During the time period when students are going and coming from class, they are constantly texting their classmates and checking the latest trends on applications such as Twitter and Instagram. Some students even go as far as to use their phones during class, despite rules prohibiting the use of cellphones in classrooms.

Unlike the United States, if you were to walk down a crowded school hallway in Saudi Arabia, you would come across students having a real conversation with each other  rather than through a cell phone. 

“People overseas definitely do not use their phones as much as Americans do,”” junior Ahmed Mohamed said.

Many students find it hard to hold a face-to-face conversation, and prefer texting and/or calling an individual.

“I think face-to-face conversations are becoming more challenging,” junior Shank Rai said.  “Nowadays the use of phones is becoming more addictive. Because of that, people are losing the ability to hold conversations face to face. It’s not as easy for some people and having a talent or ability such as that is pretty vital and practical nowadays. For example, like job interviews, it’s important that you are able to hold a conversation with your future boss so they can know what kind of worker you are.”

In a case study by Pew Research Center, it was discovered that 54 percent of teens contact their friends daily by text messaging, and 33 percent talk face-to-face. Unlike the U.S., other countries such as Saudi Arabia don’t rely on and use technology as often as Americans do.

“People overseas definitely do not use their phones as much as Americans do,”” junior Ahmed Mohamed said. “Most of them still have the original Nokias and Samsungs because they only use them for the original purpose they were invented for: to call people.”

In the U.S. individuals use their phones for multiple things ranging from work related tasks to entertainment. In Saudi Arabia, their form of entertainment mostly involves going out and seeing the world rather than being glued to a TV screen.

Whenever individuals do decide to use technology as a form of entertainment, their wifi is limited.

“I barely used my phone while I was in Saudi Arabia because there wasn’t much access to wifi and when there was, it was way too slow to even use. Also, I couldn’t connect to iMessage so life was pretty tough,” Mohamed said. “”I just mainly used my phone to take pictures and hit up Instagram, when I had the chance. All types of social media apps would take forever to load when I did have access to wifi.”

When students travel to foreign countries such as Saudi Arabia,  they also refrain from using their cellphones because cellular connection doesn’t work in other countries. But the main reason many people use their phones overseas is to take pictures of their experiences and adventures in a foreign country.

“I didn’t use it as much overseas because most of the time I was sightseeing or busy and also I didn’t have service and couldn’t talk to anyone,”” junior Amanda Adenan said. “”Overseas I use it to take pictures and use wifi to go on Twitter, Instagram, iMessage, etc.” 

While some foreign countries have limited internet access, others are similar to America and use technology fairly often. When junior Dini Mohamed traveled to Kenya and Somalia, he had two very different experiences with internet access and technology.

“”While I was in Kenya I could only use my phone when I had wifi which was often, the restaurants and the place I stayed at had wifi. While in Somalia I had no wifi at home and only had wifi at a few restaurants I went to,” Mohamed said. “”I used my phone to contact my friends at home and keep up with social media. I could not use my Cox TV account in Kenya because it said my IP address was out of America and was not available. My family in Kenya do not use their phones nearly as much as people in America. Social media is still very popular but people on the roads don’t use their phones as often as Americans.””

Similar to Mohamed, the last time junior Kadijah Sesay visited Sierra Leone she had to break contact with all her friends until the end of the summer due to bad internet connection.

“The last time I went to Sierra Leone was my freshman year and at the place I stayed, the internet takes so long that I never used it,” Sesay said.  “Even if it worked well I probably wouldn’t use it because whenever I travel there we were always going out on adventures, which leaves no time to browse the web and get updated on the latest news. So I make a decision to break contact with everyone and enjoy myself until I return.”

In the U.S., many citizens’ lives revolve around technology and social media. Although there are many negative aspects to this, there are also positive aspects. With this age of technology, many social injustices are being brought today through technology, such as Walter Scott’s case.

The power of technology and social media allows important information to circulate the web and become known to the public. It also allows people to communicate and complete certain tasks more efficiently.

“Although I recognize the many negative components of technology in society, I also believe it has helped our country grow and evolve,” Sesay said. “We have accomplished a lot with the use of technology, not just in social media, but in medical fields as well. I think we just use it in negative ways sometimes and it is up to us to use it to the best of our abilities.”

Creations such as the 3-D printer was created which benefits various fields in each country such as the arigultural and medical fields.

Even though many people use technology in a negative way, others are constantly finding ways to use it in a beneficial and helpful ways. With people using this age of technology to do positive things , all countries around the world are able to evolve and grow.