Luxury to Necessity

A day passing without using it is a day without much of color, without glamour. When initially
introduced, it was deemed as a luxury for many. As years pass, its use was ultimately unraveled, and
furtherly considered as a necessity, a thing that everyone needs considering typical activities people are
doing nowadays. Dozens of companies are battling each other for the sales of these (It only applies to
the international market, as there are still locally-based manufacturers, battling for convenience, at
least). As a basic necessity, meanwhile, demands are continuously growing, and believe me, there are
more of these things than toothbrushes, scaled globally.

Cellphones, or what others call as “smartphones”, is a palm-sized device that was used in different tasks,
a variety of them a basic task we should know. This device was revolutionized by Apple, when they
introduced the Iphone 2G back in June 2007. Since then, more of their competitors emerged until what
it is today. Common features exist within these phones: A touchscreen, front facing camera,
compatibility to connect to WI-FI and mobile data, Compatibility for use of phones as messenger
(through call and text), and ROM storage not less than 2 Gigabytes (GB). A range of phones are being
offered according to needs and budget, ranging from budget phones to premium. Consumers can also
choose between brands, given the same criteria.

Through its 12-year existence as a mass produced product, incremental changes and upgrades have
happened from hardware to software details. By means of hardware updates, it has evolved from a
phone with predominantly large screens to phones with even larger screens, modern designs being
slimmer, and more petite. In case of software updates, upgrades included a stronger security, App
layouts, and operating systems.

By usage, more mobile connections using smartphones do exist not just to toothbrushes, but also to the
whole humanity. In total, there are 2.71 billion smartphone users across the globe, out of 7.71 billion
world population, comprising of 35.13% of world population, according to bankmycell.com. Moreover,
there are over 8.97 billion of these connections, surpassing the world population by a Billion. The
enormous number was contributed by people with multiple devices in usage.

Today, basically everyone has their own smartphone as personal possession, including most of students
at adolescent age, starting 12. The use of these mobiles is mostly for entertainment as it turns out, with
secondary use for communication and the rest sometimes used.

All things, with these devices not excempted, had their disadvantages. First off is their health effect. Too
much exposure to blue lights being emitted by the screen of phones can cause eye strain, radiation, and
even early loss of sight through years of continuous usage. Second, is its effect on psychological health.
Aside from fore stated health effects, too much exposure can also cause dependence or addiction, a
feeling that something should not be taken away or being ceased into use. Every year, 2 million of these
cases are diagnosed, with undiagnosed cases still not counted.

Phones are something to be considered as a necessity, considering what people needs at the modern
times. It is, indeed helpful at many sort of ways, but too much usage of these devices can impact
someone either physically, or psychologically.