Cell Phones are Trapping People in a Visual World

Nowadays, the high technology is changing peoples’ lives with a faster speed, a more convenient lifestyle, and a more entertaining environment. Cell phones are the typical product of the high technology. A decade ago, people used cell phones to call each other because it was convenient to communicate and saved time. But nowadays, people used cell phones because they were the main entertainment of people’s daily lives and created a visual world that everyone could be their own masters. However, instead of serving as a convenient tool, cell phones seem to dominate people’s lives and change their ways of communication completely. Few people in the nowadays could live without cell phones. As is shown in the picture, people are supposed to enjoy themselves at the beach and embraced the sea wind. However, all of them bow their heads and focus on their phones when they are doing the sun tan. The result is that there is a clearly a mark of their hands holding the cell phone on their chests. The purpose of sun tan is to enjoy the comfortable sun tan, feel the nature, and totally relax, not to get their skins a little darker while they could enjoy themselves in the visual world their cell phones bring them. From my perspective, cell phones are trapping people in a visual world and making people neglect the real world they are living.

To begin with, cell phones bring a visual world where people could hide from the reality. People in the current society tend to shoulder great pressures, meet fierce competitions, and encounter dissatisfactions. Cell phones have various functions for people to choose the life they want. They could choose the person they want to keep in contact with, purchase the parts they like without walking in the mall, and get the updated news of what is happening around the world. Instant communication software like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram creates an epitome of the world where people could communicate with each other even though they sit alone. People pay attention only to what appeals them because they have multiple choices. They don’t need to endure bad tempers around, argue with disagreements, or follow others’ orders. Cell phones bring a visual world where they are the master. Gradually, people get used to the superiority in the visual world. When they meet troubles or unhappiness in the real world, they will hold their phones to distract their attentions and find their sense of control in the visual world. With cell phones in hands, they seem to obtain the sense of security and superiority.

In addition, cell phones entertain people greatly so that people neglect the original entertainment they receive from nature and the surrounding environment. The development of cell phones pays more and more attentions to the entertainment to attract customers. Countless applications meet people’s needs of entertainment and at the same time, make people more and more critical. They could play games, shop online, follow updates, share pictures and mood, etc. All these functions could keep a person “busy” for hours even though he is alone. Cell phones largely excite people and make their boring lives interesting. Thus, people can not stand sitting alone without their phones. The real world seems more and more boring to people. People take their phones wherever they go to avoid getting bored. Thus, in this picture, even though people are supposed to enjoy the sun tan for fun and enjoy the beautiful scenery at the beach, people still concentrate on their phones for fun. Their internal minds are more and more difficult to calm down. They want excitements all the time. The sea, the beach, and the sun tan have failed to draw their attentions because these sceneries are always the same. Due to cell phones, people have lost their patience and wisdom to appreciate the beautiful world and experience the fun around them.

Last but not least, cell phones change people’s habits of communication and weaken the interpersonal connection. There is a common phenomenon that people stare at their phones wherever they go: on the bus, stand in line, in coffee shops, even in parties. This habit has separated them from others around them because they seem to be “busy” all the time. People prefer to talk strangers online rather than talk with friends nearby. Everyone concentrates on their own visual worlds, and there are weaker and weaker interpersonal relationships between people. Cell phones make communications easier and easier. People prefer to texts rather than calls. This communication lacks facial expressions, the tone, and the body language. It is convenient because it neglects the effectiveness of real communications. When people are addicted to this way of communication, they will be reluctant to talk with people face to face and communicate effectively with genuine feelings. They are used to wear a mask in order to protect themselves. Without genuine emotional changes, people become colder and colder because they are facing with cold machines all the time, not living people. Cell phones make communications convenient, but at the same time, they weaken people’s ability of communications.

In sum, as shown in the picture, cell phones have dominated people’s lives and drawn people’s attentions all the time. People neglect the beautiful sceneries and living people around. Instead, they turn to cell phones for the excitement and entertainment. Cell phones create a visual world where people could master their lives and enjoy the sense of superiority. When they rely on the sense of security and superiority, they can not stand the boring lives around and shoulder the pressure in the real world. Cell phones change people’s patience and genuine communications, leaving people addicted to a visual world.