Is our smartphone addiction killing the art of conversation?

Smartphones are an integral part of our lives. In the past decade, following the launch of the original iPhone and Android OS, ownership has risen from 17% to 78%, being 95% amongst 16-24 year-olds. A recent Ofcom study has tracked the impact of these technological and digital changes on our lives which whilst unsurprising do present both the positive and negative consequences of such devices. So, how are these devices affecting conversation?

A major talking point has been that 2017 marked the first year that time spent voice calling dropped from the previous. That isn’t to say that phones are killing conversation but instead evolving how we make it, increasingly platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook are becoming the preferred choice for communication.

In the past decade, following the launch of the original iPhone and Android OS, ownership has risen from 17% to 78%, being 95% amongst 16-24 year-olds

A reason behind this is believed to be convenience. Calls require both people to devote some block of time solely to talk, time we don’t always have in one go. Texting, on the other hand, has no such constraints, a message can be sent and read at each person’s leisure and potentially whilst performing another task. Emojis and the ability to send GIFs helps express emotions or feelings that you can’t quite put into words, fixing a previous downside of the medium. Another development in the past decade has been the group chat, which reduces the awkwardness of keeping up with old school friends, allow us to make plans more easily or share the latest memes, further reducing the need to make a phone call.

Calls aren’t completely dead though, 75% of smartphone users still see them as important and personally texting will never replace my weekly call home from uni. Our phones don’t only keep us connected with friends and family but also the internet. 72% of us say our phone is the most important device for getting online and 18-24 year-olds use them to spend on average three hours 14 minutes a day. This constant connection carries downsides especially when unavailable, around a third of people can feel lost without the internet and a sixth find it stressful if they can’t get online, both signs of dependency displayed by addicts.

Calls aren’t completely dead though, 75% of smartphone users still see them as important and personally texting will never replace my weekly call home from uni

Addiction is a serious term to throw around but Ofcom’s findings don’t do much to alleviate concerns we’re a generation obsessed with screens. We check our phones on average every 12 minutes whilst awake, with opening our phone being the first thing two in five of us do in the morning. Roughly half of us interrupt a real-life conversation because of a smart device and 78% have said they could not live without their phone.

These signs of fixation probably aren’t healthy, but it doesn’t mean we should revert back to simpler times and live in caves again. Smartphones are incredibly useful: they can direct us anywhere in the world, provide solutions to many problems we may have, allow us to watch any film ever made, hear any song ever written and share ideas with people from around the globe. These devices are fantastic but switching them off once in a while wouldn’t hurt. In fact, doing so has been shown to reduce stress and feelings of jealousy and make us happier. In our ever-connected society, it’s all about finding the right balance.