The Smartphone Generation, An Era Of Less Physical Interaction Or Improved Communication?

Compared to two decades ago, Smartphones have become a popular means of communication and a source of information for many people across the world.

As a direct evolutionary descendant of the traditional telephone, smartphones are owned by millions now, making reaching people from all corners of the globe possible.

The technological device which began as a luxury device in the late twentieth century after its invention earlier the same century, it did not become a standard household appliance for the general public until the 1940s and 1950s.

Before the smartphone era, communication was an in-person thing. Friends would visit each other or walk back home from school deeply engrossed in conversations that sometimes carried over into the following day.

In some families also, members would have a common day out of their busy schedules to connect with each other, share a meal or make plans. 

Now with the popularity of smartphones, physical communication is losing its value. 

Now families gather at a dinner table and everyone is watching different screens.

Friends hangout and instead of catching up, they are scrolling on their phones.

Couples even sit in the same room and text each other on social media apps like WhatsApp or Snapchat.

All these eloving trends in communication begs the question, are smartphones changing the way people physically communicate and connect?

3Music TV’s Editorial team visited the Unversity of Ghana, Legon Campus asking young Ghanaians how they use their phones and their views on how the device is impeding physical interaction.

A young man who spoke to the team was of the view that the device rather improves communication and also aids him with his business.

“I always use my phone when I'm with my friends because I use the phone for business. So I don't think that one affects our friendship.”

Another student shared that through content creation, her friends gain a lot so she does not mind them being on their smartphones while they are together.

“Nowadays, people are making money from the content creation and all that. So you're going out with a friend, and the person is creating content and all that. Actually, maybe he's doing it to, you know, get something, get viewers and all that, to promote something. And they get something from it.  And me being there, she's doing that, it’s cool with me.”

“We find people on their phones, even when they are in the midst of people. I mean, they are friends, they are family. Instead of them communicating, having a physical interaction.  So I think that it [smartphone] has come to help, but negatively, it's also, preventing physical connection.”

While smartphones carry the power to improve upon the gaps in physical interactions like breaching distant boundaries, it also provides avenue to run businesses online without the need for a physical office. 

The recent uses of the smartphone are endless and the current generation cannot just do without it, hence the inability to differentiate between the need for physical interaction and online interactions.