Sociological Analysis: The Smartphone's Impact on Modern Relationships

This essay explores the sociological significance of the smartphone as an everyday artifact, highlighting its impact on modern society, social interactions, and individual lifestyles. It discusses the smartphone's evolution from a simple communication tool to a symbol of social status and a driver of social change, influencing relationships, socializing patterns, and information sharing. The analysis draws on various sociological perspectives to examine how smartphones have transformed traditional aspects of society, making individuals less dependent on each other and reshaping cultural norms. The essay also considers the potential future implications of smartphone use on social life, emphasizing the need for proper social mechanisms to address the changes brought about by this ubiquitous technology. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of study resources including past papers and solved assignments for students.

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The Smart Phone
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The Smart Phone
The everyday object that I relate with is the smartphone. The smartphone is the modern
day artifact that everybody interacts with every time, it is the last thing we look at before retiring
to bed and the first thing that one looks at when they wake up. Although it is not that old in our
lives and started being common in the twenty-first century, it has shaped life and changed
everything and the way people interact (McGuigan 2005, p. 51). Today the smartphone is the
mediator in everyday life and one of the manufactured objects in history that have been so
ubiquitous than it. Garcia (200, p. 149) suggests that individuals have artefacts in their life that
they attached meaningful value to them. The smartphone is one of the artifacts that people hold
in the society today. The reason why the object is popular is its portability and the ability to do
several functions like communication, taking pictures, recording videos and even other
application enabled purposes.
The first time I encountered the smartphone was when I graduated from high school and
was given one as a gift. At first, the only thing I did with it was to call family and friends before
its meaning kept on increasing and increasing. Today, the smartphone is part of everyday life and
I cannot afford to spend even five minutes without it. For example, when traveling, I can forget
anything else but I do not remember a single time that I left the phone behind. This is thus a
permanent object in my life that I am not sure if it will ever lose its meaning and purpose.
Chatterjee (2014, p. 59) suggests that the smartphone is an indicator of modernity and
social change that defines the shift from the traditional society to the modern society defined by
the information age that we live in today. The smartphone is an evolution of the ordinary button
phone and the desktop computer which were integrated into one to allow information transfer.
Today, Park (2005, p. 263) adds that the smartphone has changed everything and is thus part of

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people’s life since everything can be done on the phone. With the rise of mobile phone
applications, society has changed the way people interact and the traditional aspects of society,
family and social life are slowly evolving and changing. Ingis (2005, p. 43) suggests that
technology has changed the way people approach issues in life and relate to each other. With the
smartphone, everything is possible from searching answers and solutions to most issues in life
which make people less dependent on each other due to the alterations in everyday life.
Further, Agar (2003, p. 22) states that the smartphone defines how social needs shape the
society and lead to the development of a culture or patterns in our life. For example in the study
that analyzed the words used in text messages and phone conversations, there were differences in
the language and words used in text messages as compared to phone calls because text
messaging has evolved due to the use of mobile phones. Pinch (2010, p. 411) suggests that
technology is one of the drives of change that is able to change the society as people have to
adapt their lifestyle to new ways of living with the technology. The smartphone has completely
changed the social life of people because it has entered life and defined its role beyond the
simple communication tool to a social artifact that defines the kind of life that people lead, their
social status. Today, Scott (2009, p. 130) suggests that the social status of people can be defend
by the symbols that they hold or possess. For example, the type of car, clothing jewelry, house
and even smartphone that one possesses can explain patterns in their life and the social status that
they hold in the society. Thus a smartphone can be used to define the social status of an
individual in the society.
Today, the smartphone has changed my approach to life and how things can change with
the advent of technology. The smartphone offers several options that can be applied to make
one’s life better. With the different options that it offers, I can use the smartphone as a

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communication, social tool and a data tool that allows searching information, sharing
information, storing images and other important files or even transferring files and information
(Wang, Xiang & Fesenmaier 2014, p. 59). However, the best part of the smartphone is the use of
social media applications that allow me to increase the social network that I have through
meeting new friends. The smartphone is thus more than a communication tool to me since a
simple analysis of my phone will say everything about me from social, public and private life.
Thus this object defines how I live my life and can be the simplest indicator of one's life patterns.
Therefore, the smartphone is seen as a simple tool for communication but people do not
see it clearly because it appeared suddenly and the scale of forces of change that it has created
has not been adequately addressed. We need to look at the future of social life and how it will be
affected by the smartphone. For example, how will relationships look like a decade or two from
now? Without proper social mechanisms, the smartphone will dictate our lives and shape
everything we do. Thus the smartphone is an indicator of the social aspect of technology and
how it quickly affects everyday life, socializing patterns, modes of sharing information and
private or public spheres.

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References
Agar J 2003. Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone. Cambridge: Icon Books..
Chatterjee S 2014. 'A Sociological Outlook of Mobile Phone Use in Society'. International
Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary studies, 1(1), pp. 55-63.
Garcia, JJ. 2000. The Secret of Seinfeld’s Humor. Illinois: Open Court.
Inglis, D 2005. 'Modern Culture & Everyday’ in Culture and Everyday Life. New York:
Routledge.
McGuigan J 2005. Towards a sociology of the mobile phone. An Interdisciplinary Journal on
Humans in ICT Environments, 1(1), pp. 45-57.
Park WK 2005. Mobile phone addiction. In: Mobile communications: Re-negotiation of the
social sphere. London: Springer, pp. 253-272.
Pinch T 2010. 'The Invisible Technologies of Goffman’s Sociology from the Merry-Go-Round to
the Internet', Technology and Culture. Technology and Culture, 51(2), pp. 409-424.
Scott S 2009. 'Re-clothing the Emperor: The Swimming Pool as a Negotiated Order', Society for
the Study of Symbolic Interaction 32(2): pp.123-145
Wang D, Xiang Z & Fesenmaier DR 2014. 'Smartphone Use in Everyday Life and Travel'.
Journal of Travel Research, 55(1), pp. 52-63.

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Appendix A: Image of smartphone