Allison Shaw

Dr. Theresa Stowell

English 132

February 7, 2024

Personal Response Paper-Could A Smartphone Destroy Your Soul

Over the years, cell phones have become a big part of everyone’s lives. But there is one

question that is hard to have just one answer to; What age should you get your kid their first cell

phone? Elizabeth Matthew asks not only this question and many more. Elizabeth Matthew

article, “Could A Smartphone Destroy Your Soul?”, describes how cell phones have impacted our

lives. Matthew makes the argument that online and social media is one of the main reasons why

people- mainly girls- are comparing their lives to the unrealistic version of other peoples lives.

Matthew reaches out to 5 different people and ask them how they manage their technology and

she came down to the conclusion, “ Perhaps we can eve experience a rate moment of unity as we

help to persuade our friends of other faiths and no faith to come together in an attempt to craft

necessary but imperfect solutions to a problem that affects us all,”(27). She believes that if

everyone come together, they can help cut down on all of the technology problems. I agree with

Elizabeth Matthew’s article,” Could A Smartphone Destroy Your Soul?,” because people are

starting to become dependent on technology in an unhealthy way.

Everyone, from any age, carries around some type of electronic device whether that be a

cell phone, tablet, or a smart watch. This has become the new normal in society, however, this is

not the best thing to become normal. The author states, “No matter how my husband and I decide
to mediate our children’s relationship to these technologies, their lives and the lives of everyone

they know will be shaped to a large extent by the ways in which world they inhabit and inherit

has morphed to resolve around these pocket-sized super-computers on which we now conduct so

much of our personal, professional and civic lives,”(Matthew 26). No matter how much a parent

mediates what technology they use at homes, they do not have full control over the technology

that they will run into outside of their house. I agree with this statement because everywhere

relies on some form of technology, like food places rely of a computer system to record all

orders, desk jobs rely on computers to do all of their work on, and even schools are now relying

on computers and projectors to teach the students. There is no way for a parent to have complete

control over the technology that their children use on a daily basis, unless they have them with

them at all times. However, parents are learning around this issue by trying to teach their

children how to use their cell phones and other technology with responsibility, however, this is

not always the case for everyone.

Social media another form of communication with others without having to have a real

conversation with someone else. Social media allows people to post pictures to show everyone

what is going on in their head, lives, or just the world. This can be a very good thing but it can

also be very bad at the same time. Matthew writes,” Online and on social media, today’s

children- especially girls- are constantly measuring their own lives against curated and what Dr.

Twenge describes as ‘relentlessly positive’ images of their peers’ lives and feeling unworthy

when their reality cannot match up to this new judgement designed to stoke adolescent

insecurity: fantasy that is being marketed as reality and that turns smartphone users into helpless

masochists as algorithms designed to addict fully functioning adults render our children unable

to look away,”(27). Social media only brings out the positive side of one’s life and may not show
the other portion of their life that is not so magnificent. Teenagers who use social media are more

susceptible to looking at influencers and believing that their life is nothing compared to the

influencer's life, but in fact, they don’t understand the downside of that type of lifestyle. People

in general start to compare their life to others, but they also start to compare themselves too.

Whether its them comparing their bodies or their attitudes, they are always comparing them to

others. This can be dangerous because not everything is as it is seeming and it can mislead

people to do things that can severely harm them emotionally, mentally, physically or a mixture of

the three. When people click on or likes a certain type of profiles or videos, an algorithm is

formed to their most view or liked. This can be harmful for teenagers or children because one

cue they view something that is not appropriate for them, it is set in their algorithm and more

stuff like it will pop up. This can lead to teenagers or children to start learning bad things from

social media and it can negatively change them.

Although parents should be part of their children’s lives and know what they are doing on

their technology, they should be able to give them their privacy. This is done by showing them

what is appropriate and what is not appropriate. There are times when parents cause their

children and teens to an unhealthy amount of anxiety because their child don’t have the physical

or mental resilience due to their type of parenting (Matthew 28). When children have a parent

that are considered as an “Helicopter Parent” they are not learning how to deal with issues on

their own or how to do things on their own. These types of parents result in having their children

to have an unhealthy amount of screen time since it keeps them out of physical harms way. This

can cause them to have multiple problems with facing reality. They become dependent on their

parents and technology. Matthew looked over the results from Ms. Skenazy and Mr. Haida, in

which concluded that children with the childhoods without any opportunity for risk-taking event
are starting to become normal (Matthew 28). This can be very dangerous because children will

be on their tablet and phones even more. This type of parenting can also make the children

scared to take new risk and make them feel like they have to be trapped in a protective bubble.

This is an unhealthy way to live and can cause them to have mental problems in the future.

Parents need to be apart of their children’s lives and monitor what they do on the internet,

however, they can still give children the privacy and teach them independence with out

technology.

I agree with the concerns presented in Elizabeth Mathew article, “Could A Smartphone

Destroy Your Soul?,” because the dependence on technology today is starting to become toxic

for everyone. The use of cell phones and other technology is growing at an alarming rate. People

are starting to depend on the technology to do everyday task. This habit starts from a young age.

When children and teenagers are exposed to the amount of screen time that they are being

exposed to, they are creating an addiction for the screen time and are depending on it as well.

However, there are things on the internet that they can access that are inappropriate for them to

see and it can affect them emotionally, physically, mentally or a mixture of all three. Now this is

to go without saying that technology is a huge benefit for today’s society, however, it is supposed

to be used in moderations and used appropriately.

Matthew, Elizabeth. “Could A Smartphone Destroy Your Soul?.” American Magazine,

April 2023, pp.26-31