Cellular phones and cognitive development: applying Johnson's media theory

Cell Phones in Modern Society and Human Behavior

Cellular telephones have changed many aspects of contemporary American society. Technology that was completely unavailable to ordinary consumers as recently as two decades ago has become so ubiquitous today that not owning a cell phone is almost as surprising as finding a "mobile phone" installed in a car twenty years ago. Cell phones are so common today that public schools have had to initiate formal policies prohibiting their inappropriate use during school hours, even for middle school and grade school children.

The increasing reliance on cell phones for expanded communications services beyond direct communications has even generated complex constitutional concerns in relation to the Fourth Amendment in particular. That becomes an issue when law enforcement authorities take possession of cell phones that retain volumes of personal information and records of previous calls that may trigger search and seizure violations if they are "data mined" without a warrant issued by a court (Bulzomi, 2007).

The incorporation of multimedia capabilities in cell phones has fundamentally changed the way the average person communicates within family and social networks and related trends such as texting have changed elements of the way many people interact even in person. In Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter (2005), Author Steven Johnson makes the argument that while much criticism has been directed at the increasing role of high-tech entertainment and media in society, most aspects of modern media and computer technology-based entertainment actually contribute positively to the development of complex cognitive processes and intellectual abilities. Johnson suggests that even some of the entertainment forms that are presumed to be largely wastes of time or even detrimental to intellectual development actually stimulate neurological activity and growth in a manner that is much more beneficial than harmful.

Much of what Johnson writes about technology and entertainment media in general also applies to the modern uses of cell phones, but other aspects of cell phone use may fall completely outside of the author's positive characterization. In some respects, even Johnson would have to concede that cell phones also contribute to certain types of behavioural dependency, social inconsideration, dangers to others, and dangers to others. Finally, like other activities that provide a pleasure component, cell phones also have the potential to become addictive for some users through some of the same neurological mechanisms detailed by Johnson in connection with the positive aspects of modern media and entertainment technologies in society.

The Premise of Johnson's Thesis

The basic premise of Johnson's work is that like most other elements of contemporary society, even modern entertainment has become considerably more complex than it used to be, including even the plots of television programs that are widely considered to have little redeeming social value beyond gratuitous entertainment (Johnson, 2005). According to Johnson, all forms of entertainment stimulate the mind of the consumer and more complex forms of entertainment have a beneficial effect in terms of stimulating neurological development in much the same ways that empirical research has established the developmental value of providing infants with rich stimulating environments.

The process of neurological growth stimulated by experiences does not stop in infancy; rather, it continues throughout life. As a result, the increasing complexity of movies, television, and computer-based gaming all contribute to intellectual development by stimulating correspondingly complex neural networking in response to the external stimuli provided by more complex entertainment and communication experiences made possible by the wide availability of affordable modern technology (Johnson, 2005).

Changing Telephone Habits in American Society

Pleasure and Reward

Johnson (2005) details the manner in which virtually all forms of pleasurable entertainment stimulate primitive cognitive processes that reinforce behaviors that produce pleasure and condition the brain to continue pursuing those forms of entertainment. In the case of cell phones in particular, this is more likely applicable to their gaming and texting capabilities rather than specifically to their verbal communications capabilities mainly because talking on cell phones is reinforced more by the same types of cognitive processes as face-to-face conversations rather than by the deeper (or more primitive) pleasure and reward process (Johnson, 2005).

However, with respect to the use of cell phones for gaming and texting, the evidence strongly suggests that these applications can have both beneficial and potentially detrimental effects on users. On the positive side, both computer gaming and cell phone versions of that form of entertainment can increase certain types of cognitive skills such as those required to operate high-tech transportation equipment and other devices that rely on three-dimensional user interfaces and hand-eye coordination (Johnson, 2005). On the negative side, the involvement of the pleasure and reward mechanism also creates a potential for certain users who are already inclined toward obsessive or addictive behaviors to spend excessive amounts of time on various cell phone applications, often at expense to other areas of responsibilities (Johnson, 2005).

The Force of Social Habit, Perceptions, and Trends

Undoubtedly, there are also social elements that can contribute to the overuse of or addiction to cell phones. First, as with any other habit, users often become dependent on having access to any mechanism of convenience. Whereas twenty years ago nobody seemed to think that pay telephones were insufficient for their communication needs when outside of their homes, today, few people who own cell phones leave their homes without them.

Second, again, as is also the case with other social trends (and short-term fads) perception plays a very significant role in establishing what the average person considers "normal" or "necessary" (Myers & Spencer, 2004). Therefore, when cell phones were just a high-tech novelty, few people considered them a necessity to acquire. However, as they became more and more visible and common, the same social mimicry responsible for the propagation of other trends made cell phones something that everyone considered necessary to have and even somewhat embarrassing not to have when it seemed that "everyone else" owns a cell phone (Myers & Spencer, 2004).

Negative Consequences Unrelated to Complexity

Psychological Dependency and Social Posturing

There also seem to be fairly obvious and significant issues of social dependency and posturing that also play a role in the tremendous popularity of cell phones and the degree to which many people overuse them in an addictive fashion. It is well-known, for example, that people in social situations tend to be uncomfortable being alone when in the presence of large groups of other people, especially when many of those people are accompanied by friends and acquaintances (Myers & Spencer, 2004). In that respect, using a cell phone in public often serves the same purpose as taking a friend along.

Specifically, in the mind of the individual, it is more comfortable to be seen talking to someone than it is to be seen alone; therefore, many people use cell phones as a social crutch to fill the same role as a companion in situations where they are uncomfortable appearing to others to be alone. This reliance can also be used as a form of social display for the specific purpose of impressing others, which seems to explain why so many cell phone users tend to talk inappropriately loud in public when using cell phones (Myers & Spencer, 2004).

Social Responsibility and Public Consideration

That particular aspect of cell phone use has generated various policies in restaurants and other public places because so many people seem to ignore what would otherwise be relatively obvious aspects of common sense and mutual consideration of other people when in public (Wolff, 2007). Virtually any observation of people in public would reveal two very distinctive styles of cell phone use. There is one category of user who seems to make every possible effort to conduct cell phone conversations discretely and without unnecessarily broadcasting the content of their conversations to strangers.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a much greater preponderance of the second category of user: those who seem to do the exact opposite, speaking in inappropriately loud voices and (typically) especially in connection with any topic or theme that might be considered impressive to others or inspire envy in them. However, there is one particular aspect of cell phone use, overuse, and addiction that actually presents a verifiable public danger whose importance goes far beyond social politeness or consideration: namely, cell phone use while driving.

Cell Phones and Driving

Cell phone use has been empirically demonstrated to increase the chances of vehicular accidents as much as drunk driving (Hennessy & Wiesenthal, 2005). Initially, this gave rise to legislation (first in New York State and since then in many other states) requiring hands-free devices for drivers using cell phones. Johnson would have welcomed this solution, presumably because it allows drivers to make more productive use of their time and engage in intellectual conversations instead of wasting time idly while driving.

However, more recent empirical evidence has revealed that hands-free devices are no solution to this problem, because at the neurological level of attention span and the division of attention to multiple tasks, it is the act of conducting a conversation and not the involvement of the hands that is the source of the problem (Hennessy & Wiesenthal, 2005). Naturally, the recent trend of actually texting while driving is even more dangerous and will likely lead to much faster regulation. The implications of addiction to cell phone use (and to texting especially) and public safety in this regard are obvious.

Conclusion

Cell phones have changed many aspects of contemporary life, both in the United States as well as in less developed regions of the world, sometimes, in very significant ways. Within the framework of Johnson's thesis, cell phones contribute to intellectual development because they provide more complex ways to use idle time and because they can provide a constantly available source of mental stimulation. However, there are undoubtedly also detrimental consequences of the tremendous reliance on cell phones in contemporary society that do not necessarily contradict Johnson's thesis as much as they simply call attention to additional considerations beyond its relatively narrow scope.