Ethical Standpoint on Cell Phone Technology

Laura Marroquin

EDTC 5900 Technology Ethics and Society

3 December 2012
Introduction

Since cell phone technology has exploded into the digital age as one of the most highly

used pieces of equipment on the planet, there is a guiding philosophy on how such a small

powerful tool should and should not be used. Everything you could possibly need for

entertainment and staying connected is embedded into this piece of machinery. What will be

looked at in this report is text messaging, taking photos, checking your email, surfing the web,

playing games, and social networking. All of these features impact peoples daily lives

positively and negatively. Texting is probably the most used feature of a cell phone. Being able

to send a quick message to someone is convenient and easy but we should think about how we

use it. Taking a picture with the cell phone is also handy. Its nice to be able to snap a photo and

send it to a friend but we should be careful what were taking a picture of and who were sending

it to. Emails are a great way to send someone information or a document although we need to be

careful what kind of information were sending. Almost everyone these days are on the internet

but we should be careful how we use the internet. What websites are we looking at? Are they

appropriate or secure? Is our personal information going to be leaked out used against us?

Everyone loves to be entertained in one way or another through things like gaming, playing

music, reading books, keeping up with your favorite sports team and so on, but we need to be

aware of things like file sharing and making sure that how were being entertained is legal. One

last thing I will be looking at is social networking. Its nice to be able to keep up with friends

and family, but we must make sure that were communicating appropriately.

Text Messaging

Text messaging seems to be the pinnacle of all cell phone usage. We text at work, we text home,

we text at the store while shopping, we text and walk, we text and drive (tsk, tsk, tsk), we text
while standing in line, we text at a red light, we text while having a conversation face to face; I

have even texted while taking a shower! I personally prefer texting to voicemails and have even

declared it in my voicemail outgoing message. According to Aaron Smith (2011), The Pew

Research Centers Internet & American Life Project in 2011 claims that Some 83% of American

adults own cell phones and (73%) send and receive text messagesand 31% said they

preferred a voice call to a text message. Is this the new way to maintain relationships with

others? Does it hinder relationships or make them stronger? I myself find it easier to text than to

directly talk to someone because I can type my message, reread it to make sure its really what I

want to say and if not, edit the message before sending it to someone. This reduces anxiety and

can still maintain some personal dignity. Texters may feel at greater ease being their real-self

through a text message reducing the potential repercussions that may otherwise take place in a

traditional face-to-face or telephone encounter (Reid & Reid, 2004, p. 8). There does seem to

be more interaction amongst individuals through texting than there would be talking over the

phone or in person. This suggests that people could develop better contact among friends and

family members; bringing them closer together and enriching their relationship. This idea

sounds good, but what if it backfires? What happens when someone gets a bit too bold and says

the wrong thing or if someone doesnt respond back quickly enough? Kenischi Ishii (2006) says,

Lack of social skills further leads to undesirable responses from others,

which in turn makes the life of the socially inept more unpleasant. (p. 350).

With todays technology, it seems that todays youth has always been

submerged in technology. Have they really learned to interact with someone

on a more personal level to be able to develop those personable and social

skills it takes to succeed in the real world?

Entertainment

Entertainment is another reason for constant usage of cell phones. We can entertain

ourselves through listening to music, playing games, surfing the web, etc. Sounds innocent

enough, right? It can be innocent if we watch how we access these features and when. Peer-to-

peer file sharing has been a big controversy ever since the file sharing program Napster came

into play. In 2000 Shawn Fanning, creator of Napster was sued by the band Metallica because it

was discovered that music Metallica hadnt even released yet was being passed around the

network. the case that eventually brought Napster down was the $20 billion infringement

case filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) (

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-spiral-of-napster-begins).

Playing games on your cell phone is a great way to past the time when sitting in a doctors office

or while waiting for a friend to get ready for the movies. However, what happens when it

becomes ALL THE TIME? It can be pretty easy to get sucked into a game that really holds your

interest and can become problematic when it starts to interfere with you daily life. Surfing the

internet can get a bit addicting as well; especially if youre bored. Mark Griffiths (2000) lists

components associated to gaming and internet addiction,

Salience when the activity becomes the most important thing in an individuals life. It

can be divided into cognitive (when an individual often thinks about the activity) and

behavioral (e.g., when an individual neglects basic necessities such as sleep, food, or

hygiene to perform the activity).

Mood change subjective experiences affected by the carried-out activity.

 Tolerance the process of requiring continuously higher doses of activity to achieve the

original sensations. The player thus needs to play more and more.

Withdrawal symptoms negative feelings and sensations accompanying termination of

the activity or impossibility of performing the required activity.

Conflict interpersonal (usually with ones closest social surroundings, family, partner)

or intrapersonal conflict caused by the carried-out activity. It is often accompanied by a

deterioration of school or work results, abandoning previous hobbies, and so on.

Relapse and reinstatement the tendency to return to addictive behavior even after

periods of relative control.

This list can also be applied to gambling and pornography. The ease of being able to access such

sites can be increasingly difficult to stop the addictive behavior. Accessing sites related to

gambling and porn can be damaging to not only your cell phones system due to spam and

increasing pop-ups, but it can also the relationship you have with those around you.

Social Networking

On my cell phone, I have an application that can take me directly to Facebook with just

one click. My cell phone also alerts me every time someone posts on my wall or makes a

comment on any activity Ive done on Facebook. I remember a time when people were not very

accepting to social networking web sites. I too was afraid of the concept of putting myself out

there for the whole world to see. I was happy to learn that I could make my site private and only

those I wanted viewing it could see. As the social networking entity became popular and more

and more users started to jump on the social networking bandwagon, problems started to arise.

Things like, accounts being hacked and privacy being invaded as well as opening doors to

predators and cyberbullying. In the blog by Richard Esguerra,

 For users that have not opted out, Instant Personalization is instant data leakage. As soon

as you visit the sites in the pilot program (Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft Docs) the sites

can access your name, your picture, your gender, your current location, your list of

friends, all the Pages you have Liked everything Facebook classifies as public

information. Even if you opt out of Instant Personalization, there's still data leakage if

your friends use Instant Personalization websites their activities can give away

information about you, unless you block those applications individually. (2010)

This is a scary notion! Even if you practice good security measures, it seems like there is always

more to be done. I like social networking because it allows me to stay in touch with new and old

friends but sometimes it can be tricky! I recall a time when a friend had instant messaged me

while I was on Facebook one day. It was a bit odd because I hadt spoken with her in months.

She asked me what I was up to and spoke to me like we had never lost touch. I had also

received an email from her asking me to add her to my Yahoo! Instant Messanger as well as a

request to add her to my friends list on Facebook. Even though I already had her as a friend on

Facebook, I went ahead and added her again thinking she might have deleted me on accident. I

continued to chat with her until things took a turn for the weird. I clicked on her photo and it

took me to a completely different persons Facebook page. She was a young female dressed in

skimpy clothing whom I had never seen before. Before I knew it, I had fallen right into her web

and did exactly what she wanted me to do. I immediately deleted her from my Facebook after

her reporting her. I thought about what had happened and knew that I could have been in a

worse situation. Cyberbullying has been another outstanding issue amongst networking cites. In

an article from abcnews.go.com it was reported that in 2003 a 13-year-old male who was being

bullied online had hung himself and 3 years later, another 13-year-old who was being harassed
through a fictitious profile an old friend had created had also killed herself (2010). Social

networking can be a gateway to enriching relationships and connecting with friends and family

or it can be doorway to something malevolence and torture. We need to make sure were

choosing the former and not the latter.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/girls-teen-suicide-calls-attention-cyberbullying/story?

id=9685026&page=2

Defense

Even though weve been without cell phones for centuries, I cant imagine being without

one. Even though the convenience and ease of having a cell phone is more worry free than

worrisome, there have been times when I wish I didnt have a cell phone. Every time my cell

phone makes a noise or blinks, I run to it wondering what Im being notified about; I have

become trained to come whenever it beckons and for this, I am befuddled. The biggest

involvement I have with my cell phone is the text messaging feature. There was a time when I

texted constantly with friends when I was in college. There was so much to do and I had so

many friends to do things with. It made me feel good to know that so many people wanted to

chat with me. Texting was my drug and I was addicted. These days, alas, I do not have as many

acquaintances and do not find myself on my phone as much as I used to. Instead, I find myself

looking at my cell phone, just in case there was something I missed. Sometimes we can get so

caught up in the dream-like world of text messaging (and I say this because we create pictures in

our minds since we cant see that person face-to-face, i.e. emoticons to simulate are feelings) that

its hard to set the phone down and come back to the real world. There have been times where

my significant other has gotten annoyed because Im paying more attention to my phone than to

whats right in front of me. This can also be said of texting while driving and of this, I am a
victim. I say victim because of my comment that I had made earlier about being a slave to my

phone but only I am to blame. Unfortunately, I believe that when my phone makes noise and

starts flashing, that its my responsibility to get back to that person right away. Maybe its

because Im a people pleaser. Maybe its because I feel that if I dont respond quickly, that I will

not hear from that person again. Another one of my downfalls is

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?
fbid=500754149956949&set=a.102781753087526.6473.100000671060506&type=1&theater