There is one thing that I can't live without and that's my phone. My phone is practically my life. I bring it everywhere I go and it my source to keep in contact with my parents. The reason why I can't live without it is because it's just a part of me. I use it to keep track of the time, and it helps me with homework (at times), but my main purpose is to keep in touch with my friends and family. I also use my phone for entertainment, when I'm bored and have some spare time I will go on my phone and play a game. I don't think I could ever live without a cell phone. My phone is "off the table".

I agree. Sadly, my phone and computer are "off the table" for me because of the way I live my life. I am not proud of it, but my lifestyle has made me very dependent of technology and luxuries that many others are not fortunate to have. I wish the society I lived in was not so technology based.

I also agree that phones and other technologies are not essential for living but are not something that realistically people could get rid of or stop using. Instead of people focusing on reducing the use of technology people should focus on recycling and buying food locally. Even though society is based around technology there are other ways to help the environment.

I also agree with all of you.  However, I think that there are ways to use less energy.  For example, you could try dimming the light on your phone, force close apps when you are not using them, and turn off the WiFi when you are not using it.  Another way you could conserve energy is by charging it whenever you really need it, rather than leaving it charge all night long.  Although that doesn't save much energy, it's better to conserve some energy than none at all.

You make very good points about phones not being essential for living, but they hard to give up. I am constantly on my phone between classes, and the first thing I do in the morning is check my phone. I like your suggestions for different ways to conserve energy use in phones. Another easy way to conserve phone battery is to turn off the vibrate. This uses more battery power, and causes you to have to charge your phone more often.

I also agree with all of you. Doing away with all technology is almost impossible, but there are a couple of ways we can cu back on usage like by turning brightness on very low when using phones or computers, and keeping usage of technology outside of work to a minimal. I get that it is easier to take a picture of your schedule and just go on your phone to look at it instead of looking at a piece of paper, but printing off your schedule is more eco friendly, and one can just memorize their schedule. You can also turn your phone on low power mode, turn the brightness all the way down. Also, you can just charge your phone when it is all they way out of power.

As I was reading everyone’s comments on this post, I saw that someone made a comment saying that phones aren’t essential to our everyday living, and they’re are right. Phones are a piece of technology that people have gotten attached to making it seem that they can’t live without it and I’m guilty of that. My phone is my life, everything is on there, my photos, contacts, and of course the internet. Cell phones were created to interact with other people when they aren’t around, explore the internet, and much more. Although phones are used for good in our society, it affects us and are carbon footprints in a negative way. I agree with everyone saying our phones are “off the table” but there are ways we can reduce the amount of usage we use with our phones such as battery saving, mode, lowering screen brightness, and not charging our phones every time.

My phone would be “off the table” because of its many features that I use in my every day life.  Although I am not necessarily proud of how our generation has become attached to our cellular devices, I do carry my phone with me everywhere.  It is my main form of communication with my family and friends, and I cannot imagine my life without it.  If I am somewhere without a parent, I must have my phone to update my family.  Along with the communication aspect, my phone is a place for my social media, which has become a huge part of society.  I am constantly updating my feed on Instagram and checking any notifications from other apps.  By limiting this usage, I could really decrease my carbon footprint. I also keep my phone charging whenever I can.  However, this often is unnecessary and can be changed.  I saw a comment that mentioned limiting how long you charge your phone can have a beneficial impact on the environment.  In conclusion, my phone would be “off the table,” but I can find ways to limit my cellular usage.

I've read many of the comments on this post and I  agree that society has become very attached to cell phones and it has almost become a crutch to us. One thing I do not agree with is the idea that cell phones aren't essential. For most people, cell phones are a main form of communication, including me. Cell phones can often save people in dangerous situations. So, my cell phone would not be "off the table." But a great compromise would be instead of giving up cell phones altogether, we could limit the usage on our cell phones. A highly important impact would be reducing the amount of times we spend charging our phones. A report by an analyst at  Juniper Research found that charging our smartphone is a massive generator of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases. Charging our cell phones for long amounts of time is a  contributor to increasing our carbon footprints. To conclude, my cell phone would not be "off the table" for safety purposes. But limiting usage  and charging time we could all help contribute to reduce global warming. 
Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/smartphone-ch … use-gases/

I agree with your position on the necessity of phones to our daily lives, Megan. You touched upon the importance of keeping in contact with family and friends through your cellphone. However, I believe that phones should not be solely used for entertainment because the use of your phone can become an addiction and a waste of time. Phones also pose as a distraction especially when you are driving. Furthermore, people are using their phones to perform multiple tasks such as taking photos, online gaming, social media, ordering transportation services (e.g. Uber), navigation, online banking, and others. Therefore, there is an increase in the demand for newer, better, and faster models of phones resulting in frequent upgrades. This will lead to high amounts of electronic waste causing an increase in solid waste in the landfills and the release of toxic pollutants into the environment such as lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium. In my opinion, cellphones are not “off the table”.

Resource:
https://www.thebalance.com/e-waste-and- … ng-2877783

Also for clarification, I misinterpreted the meaning of "off the table" in my previous post. What I meant to say was my cell phone WOULD be "off the table." Sorry for the confusion!

I’ve read many comments regarding this issue and I agree with all of you. I think we all are definitely too attached to our phones, but I also think they are essential to our daily lives. This is because of mostly safety reasons, but also for a source of connection and information. I do think, however, that we should try and limit the use of our phones to conserve energy. For example, if we are using our phones for unneeded activities all day long then we are just constantly draining the battery for no reason so we are constantly recharging them. This eventually turns into a cycle of wasted energy.

I agree with the points made above. We human are addicted to our phones, which take up most of our lives. One way to cut down the use of technology is to only use it when it is necessary. For example, Snap-chatting and liking your friend's post on Instagram waste energy and aren't essential to our everyday lives. Doing unnecessary things on our phones contribute to the "cycle of wasted energy".

I agree. Though phones may be essential for communication, it is not necessary to use them as often as most people in the twenty first century do. Is keeping your streaks or bettering our environment more important. Is liking and commenting on your friends post or saving our earth more important. There are so many areas of technology that if we all cut down on them, it could make a huge difference. One of the things you could do is limit the amount of time you spend on your phone per day (excluding emergencies).  People in the olden days survived without phones, so I think we can survive cutting down the amount of time we spend on them.

phones can be very helpful but also very damaging. Frequently  during the day I  check my phone to see if someone snapchated me, or what the time is, etc. It’s now a essential part of human life but at times i wish i wasnt so addicted. One thing I do to limit my phone usage is turn it off and put it in another room. I don’t do that very often though. Another idea you can use to limit the time on your phone is to let it die and hide the charger. I have only done this a few times but it helped a lot. Especially when you really need to get some school work done. Lastly, you can just delete apps that distract you a lot. A bunch if celebrities have talked about this (EX: Kendall Jenner). They call it a social media purge. I often see a lot of snapchats where my friends or mutual friends have done this. Hope that helps.