Mobile phone

Introduction:
“What really amazes me about the world is that we have the infinite collective of human information in our pockets, and yet for some reason people are still wrong all the time.” This is something that Bill Burr has stated in his act before he goes on his rant about the woes of technological dependence. Although this quote is obviously a joke, it hits me hard for some reason. What it hits me with is the question that I am sure many people have: Are cell phones really as good for us as we think? Are we just becoming socially disconnected, overly technologically dependent, screen junkies? Are we becoming tethered to our mobile devices because we are addicted to that little hit of serotonin we get when we refresh our twitter feed? How does our phone dependence effect the world around us? Where do our phones come from, and what is the real price our world pays for their creation? These are all aspects that need to be explored, in order to see the full scope of an object of concern. The risks and hazards, as well as the political economy in making phones. The risks and hazards being to people, as well as the environment. The political economy being everything it takes to create the devices that run our lives from our pockets. We must also explore the history of cell phones, starting with their introduction into the market, as well as their development from the “brick phones” to today's smartphones. By doing this analysis the hope is to gain a better understanding about mobile phones, as well as what it takes to make them, as well as the risks involved in them.
History:
The idea behind a portable phone has been around for a century, with Finnish inventor Eric Tigerstedt creating a patent for a “pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone". The first truly handheld telephone was debuted in 1973 by employees of Motorola, and weighed 4 pounds making it leviathan in size when compared to modern day cell phones. This was the start of the first generation of cellular phones that worked off the “1g” network, with each successive generation the number increases as the technology increases. We are currently on the 4g generation, and the next generation of technology to come will be dubbed the “5g”. Having developed beyond the old style “brick” phones, the generation that dominated the 2000’s were a series of what we now call “dumb” phones that ran on 3g. After the release of the first iPhone in 2008, and increasing pressure of bandwidth use due to streaming apps, 4g was introduced to the market. With the addition of 4g a whole slew of new “smart” phones flooded the market, with most every major tech firm testing the water to see if they could strike big in the burgeoning market. Cell phones work by communicating with cellular towers, each tower supporting a specific area. Cell phones also work off of other networks such as wi-fi. The idea behind the current generation of 4g phones, is that they are essentially modeled off of computers. With a CPU running the phone, a display to show information to the user, a battery to keep the phone running while moving around, a series of speakers to project sounds, and SIM card provided by the carrier in order to allow the phone to access the network’s cell towers. Most phones work off the software Android Operating Platform, with a nice chunk of the population of phones working off Apple’s operating platform iOS. These cell phones have become a very common part of everyday life in the developed world, and even outside of it. Though whether this is a good thing is still up in the air.
Risks and Hazards
The risks and hazards of the cell phone come in two forms, the threat to people and the threat to the environment. Being a human, I must admit a human-centric bias so that is where I will start my analysis. The threat of phones to people come in several forms; including mental health, physical health, and the risk the the environment on where these products end up.There has been a specific threat to those of my generation ever since we first received our licenses, being distracted by our phones. The Department of Transportation states that over 420,000 injuries every year in the United States could be attributed to technology based distractions. This makes distracted driving statistically a bigger threat to public safety than driving while under the influence. The threat of phones to the physical well being of the masses does not just end at the car, distracted walking has also taken an uptick. WIth the introduction of mobile games like the 2016 hit “Pokemon Go” people walked onto private property, into traffic, and even famously into an open manhole. The physical health of people is not the only concern, but also the mental health. Many health advisors warn of possible side effects of over use of cell phones. “Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) is considered as a behavioral addiction that shares many features with more established drug addictions.” Cell phones can be as addicting to some as drugs, needing that constant fix of instant gratification to function effectively. Another example of the impact phones have on mental health comes from a personal experience. Seeing people online post about how they are progressing through life can make you feel inferior, or like you are not on track. In reality these people are just posting a part of their lives, hiding all their struggles and mishaps behind the veneer of graduation or vacations. Along with the risks to humans there is also the risk to the environment posed by the fact that we do not have an effective way of disposing of these phones. Electronic waste, or E-waste, is often toxic, “...e-waste often contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, PCB’s, asbestos, and CFCs.” So these toxic items are sent away from those who use them, mainly the United States, and are sent to developing nations. These developing nations normally have less stringent environmental codes, so the e-waste is dumped there. There it poses a health threat to those who live there, as well as hazard to the environment. E-waste can poison habitats, as well as make areas toxic due to the chemicals present in e-waste. Cell phones are becoming increasingly a part of this e-waste problem. The more people that own cell phones, the more possibility there is of e-waste being produced. And cell phones have never been more popular, thus more e-waste must be being produced.
Political Economy
    To create phones we need three important factors; materials, people, and land. Land is used for two reasons; either for building factories or for mining. The mining is where we get the materials, with many of the materials being rare earth elements. So any country that holds a large amount of rare earth elements will have a marked increase in political power, for example China. According to the New York times, “Chinese companies accounted for more than four-fifths of rare earth element production.” This level of control affords China power in several ways, both in simple trade power, allowing them to come out ahead in almost any major trade war. Also in the fact no one wants to anger the power that controls four fifths of the rare earth elements on earth. This contributes as to why China is allowed to get away with human rights violations like what we see happening to the Weiger population in China. No one wants to anger China, so China is allowed to put people in “reeducation” camps for following their religion. People also play a factor in the political economy, with the workers being the ones who suffer greatly for the worlds phone needs. Although there is an influx of jobs, these jobs are often low paying and hazardous to people's health.They also have an effect on people’s mental health, with so many people attempting suicide at Apple factories they had to install nets to keep people from jumping off of higher floors. These jobs keep people poor, because capitalism cannot afford to pay them a livable wage if it affects profit margins.
Conclusion
    Although cell phones offer us a myriad of benefits, we must also be aware of their hazards. We must take time to realize their effect on people, as well as the wider world around us. I personally have done “tech cleanses” periods of time that I do not use things like cell phones. I have to admit my general anxiety in life seemed to decrease, and it also allowed me the time to reflect on how much we have become reliant on our phones to function. And at the rate we are depleting our natural resources, we must be prepared for the possibility that one day we may not have cell phones at all.

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