User:KBrooks24/sandbox

Cell Phones
They are the mobile devices of todays world. They are also the deciding factor between life and death. Over thousands of deaths were by these mobile monsters and each day a cell phone is a distraction for people to get away from reality. People use them to help them relax or for music while they jog. All we ever see if people on their phone whether it be in a library, a restaurant, or even in the car. Cell phones have been linked to helping increase anxiety according to scientific studies done by ScienceDaily. People use snapchat, Instagram, and so much more on their devices and they are also distractions when they are busy at hand with something, mainly driving and texting at the same time.

Averages for phone usage
Everyday we use our cellphones. Even if it is for only five minutes. Some people however are addicted to their phones and when one person uses their phone, others have to as well because using our cellphones is like a contagion. Some people just can't set their phones down because they believe that if they set it down they will miss something very important. But sometimes when we are on our phones we miss the most important things in life such as: a wedding, or someone's birthday. We, as humans, believe that our life is based off of connection with people even if we don't see them in person. we demand human interaction with others because we don't want to feel left out or feel like we are living in a world where people are ignoring us.

We begin this notion that if we don't have our cellphones, we can not live because we would be missing something important. When someone can unplug from their device as well, they are less likely to be distracted to what is going on around them. Parents have told kids that they are able to have devices on some days and other days they can not use it period so as to restrict their time to electronics and help then realize that there is more to life then just being stuck indoors on something that could rot your brain. The average kid sponges in 2.5 hours of music each day, almost five hours of TV and movies, three hours of Internet and video games, and just 38 minutes of old-fashioned reading, according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That is 75 hours a week.

accidents reported by phone usage
In 2011, at least 23% of car accidents included the driver being on their cell phones. That's 1.3 million crashes. For five seconds of looking away from the road at 55 mph is the same as going the length of a football field without looking at the road. 13% of car accidents were by people between the ages of 18-20 who openly admitted that they were on their phone.

Many people have been hit and killed by people texting and driving and each day eight people are hit by people that are driving distracted. 1,161 are reported injured in crashes that are reported to involve at least one distracted driver. The age that people are most distracted are teens that have their license and people that are around the age of 20.

What would happen if we unplugged?
If people were to unplug from electronics for one or more day a week, they would see a change in their sleep pattern. Nerve-signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters control whether we are asleep or awake by acting on different groups of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. Neurons in the brainstem, which connects the brain with the spinal cord, produce neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine that keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake. Other neurons at the base of the brain begin signaling when we fall asleep. These neurons appear to "switch off" the signals that keep us awake. Research also suggests that a chemical called adenosine builds up in our blood while we are awake and causes drowsiness. This chemical gradually breaks down while we sleep.



We would also pay more attention to the world around us such as our kids, the outdoors which could be hiking, biking, or just walking, and paying more attention behind the wheel of a car which would reduce the amount of people killed by distracted drivers that were texting.