Þar sem fólk virðist vera að senda ritgerðir inn, þá ákvað ég að senda eitt stykki inn.
Mér var gefið hefti með nokkrum (vondum) staðreyndum um GSM-síma og notkun þeirra, og var verkefnið að kommenta á þessar staðreyndir og skrifa mitt álit á hlutunum.
Þess má geta að ég fékk 13 af 13 mögulegum fyrir ritgerðina(Bý í DK) og 13 er ekki einkunn sem er gefin oft hér á landi. Kennarinn minn hefur kennt ensku í einhverja tugi ára og hefur aldrei gefið 13 áður.
Var helvíti stoltur, þó svo að ég hafi fengið 13 í lokaprófinu á síðasta ári líka í ensku, þannig ég varð að senda hana inn og monta þig.
Fyrirgefið vorar syndir.
(Eru einhverjar klaufavillur þarna, endilega bendið á ef þið sjáið)
3. Mobile Mania
Since the introduction of mobile phones to the world, their use has grown exponentially. Telephones were very limited at first, only with a small network of phone lines that one could use and therefore its use very limited, especially if your friend who might have a telephone lived somewhere else, where he was not connected to your network.
Eventually, people started to see the greatness and the potential of this invention. It would enable you to call practically anyone, anywhere in the world, no matter the distance. Instead of sending them mail and being forced to wait for days, weeks, or even months for a reply, you could simply sit down in your favorite chair, dial their number and start talking.
But as the technology and the network grew, the people's need for an even better way to communicate started to rise. Sure, you could contact anyone, anywhere in the world, but only as long as that person is near a telephone, which they might not always be. Therefore, the people started demanding a better way to communicate, a way to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world, even if they weren't near a telephone booth or at home.
That's where mobile phones came in. The first generation of mobile phones where satellite based, and so big and complex for their day that for you to use one, you would have to carry a 20 kilogram suitcase around. They were also much too expensive for middle-class people to afford. But that was many, many years ago, before my time.
Mobile phones have seen drastic changes since then. As the need for better mobile communication devices arose, the competition on the market to create the smallest mobile phone with the most features intensified. They have gone 20 kilogram sluggish suitcases to tiny devices, weighing in at under 100 grams, with computation capabilities of moderately fast computers.
The introduction of mobile phones made so much possible. Unfortunately, it also made possible a number of bad things, as the instruction paper shows.
Brain damage due to radiation from the mobile phones is one problem, among others. Since this is the age of information, the use of mobile phones can be very high, sometimes even excessive. However, to argue that one should stop using mobile phones because it emits radiation is absurd, as the radiation is very low, and there is a number of other things we use daily which pose a similar health hazard.
For instance, it is proven that coffee can cause cancer. Cigarettes and the chemicals therein can also cause cancer. In fact, almost everything can cause cancer in one way or the other.
If you're so afraid of health hazards, why stop at mobile phones? Why don't you just stay at home, disinfect your apartment and cut all interaction with the outer world altogether? No matter what you do, you can't avoid health hazards. Everything poses a risk to your health. Besides, for you to be in danger of growing a brain tumor from mobile phone radiation, you would have to tape it to your head and keep it so for months.
The picture on the instruction paper is a drawing of Titanic, just as it is about to hit the famous iceberg which sunk it. You can also see two “talk bubbles” in which someone is trying to notify the captain of the iceberg up ahead, but he refuses to listen because he is busy talking on his mobile phone. It doesn't take a specialist to see that this is taken completely out of proportion. Even though that picture is probably meant to serve as an analogy for the excessive usage of mobile phones, it's still ridiculous.
The other problems mentioned on the instruction paper, such as teenagers getting large phone bills, distracted drivers and kids using them to cheat in exams are all problems which have nothing to do with the mobile phones themselves. While the mobile phones are the tools used to cause the problems, they are not the cause of the problems.
A famous sentence springs to mind: “Guns don't kill people. People kill people.” - In a similar way, the people that are driving while talking on their mobile phones, the teenagers talking for hours on their phones or the kids that are cheating using their mobile phones are to blame, not the mobile phones.
One could of course contend that removing mobile phones would remove all those problems instantaneously. Yes, just like removing every flammable material on the surface of the earth will reduce fires.
Just like with almost anything else in this world, mobile phones can be used for good and bad. Mobile phones cannot think, and forbid you from talking in them when you are driving, or using them to cheat in exams. It's one's own responsibility to make ethical decisions on whether or not you should be using mobile phones in a particular situation.
Instead of focusing on the bad uses of mobile phones, why not rather try to educate people on the effects of using mobile phones incorrectly, and enforce rules and laws about when and when not to use them?
The mindset that mobile phones and other electronic devices are bad and its uses should be forbidden, is the mindset of an outdated individual, one who is stuck in the past and has yet to step into the 21st century.
I also feel that it is unrealistic to argue about these matters. As I mentioned, this is the information age, and everything moves at an incredible pace. Technology and its use is now more widespread than ever before, and it is pointless to resist the progress. Even though technology can be used for bad and good, I am certain that its good uses outweigh the bad uses by tons.
My experience of mobile phones and communication technology altogether is nothing but positive. Mobile phones enable me to reach my friends and relatives no matter where I'm located, whenever I need to. Mobile phones do not build walls and tear people apart. They do quite the contrary – They tear down walls and bring people together and bridge gaps between continents virtually so we do not have to bridge them physically.
This is the 21st century, the age of information and communication. Why resist the progress? Even though the bandwagon moves at speeds unknown, it doesn't mean it won't stop to let you on it.