The use of cell phones (mobile phones) has increased rapidly in the twenty-first century. Additionally cell phones can now be used for many purposes besides making phone calls.What are the advantages and disadvantages of cell phones? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

There has been an increasing use of mobile phones in the last couple of decades. This use poses many benefits and a few drawbacks to individuals and society as a whole. Mobile phones have been extremely helpful in connecting with family members who live hundreds or thousands of miles apart. In the early invention of cellular networks, people had a choice to make audio calls only, which still makes the family to miss them until they meet again. Now-a-days, many parents are not hesitant to send their kids to a foreign country for higher education because of easier communication system. The kids or parents have an option to see each other virtually in seconds time. This makes the families feel closer, although they are physically far from each other. Apart from faster communication, phones have been beneficial in improving the ease of doing business. The last decade has seen a tremendous growth in individual business owners making great profits on social media and streaming platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Budding entrepreneurs have more access to improving their business ideas and selling their products or providing services online. For instance, physical trainers and nutritionists are able to utilize YouTube to post educational content, while connecting with people via question and answer sessions on Instagram. This would have been difficult to achieve if the respective applications are inaccessible from mobile phones. Although the use of mobiles has many advantages, a few major drawbacks include addiction to blue screen, lack of social connections in the physical world and increase in obesity. Several leading companies developed algorithms to grab users’ attention to stay on their websites for long hours. Research shows that there is a 4 hour increase in screen-time in the last five years. We can also observe this trend in bus stops and transit stations, where people stopped observing nature or interacting with co-passengers. A longer screen-time could make a person less active, which leads to an increase in obesity eventually. As discussed above, while there are a few disadvantages, there are many benefits of using mobile phones. I think that people should be cautious with the drawbacks while reaping the benefits of using their mobiles.