Azad Hussain

PURPOSEFUL USE OF SMARTPHONE

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Smartphone has made our  life convenient but it's  improper use can lead to demerits

Earlier,  to  use internet , which has now  become  the necessity of life,  you had to visit a  Cyber Cafe. You would   travel a long distance to reach there  and   to avail internet facility, you needed to pay a good  amount of money for the purpose. But  nowadays Smartphones have brought internet  at easy access to every young and old.

Due to prevailing  law and order situations in the state till  late nineties, because of  unrest in the valley,  the people of Jammu and Kashmir  took the taste of mobile phone service very late as compared to other states of  India.  In  Jammu and Kashmir,  mobile phone service was launched in  2003, one and a half decade before. It was the  then prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee who made the first voice call to then chief   minister Mufti Mohammad Syed as a note of inaugural phone call. With the start of cell phone service in  Kashmir, I have  witnessed  those   days,   when  brokers sold the  SIM Cards in five thousand to six thousand rupees, which is nowadays given free of cast to a subscriber.

Though this service was launched very late in the state, the number of mobile phone users zoomed to sky levels immediately after its inception. According to a report by  Telecom Regulatory Authority of India of 2016, Jammu and Kashmir had  crossed  the mark  of one crore mobile phone users by the end of  October 2016, which may have gone too higher till now. However,  with the beginning people mostly used their mobile phones only for voice calls and text messages.

With the passage of time, people  started using pocket internet on their handsets. Initially pocket internet service was available in 2G then in 3G speed and now the people have access to use high speed 4G internet on their handsets.

As the  Smartphone culture has abruptly spread  among the people, with the result of this, most of the  people have become addicted to internet now. In India, it is being said that two out of three mobile phone users are using mobile Internet and same may be the case with Jammu and  Kashmir.

Doubtlessly  mobile internet has touched unimaginable highlights  in terms of accessibility to so many useful services and its unlimited advantages.  Mobile voice calling  and  pocket internet  both have brought people closer to each  other across the world by the way of various modes of communication.  But like the two inseparable sides of a same coin, to talk about the side of its demerits cannot be ignored.

Since  the data in the form of audio, video and text remains  always available on  the Smartphone , so  people remain connected to pocket internet round the clock.  Earlier, the term  “facilities available at door steps”  was  frequently used  for easy services.  Now the Smartphone is  not less than a “magic box”, which keeps every service available at your fingertips, hence it replaced the term “door steps” to “fingertips”. Be it banking,  booking tickets, booking hotels, submitting online forms, online shopping,  preparation for examination,  communication by text, audio and video through social networking sites, access to electronic/social media, different games for children etc,   every service is now  available on a handy gadget, the Smartphone. Apart from that, there are other countless Android Applications which can be used by Smartphone user, whenever needed.

Though, books have still their credibility, but Internet has almost replaced the paper world into electronic data, and  gone are the days when students needed to buy expensive books to get the answer of a simple question. Now Google search engine gives you access to vast range of literature just in micro seconds.

However, paper literature and print media have still some of  their special advantages over internet. By reading a book or newspaper you save your precious eyes from harmful radiations, which otherwise can cause a gradual damage to them unknowingly, due to excessive use of Internet for reading   electronic text. Over and above that merit, student’s book reading gives him a full concentration towards the specific topic , because the attention of the student doesn’t get distracted to other interesting things flashing on net which otherwise remain available around the topic on Internet.

The parents should  allow their children to use internet in specific cases, like for browsing some important  information required for preparation etc, but at the same time children should not be kept  free to prepare always on internet only. Children should be encouraged more for book reading than using more  internet. Because parents remain unaware about the under carpet activities of their children while allowing them to browse  internet.

Internet is a good thing when used properly. Once, it is used beyond  its limits, it may prove fatal. On one hand  it contains good information and good services , but on the other hand there is also  bulk of  an unwanted bad stuff  available on it. In addition to that,  internet gave birth to  another type of crimes, called cyber crimes.   So  it is better to  restrict children from its unlimited use. While on one hand social media gave facility to every internet user to give publicity to one’s issues on it, but on the other hand rumour mongers are not away from social media to spread undesirable rumours.

Looking at social domain of internet on Smartphone, excessive use of internet isolates the user  on social grounds. In past, people used to share all happy moments of their “day out”   at evening time, with family members, when they would return back to home at evening after their daily routine work. On one hand you are more connected to distant people by way of social media networking services, but on the other hand, you get so busy with your Smartphone that you forget to spare time with  your family members  around you.

In addition to browse useful data, most of the users remain busy the day in an  the day out on Smartphone, by using internet for the purpose of time pass, while  entertaining themselves  by watching YouTube videos,  using Facebook, using Instagram, Using Whats App and other social networking sites.

Nowadays, all family members remain mum while busy  on their Smartphones and accordingly take the seats at different corners of the room. When the children want to ask for something to their parents, parents hardly pay any attention towards them. This kind of attitude hampers the social development of children.

Moreover continuous use of Smartphone may lead to various health related  issues, which can be explained by medical experts.

Smartphone is not a bad thing but it should be used purposefully and   carefully. As the youngsters are mostly  inclined to internet,  so the parents have the responsibility to motivate their children to remain  away from the excessive  and disadvantageous  use  of internet services on their Smartphones.

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