
Like many young teenagers, Emma believes that a smartphone would vastly improve her life. So she’s frustrated at her parents for not allowing her to have one. But one day, she learns a valuable lesson about how the devices can negatively affect lives.

Love them or hate them, smartphones are an integral part of modern life. Indeed, in 2014 there were an estimated 2.6 billion smartphone users worldwide. However, according to networking company Ericsson, that figure is set to leap to 6.1 billion by 2020. That’s 70 percent of the planet’s population.

Part of the appeal of smartphones is having a range of technologies at hand in one little package. The devices can, of course, make calls and send texts. But they can also take photographs, map journeys and give us instant access to the web.