prices. The convenience of sending content enables one person to send a message without actually bothering others.

In fact, the mobile phone is a wonder of science . It has connected all the people of the world with each other. Today every person is constantly connected with every other person and place. Having a mobile phone in one’s hand means that he is carrying his house, his office, his shop, and his bank in his hand. Therefore, it can be claimed that no other scientific invention has been able to influence human civilization and way of life as extensively as mobile phones.

Mobile Phone Essay in English, 500 Words

By: Haque | For Class 9-10 | 28-06-’22

Advantage & Disadvantage of Mobile Phone Essay

Introduction: Nowadays, cellular telephone or mobile phone service is available almost everywhere. It is a type of short-wave analog or digital telecommunication in which a client has a wireless connection from a mobile telephone to a nearby transmitter. A span of transmitter coverage is called a cell. When a cellular telephone user moves from one cell or coverage area to another, his telephone also moves to the local cell transmitter.

Invention and History of Commercial Use: The first hand-held mobile phone was invented by Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, which weighed 2 kg. A decade later, in 1973, mobile phones or cellular phones were introduced for commercial use. The phone, a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, weighed 2 pounds, offered just a half-hour of talk time for every recharging, and sold for about 4000 US dollars. Nowadays modern mobile phones, often called smartphones, are very light (less than 100 grams) and stylish, can work seamlessly for about 15 hours, and prices can range from just $20 to $100. In the twenty years from 1990 to 2010, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 4.6 billion.

How Mobile Phone Works: Nowadays, cellular phones make use of the cellular network concept, where frequencies are re-used repeatedly within a city area. It allows many more users to share access to the radio bandwidth. A mobile phone allows calls to be placed over a wide geographic area. It can make and receive telephone calls to and from the public telephone network which includes other mobiles and fixed-line phones across the world. It does this by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator.

Other Services: In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of other services such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming, and photography. Mobile phones that offer these more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

Mobile Phones in Bangladesh: Citycell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) is the first company to provide mobile phone service in Bangladesh and the only CDMA mobile operator in the country. At present, the leading mobile phone companies in the country are GrameenPhone (GP), Robi, Banglalink, Citycell, Airtel, and Teletalk. The total number of active subscribers of mobile phones in Bangladesh has reached 180 million at the end of 2021.

Uses of Mobile Phone: Mobile phone has made our life much easier. It has played an important role in improving connectivity among people. Now we can contact other people with surety and much convenience. It has also made business and commercial activities much easier by providing better communication.

Abuses of Mobile Phone: We can also find some drawbacks of mobile phones. It is often misused by criminals. They use this technology for criminal activities such as abduction, terrorism, robbery, theft, etc.

Conclusion: In spite of the abuses of the mobile phone, its necessity and importance cannot be overlooked. In fact, nowadays, we cannot do without a mobile phone even for a single day.

Mobile Phone Essay in English, 300 Words

In 330 words, for class 9 to 12

• Introduce mobile phone.
• What can be done with a mobile phone?
• Why is the number of mobile phone users increasing rapidly?
• Tell something about the use and abuse of mobile phones.

Uses and Abuses of Mobile Phone Essay

The mobile phone is one of the wonders and the fastest-growing inventions of modern science. It is a cellular phone, which does not have any wire. It works anywhere where the network is available. This tiny device has made a huge difference in human civilization. Human interconnection has never been so easy. At present almost every inch of place in the world is covered by the mobile network, so we are no longer likely to get lost. Now it can be said that there is no such thing as distance. No matter where we are in the world, we are always connected with our friends and family through mobile phones.

Moreover, through mobile phones, we can use the internet. A smartphone is now used as an alternative to a computer because there are many kinds of apps in the latest mobile phones which perform different types of tasks like sending and receiving emails, using social sites, writing and editing documents, capturing photos, etc. Nowadays, we can pay bills, send money, get news and also apply for jobs or admission using mobile phones. The number of mobile phone users is increasing day by day due to its multi-dimensional use.

But every positive thing has some negative aspects as well. So, mobile phone is not an exception to this. Teenagers often spoil their valuable time by talking to their friends for a long time or using social sites. Different mobile operators often offer some midnight free or low-cost calls. Teenagers mostly take this advantage and thus hamper their normal life. Most, unfortunately, miscreants can easily commit crimes through mobile phones. Apart from these, young people can have easy access to different adult sites through mobile phones. Most importantly, scientists are warning that excessive use of mobile phones can cause brain cancer, and hamper the mental growth of children. But despite these disadvantages, we still use the mobile phone as it has been a part and parcel of our daily life.

Check out: Internet Essay & Paragraph

Mobile Phone Paragraph, 150 Words

The mobile phone is a wonderful invention of modern science. Scientist Martin Cooper invented the device in 1970. It is also known as a cell phone, cellular phone, and mobile. The mobile phone is actually an improved version of the land phone, it is small in size and can be carried in the hand and pocket. Nowadays all classes of people use mobile phones. This has facilitated the communication system. Modern mobile phones of today are called smartphones. In addition to talking, many other activities such as listening to music, capturing pictures and videos, reading magazines, watching movies, holding virtual meetings, and attending various social media can be done. Currently, the whole world is covered by mobile phone networks. People of every class and profession are benefiting in many ways from this device. In this age of information technology revolution, our daily life can’t be imagined without mobile phones.

Check out: 300+ English Essays & Paragraphs

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A teacher, writer and blogger, started allparagraph noting students search online for paragraphs on various topics, short and simple essays , edifying stories and other materials of study . In composing these lessons we have tried to use as simple language as possible, keeping young students in mind. If you find any text inappropriate, please let us know so we can make it more useful through necessary corrections and modifications. Thank you!

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Indian History, Festivals, Essays, Paragraphs, Speeches.

Autobiography of a Mobile Phone – Short Essay

Category: Essays and Paragraphs On January 12, 2019 By Ananda

I’m a mobile phone . I wrote my autobiography . I am one of the very delicate phones. Tring! Tring! Is my sound. You can hear me everywhere. Life is i ncomplete without me. Let’s takes you back to my life story. I hope you will enjoy it.

I’m a latest touch phone and was made by a famous company . I shone like a bright sun in the start.

After I was manufactured I was being sent to the mobile shop carefully where I was displayed under the glass case . I was very relieved at that time. Because now I’m at my happy place finally. This was the purpose of my life.

My happy day:

I was very expensive. No one bought me . I was waiting eagerly for the day when my owner come and buy me. One day a man came and bought me. I was very happy . That man was very kind. Mark used me very carefully. I gave him all the latest facilities like face-time, Camera, unlimited games, browsers etc . He cared for me like a baby and always kept me at a safe place when not using. After a week or more he cleans me with a soft fabric so unwanted marks are removed.

Horrible incident:

Mark always kept me with him. Wherever he went he took me. All his friends admired me. But his son used me a lot for playing video games . One day he was playing as usual he dropped me suddenly into water . My parts were all separated and I stopped functioning. After this incident Mark was very worried and he took me immediately to the mobile repair shop . I was again back on track in two days. Now Mark never gives me to his son.

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