In this ever-expanding world, it’s really impossible to keep track of what’s happening around the world without the use of the internet. And smartphones are the invention that brings the whole of the internet in our pocket. Of course, you can use your laptops or even PCs to access the internet, but these machines aren’t easily portable. And smartphones literally take as much space in your pocket as is required for your handkerchief, making any information you require available at your fingertips.
But, even a burning candle, which lightens up its surroundings has darkness around its base. What meant here is that every useful thing has its own set of disadvantages too. So, are smartphones, which is a boon to civilization, really important for college students? Or, college studies need no use of smartphones and can be done while using the keypad phones too? Let us compare smartphones with conventional gadgets like PCs and get a glimpse of the scenarios of using and not using smartphones.
Portability
Portability really matters a lot. It is impossible to carry your PC all the time with you and is quite stressing to carry a roughly 2 kg laptop in your backpack. Rather, it’s much sensible to carry a smartphone with an internet pack, when you need to access the internet only and do nothing else. No one uses a trolley instead of a handbag to carry a water bottle, right? Same is the case here. Why carry a 2 kg laptop to access the internet when the same thing can be done by a 200 g smartphone? So, in terms of portability, smartphone wins by a huge margin.
Connectivity
Laptops and PC’s require a Wi-Fi, broadband or other external connections to make it able to access the internet. Once you are in a place where there are no such connections available, you are totally cut from the rest of the world. But, that’s certainly not the case of smartphones. As long as you have a signal on your smartphone and have an active data pack in it, you are always good to go. Also, it might be the case that a professor emails you to make you aware that he/she has cancelled his classes or put it up in the university website and you didn’t bring your laptop as there was no technical stuff to be discussed in the class that day. Obviously, losses are of time and energy. But if you had a smartphone, that mail would pop-up making you aware of the cancelled class.
Accessibility
Suppose, you forgot a formula while solving a problem and need to access the internet to recall that. So, what would be easier? Starting your PC, enter the password, waiting for the home screen to appear, connecting to a network and then searching it or rather pressing the single button of your smartphone, tapping on the mobile data icon and searching the formula. Obviously, everyone will go with smartphones. Here also, smartphones win by a huge margin.
From the above cases, it is crystal clear that there is no competitor of smartphones and emerges as a clear winner. It’s a boon for the society and so is for the college students. But disadvantages also persist. Students are easily distracted from their goals only due to the excessive use of smartphones. Social media has gained popularity only due to smartphones and throughout the world, it is continuously being used either to destroy lives or to make lives. Students can use it either to like or comment on the photos of their friend or to establish connections with persons excelling or holding respectable positions in a particular field and gain knowledge and exposure. So, summing it up, smartphones are a must for college students only when they learn to use it wisely and only for the purpose.
