I find it ridiculous how so many people really think that things like phones and text messaging and instant messaging and social media is "destroying communication". Like... all of these things exist to facilitate communication, which should be obvious just from their names alone. It's a different form of communication, yes, but it's still communication. And, as many here have already stated, they allow a lot of us to keep up with others in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible without this kind of technology.
I think the part that bugs me the most about all this is how so much of it is framed like "look at those kids glued to their cell phones!! don't they know how to talk without them??" and they treat it like some horrible thing when it's like... do you even know what any of them are doing with their phones at that very moment? Many of them could be talking to their friends, or their significant others, or maybe even their parents, having conversations that probably aren't too different from what they'd say to each other in person. But it doesn't matter what they're using their phones for, does it? Nope, they're using cell phones and the internet, therefore it's bad.
Like, I get that the classroom isn't exactly the best place for a kid to be glued to their phone, but I don't see it as being very different from a kid chit-chatting with the person sitting next to them. I mean, ideally, you wouldn't have either of those things happening in a classroom -- but it bugs me that it's seen as so much worse when it happens with phones, when it's really just the same thing: kids talking to other people instead of doing their work and paying attention. The inclusion of a cell phone in this picture doesn't make it any worse than a problem that has always existed in classrooms.
And, yeah, it's annoying when someone is using their phone while they're in a conversation with you, face-to-face, but, really, if the person they were talking to was also there, in-person, there's a decent chance you'd still be a third wheel, and/or their attention would be split between them and you. Which is annoying, even when it happens purely in a face-to-face context, but... again, I don't see why cell phones make that situation any worse than it already is.
And, in both of these cases, the "problem" is that it's making it easier for people to communicate -- it's just that they're not communicating with you, or they're communicating when they should be paying attention to the teacher -- but the point remains that these devices are making it easier for people to communicate, which shouldn't be surprising.
And I think the thing that bothers me the most is when someone points to a bunch of people standing in line for something and it's like "look! They're all on their phones! They get in line, and they get on their phones! They just can't survive without the things for two seconds!" and it's like... they're standing in line, presumably surrounded by people they don't know very well, and, if cell phones didn't exist, you know what those people would probably be doing? Nothing. They'd be standing there, being bored -- and it's not like boredom is the worst thing that could happen to someone, but, if you have a choice between doing nothing and being bored, or pulling out your phone and finding something to do? It's really not surprising that most people would choose the latter. And, yeah, I'm one of those people who'll stand in line looking down at my phone -- but I still have the decency to put it away once I need to talk to someone face-to-face. It's just that, if my alternative is doing nothing, there's no reason why I can't entertain myself... Like, if I had brought, say, a book, to keep myself busy when I've got nothing to do, no one would bat an eye. It's a simple fact that I have a cell phone that, for some reason, I'm seen as an awful social media addict just because I don't want to be bored. And here's the funniest part -- between a book and a cell phone, you know which one facilitates more communication? The phone. Because despite the awful connotations of texting people or browsing social media, the point remains that I'm actually engaging in a social activity when I use my phone for that sort of thing. Reading a book, however? The only "communication" happening there is between you and that author -- but I'd say it's too much of a one-way street to really count.
