Liberal Studies 6

(a) ‧ As people get used to communicating with cell phones, together with the fact that cell phones are more convenient and quick than other communication methods like and fixed telephone, cell phones have become an essential equipment for people to deal with their personal matters or businesses. As shown in the survey in Source 1, 76% of Hong Kong people regarded cell phone to be the most irreplaceable technological product in their daily lives. This shows how much people depend on cell phones. Positive influence: Cell phones can overcome the limitation of communication. Even if people are situated in different places, they can use cell phones to talk with each other instantly. This greatly increases the association among people. Negative influence: As some people rely too much on cell phones, symptoms like fear and anxiety without cell phones arise. This shows that although cell phones can foster interpersonal communication, they also reveal that some people are not confident about interpersonal relationships and rely on cell phones to establish relationships with others.

(b) ‧ According to people’s understanding of public health since the 20th century, diseases can be divided into infectious and non-infectious diseases. Among non- infectious diseases, mental health is the most important element that constitutes health. If anxiety persists, psychiatric diseases like psychasthenia, depression and psychosis may arise. Therefore, Cell Phone Addiction can be regarded as a kind of mental disease. Although Cell Phone Addiction does not pose real harm to the physical body, it would obviously lead to symptoms like anxiety and fear, which affect people’s mental health. According to Source 1, when people develop Cell Phone Addiction, they would feel annoyed and unable to do other things when they have not brought a cell phone with them, and develop emotions like impotence and bad temper when they cannot use cell phones. These are symptoms close to ‘addiction’. People cannot live without cell phones and this seriously affects their normal lives. According to Source 2, people who develop Cell Phone Addiction would regard whether they receive calls as an indication of their interpersonal relationships. However, long-term and normal socializing should not only depend on a single channel. Neither should interpersonal relationships be established by calling each other frequently. Therefore, Cell Phone Addition is an unhealthy status regarding interpersonal relationships. (12 marks)