Outline

1) Planning
a) Questions
i) Do new communication technologies undermine or replace face to face relationships?
ii) Have mobile phones changed the way children develop/ cause mental health issues?
iii) How has new technology affected our primary bonds?
iv) How have cell phones affected child/adolescent behavior and development into
the teen years?
b) Statements
i) Cell phones have negatively affected the growth and development of children and
adolescents.
(1) Cell phones create an absent presence in the relationships between the cell
phones user and the people theyre connected to.
(a) Cell phones teach children and teens how to have false relationships.
(2) Cell phones create behavioral and development issues in children.
(3) Cell phones have created a generation that cannot be alone.
2) Introduction
a) McSpadden, Kevin. "You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish." Time.
Time, 14 May 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
3) Background
4) Argument #1 - Absent Presence
a) False relationships
i) Baym, Nancy K. Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity,
2010. 122-149. Print.
(1) Baym states on page 140 that mobile media raises fears that digital media
leads us to substitute shallow empty relationships for authentic personal
connections. This is an interesting point brought up.
ii) Gergen, Kenneth J. The Challenge of Absent Presence. Perpetual Contact: Mobile
Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Eds. Katz, James E, and Mark A.
Aakhus. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 227-241. Print. 30
March 2016.
(1) Gergen notes another problem that could occur. He states that when people start
relying on networking and popularity online, our relationships may begin to

shift from vertical to horizontal (Gergen 233). The vertical relationship carries
depth and intimacy between the two parties involved, while the horizontal
relationship creates lots and lots of more broad, less intimate relationships
between parties. Gergens topic summary comes from page 236; he states, The
erosion of face-to-face community, a coherent, and centered sense of self, moral
bearings, depth of relationship, and the uprooting of meaning from material
context: such are the repercussions of absent presence.
b) Absent presence
i) Gergen, Kenneth J. The Challenge of Absent Presence. Perpetual Contact: Mobile
Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Eds. Katz, James E, and Mark A.
Aakhus. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 227-241. Print. 30
March 2016.
(1) Gergen explains this absent presence with the definition being, one is
physically present but is absorbed by a technologically mediated world of
elsewhere (227). He argues that with our focus continually diverted, it has taken
a toll on our relationships between one another (Gergen 227).
ii) Katz, James E. Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication and the Transformation of
Social Life. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers, 2006. 42-43. Print.
(1) The second point Katz discusses, on page 43, is regarding relationships between
telecommuters and their spouses. At this point, he brings up this absent
presence that is explained in a chapter of his previous book (Katz and Aakhus,
2002). Telecommuters use technology either to completely work from home, or
to complete work while they are away from the workplace. This can become a
huge problem for spouses and families alike. Aside from the previous point of
neglecting children, it is just as difficult for spouses to be married to a person who
is only physically present, but absent in every other regard. This lack of present

communication between couples could be cause for such high rates of divorce in
the U.S.
5) Argument #2 Alone and breaking of primary bonds
a) Less time with family, more time alone
i) Baym, Nancy K. Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity,
2010. 122-149. Print.
(1) Baym backs up her point with the fact that studies by Nie, Hillygus, and Erbring
(2002) have shown that each minute online takes away 20 seconds with family
members, 7 seconds with friends, 11 seconds with colleagues, and adds 45
seconds of time spent alone (quoted by Katz).
(2) This makes me question something about the current culture. If this internet time
is giving us more time alone, you would think we would know how to be alone.
That is the problem, in this day and age, we do not know how to be alone. In any
given time or place, if you look around, how many people are you going to see
contently sitting alone, enjoying the fresh air? The answer is little to none. This
is the issue, as phones take away time that could be used spending time with
family or friends, it also rips away precious time we have to ourselves that we
need to re-learn how to indulge in.
b) Primary Bonds
i) Gergen, Kenneth J. The Challenge of Absent Presence. Perpetual Contact: Mobile
Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Eds. Katz, James E, and Mark A.
Aakhus. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 227-241. Print.
(1) He argues that the presences of people and things are overtaken by absences when
the digital object and the human are in connection, and when these things connect,
our primary bonds are what tend to disengage (Gergen 231). On page 232,
Gergen goes to argue that our primary bonds are also our primary sources of
meaning, including our family, friends, and the things we hold closest to us. He

believes that when these sources of meaning are compromised, detrimental results
can occur, including the violations of our moral standards (Gergen 232).
6) Argument #3 Behavior and Development
a) Attention span and behavior
i) McSpadden, Kevin. "You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish."
Time. Time, 14 May 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
(1) L
ii) Katz, James E. Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication and the Transformation of
Social Life. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers, 2006. 42-43. Print. 30
March 2016.
(1) According to child psychologist Esther Cohen, children struggle with the
separation of physical and emotional presence, and it is a usual act for children to
try to peel open the eyes of adults when their eyes are closed (Quoted by Katz 4243). This should be something our society as a whole looks further into. We are
raising children who grow into adolescents and adults who have serious mental or
behavioral problems. What if these growing numbers of disorders stemmed from
the amount of attention parents either provide or lack in providing their children
in their most important stages of development? This common act done by
children is in hopes to be noticed by their parents by physically opening their
eyes. They do this for a feeling of security. With our attention magnetized to
mobile technology, we are revoking our children of their simple sense of security.
b) Mental health
i) Berson, Ilene R, and Michael J. Berson. High-tech Tots: Childhood in a Digital
World. Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Pub, 2010. 217-218. Print.
(1) Berson discusses three major points in this section. The first being cognitive and
memory function in relation to cell phone use in children (217).
(2) The second point made is that there is concern about the fact that children cannot
differentiate and discern how much technology use is too much (Berson 217).

Berson poses that addiction may be used to describe the state of mind of these
young children (217).
(3) The third point made is about the correlation between cell phone use into the night
and sleep, along with a long list of other potential health hazards.
c) Physical health
i) Identification of Research Needs Relating to Potential Biological or Adverse Health
Effects of Wireless Communication Devices. Washington, D.C: National Academies
Press, 2008. Internet resource. 30 March 2016.
ii)
7) Counterarguments
a) November, Alan C. Empowering Students with Technology. Thousand Oaks, Calif:
Corwin Press, 2010. 31-45. Print.
8) Conclusion