IELTS Cambridge 17 Essay: Smartphones

Vocabulary

What do the words in bold below mean? Make some notes on paper to aid memory and then check below.

These days, children are spending more and more hours each day using smartphones. In my opinion, this is a natural consequence of the ubiquity of phones and is a decidedly negative phenomenon.

The main cause of this trend is access to portable devices. Since the introduction of the original iPhone, countless phone manufacturers have imitated Apple’s innovation and virtually every family possesses multiple devices. The owners of these phones are typically over-worked and stressed parents who are often willing to allow their children to use their smartphones to listen to music, watch movies, and keep themselves entertained. In many parts of the world, parents even purchase phones specifically for their children to use. The increased hours children spend on phones is therefore a combination of tremendous access coupled with a natural desire to use them.

The main repercussions from increased smartphone usage among children are negative. Firstly, smartphones have replaced healthier habits. Children raised before the advent of the portable smartphone were more likely to read books, socialize with friends, and take part in outdoor activities. These practices are all far healthier physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Moreover, the usage of phones itself is actively detrimental to normal cognitive development. Many researchers have theorized that the 21st century spike in cases of dissociative anxiety disorders can be directly correlated with the technological age in general and smartphones more specifically.

In conclusion, children use smartphones for hours every day because of their availability and the result of this is a steep decline in healthy lifestyles. As governments cannot restrict such usage, it is the responsibility of parents to effectively regulate screen time for their children.