Mobile Phones - Advantages And Disadvantages

What are the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones? Today there are many reasons for people to be owning a mobile phone. In fact you can say that a mobile phone is an essential portable communication tool for a modern western citizen. In the international arena, throughout all parts of the world, mobile phone use is also extremely important. For instance many Africans are using their phones for many reasons which differ from how they are used in countries such as the UK because of data rates and data transfer speed. In this article we will give examples of how mobile phones are used, plus the advantages and disadvantages of this modern tool.

The Advantages And Benefits Of Mobile Phones

The single most important reason for owning a phone that I can think of is the use in an emergency. A simple phone can be used for calls and sending texts from any location in the country were you can connect to the national telecommunication network. The use of geolocation technology means that if a person has an accident on the road in the winter and night means emergency services can locate you instantly and send out help. The incident can be documented in real time via video if needed. Mobile phones are good at recording photo images in vivid colours, stereo sound and a mass of data saved on your SIM card. Storing, finding, or sharing data can not be easier on the next generation smart phone, meaning this can be used as evidence in law.

Ultimate Mobile Entertainment On The Go

In view of our love to be entertained while we are traveling mobile phones are now multimedia centres in our hands. In other words today you can stream high quality video to you phone from a train carriage. This means you can view the latest episode of your favorite program or recently released film. You can play many games on your phone also, and the screen resolution for this play is of the highest order. The blazing fast speed of processing means you can have a high quality gaming experience. If you love your music you can connect to your cloud storage music account and listen to tunes on the go at anytime from a extensive back catalog of all the recording through history.

In order to make phones accessible to all the large tech companies have introduced voice commands. We now have Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Using your voice to get things done. Voice assistants provide an easy and fast way to control your phone and apps on the go. All these features based around entertainment are fun and we love our phones because of them.

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Ordering Goods, Money Transfer And Business

You can access the internet on your phone as a result you can buy clothes, books or a take away meal on your commute home. Blue tooth means you can use your iphone to travel around the city's transport system so you do not have to carry cash. Accommodation can be booked on the phone as you travel the country.

Another example of the advantage of a phone in when it comes to accessing your money. If you have a simple phone or a smart phone money transfer transactions can take place. In African countries a simple 3G mobile money transfer is helping individuals pay for products and service and for entrepreneurs to do business.

There are lots of good business reasons for owning a mobile phone. The sales teams can seal a deal on the spot when they have a mobile phone on the road.

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Hardware And Software Apps

The range and breath of smart mobile phone hardware on the market is phenomenal. The limiting factor is the cost. Despite this today's top phone can cost up to £800 to £1200 and customers are willing to pay for this. Are customers getting value for money. Who knows as the ability to make accurate comparisons between the models and brands is difficult. The many different features on one phone can be too difficult for you to compare without an extensive length of user experience.

There are a multitude of applications or apps for download and use on a smart phone. For example there are a number of apps such as email, weather, traffic reports, maps, social media and news feeds. All these apps and more are marvelous they make for a richer user experience which we all value.

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The Disadvantages And Negative Aspects Of Mobile Phones

The are of course some disadvantages to owning a phone. Modern mobile phones are very expensive. The latest models are priced at £300 or £400. If you are a slave to upgrading every two or three year then this cost can be excessive. There however bargains to found in the local high street second hand shops. Secondly the cost of maintaining a contract can be difficult for owners. In west African countries the cost of owning a mobile and data transfer speed from area to area makes owning a mobile a varied experience in these local markets. Lots of second hand mobile make there way into the African market.

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Environmental Costs

On the environmental side of owning a phone there are huge costs which many people are unaware of. Raw materials of a phone are made of precious metals and minerals come from African countries such as The Congo, (DRC), Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Tanzania, Sierra Leone. Child slave labour, corruption, war and crime are hidden cost most people do not consider. Rare earth metals at Tantalite, cobalt, lithium, tungsten and gold, silver used in everyday technology products such a smartphones are dug by hand in some of these mines.

When a phone and battery has been thrown away after being used for a short period of time it may end up in a landfill site. Here toxic waste can leak out into the environment. The solution is to recycle. Developed western societies has not been up to now efficient in the use of recycling precious metals used in mobile phones.

Charging our phones is another running cost which we normally do not factor in. The power which we are using on a daily basis comes from mixture of sources. This would include fossil fuel as well as renewable production methods. But how many consumers really know "What is the carbon foot print of owning a phone". Also as money technology advances we rely on more mobile phone masks. The are ongoing studying on the effect of these powerful electromagnet structures in our communities. The studies are on going but as of today we do not know what effect if any these mobile phone waves have on our bodies. Are there effects at extreme close distances from mobile phone masks or the phone itself? If so what are these on our health? Are they a simple nuisance or a monster in the neighbourhood? Another issue with mobile phones are constant upgrading of the software. The latest updates and downloads can get in the way when we need our phones to most. These updates or patches to software code need to be performed on a regular basis if not or phones can be compromised by bad actors or criminal hackers.

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Cracked Screen Horror Broken Phone

Dropping your phone in the streets, the pain, panic and proceeding horror of finding out your iphone does not now work coupled with the severely cracked screen is one of the downside to ownership. So you have broken your phone. If you want to protect your phone you must insure it. Insurance will cover you for accidents and theft. If your phone is stolen however it can be chaos until a temporary or permanent replacement is found or bought.

Data Privacy

Other concerns of owning a phone centre around data privacy, private or government surveillance. It is sometime very difficult to know who is monitoring our journey through life. There is no guarantee that your privacy is sacrilege. Due to international terror concerns government monitor our online lives.

Excessive To Addictive Mobile Phone Use

The mobile phone can be a distraction. Many people have been caught drive and talking on their phones even though this is illegal. Children spend excessive amounts of time on their phones which can be at the detriment to their learning at school. There is an addictive element to owning a phone. Many young adults have notification pinging every few minutes and this is something the find hard to ignore. Can you switch off? It requires discipline to not use you phone late into the night. How do we guard against the over use of the phones by children at bedtime. Only now are the psychological effects being studied by the top universities.

Pressures Of Owning The Top Branded Phone

The keeping up with the Jones is another negative aspect of the phone owning culture. You must have the latest model or the latest accessories. Young adults are harassed and bullied for their lack of owning the 'must have' phone consequently they then have the threat of a phone being stolen from them if it is the latest brand. Relationships can be created, elevated and destroyed on a mobile phone. This is something new parents have to be aware of.

Criminal Activity

Finally one of the biggest dangers of mobile phone uses is in criminal activity. This is an area in which the law is very much behind. For example the sending of indecent material and child pornography via the latest platform is sometimes very hard to police also. Some of these platforms use encryption so many crime may never be spotted. How do you safely navigate this?

A Young Technology

In summary, mobile phones are a recent invention as of today they have not been around for more than 30 years in the mass population. It is a young technology which has grown out of the fix telephone device. We are apparently still learning how to best use them for communication. Society today is heavily invested in having the mobile phone integrated into our lives and then our futures. Now it would be extremely difficult to move away from this most convenient tool which we access on a regular basis throughout the day. Having said that mobile phones are great technological devices to have on us, but we should take care with our over reliance on them and we need to understand the true cost of owning one.

Leslie
West Africa Phones
Editor

Topics for informal discussions familiar topics

City and Guilds ideas and opinions. Evidence. Effective accurate language

If you wish to use this article for your City and Guilds informal discussions familiar topics please do so. Cut and paste.
For use as a presentation use the following:

1. Title: Mobile Phones - advantages and disadvantages
2. Content: Benefits of mobile phones
3. Benefits of mobile phones
   1. Emergency
   2. Sharing data
   3. Ultimate mobile entertainment on the go
   4. Stream high quality video
   5. Games
   6. Music
   7. Ordering goods, money transfer and business
   8. Hardware and software apps
4. The negative aspects of mobile phones
1. Environmental costs
2. Cracked screen horror broken phone
3. Data privacy
4. Excessive to addictive mobile phone use
5. Pressures of owning the top branded phone
6. Criminal activity
5. Summary a young technology
6. References

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