1 . “I can’t live without my mobile phone!” is what I often hear people say as they talk about how mobiles have become an essential part of their lives.

The all so common sight of heads bent, eyes staring at mobile screens and fingers busy tapping away repeats itself across major cities around the world. Whenever there is a moment to spare while on the train, taxi or waiting in a queue, people busy themselves with their mobile phones.

Some people believe our unhealthy obsession with mobile phones is destroying how we appreciate the little things in life or miss the moments that matter. The truth is that technology overall should be seen as a tool to improve our lives.

Mobile phones have certainly had a great influence on our lives, but I truly believe it’s for the better.

It’s changed the way we communicate, whether for work or play. We are now less constrained (限制) by time and geographical location. With my mobile phone, I can dial into conference calls while stuck in a traffic jam, or reply to urgent e-mails while on the go. I can send a text message or share photos and videos with friends who aren’t living in the same country. My phone calendar keeps my life organized, and even Facebook. Twitter, and instant messaging are now accessible from mobile phones!

The mobile revolution isn’t just changing the lives of urbanite like myself. I know of a young Bangladeshi woman named Shompa Akhter who is crazy about fashion and design. She dreamt about starting her own business and she did just that, opening a shop in Kushtia featuring her own creations. Dealing with suppliers in different towns was a problem for Shompa-purchase orders had to either be hand delivered or mailed out to suppliers. Shompa also found it tough publicizing (宣传) her business to potential customers outside her town. But once she learnt to operate the mobile phone, she was addicted. The 25-year-old businesswoman now stays in touch easily with her suppliers. Mobile e-mail is a blessing in her life. Who would have thought that mobility could bring about such enormous change? It shouldn’t really be a surprise though.

2 . Social media is one of the fastest-growing industries in today’s world. A study conducted by the US think tank (智囊团) Pew Research Center showed that 92 percent of teenagers go online daily.

The wide spread of social media has changed nearly all parts of teenagers’ lives.

High school student Elly Cooper from Illinois said social media often reduces face-to-face communication.

“It makes in-person relationships harder because people give attention to their phones instead of their boyfriends or girlfriends,” Cooper said.

There’s also a greater possibility of things getting lost in translation over social media.

“If half of your relationship is over social media, you don’t really know how the other person is reacting,” Sienna Schulte, a junior student from Illinois, said.

Yet, some people believe social media has made it easier to start relationships with anyone from anywhere. Beth Kaplan from Illinois met her long-distance friend through social media. He currently lives in Scotland, but they’re still able to frequently communicate with one another.

“I can feel close to someone that I’m talking to via (通过) FaceTime,” Kaplan said.

The rise of social media has changed the way teenagers see themselves.

The 19-year-old Essena O’Neill announced on the social networking service Instagram that she was quitting social media because it made her obsessed (痴迷) with appearing perfect online.

Negative comments also can do great damage to a teenager’s self-esteem (自尊).

In particular, anonymous (匿名的) social media apps such as Yik Yak may provide opportunities for cyber bullying (网络欺凌).

The app allows users within 5 miles (8 km) to create and add comments to everything. Teenagers who get negative comments on these sites can’t help but feel hurt.

However, Armin Korsos, a student from Illinois, takes advantage of the comments he receives over social media to improve his videos on the social networking site Youtube.

“Social media can help people show themselves and their talents to the world in a way that was never possible before,” Korsos said.

But Korsos recognizes that social media has become a distraction (让人分心的事). “Social media, though it helps people connect with their friends and stay updated, is not all necessary.”

3 . For decades, the homework standard has been a “10-minute” rule, which suggests a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level.

But some schools have begun to give their youngest students a break. An American elementary school has announced a no-homework pilot program(试点项目) for the coming school year, extending the school day by two hours to provide more in-class instruction. “We really want kids to go home at 4 o’clock, tired,” Kelly Elementary School Principal Jackie Glasheen said. “We want them to enjoy their families. We want them to go to soccer practice or football practice.”

New solutions to homework differ by community. These local debates aren’t easily understood by the fact that even education experts disagree about what’s best for kids.

The most all-round research on homework so far comes from an analysis(分析) by Duke University professor Harris Cooper, who found evidence(证据) of a positive relationship between homework and student achievement, meaning students who did homework performed better in school. Cooper’s analysis focused on how homework influences test scores. The relationship was stronger for older students from the 7th to the 12th grade than for those in younger grades, for whom there was a weak relationship between homework and performance.

However, Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University Missouri-St. Louis, thinks there is not enough evidence that homework is helpful for students in elementary school, “Relationship is not a cause,” she said “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?” Vatterott thinks there should be more stress on improving the quality of homework tasks, and she supports efforts to ban homework for younger kids.

4 . According to a research, more than 130 billion pounds of uneaten food go to waste in Laura’s county each year. That is about 30% of the yearly food supply (供应). It is a sad fact, especially when you consider how many families and homeless people are in hunger.

When Laura saw her school dining hall throw away food that was not eaten at all every day, she came up with an idea. She started a project to help her school dining hall to give away uneaten food to homeless shelters (避难所) in her community. In the past three years, the same protect has spread to other schools and some fast food restaurants throughout the city. The project is called Feed & Find, which has already fed thousands of people in her city.

How does it work? Through an app, Feed & Find matches local homeless shelters with school dining halls and restaurants that have uneaten food to provide. When dining halls or restaurants have uneaten food left, they can use the app to share the information about the food. A truck driver working for the project is then sent to pick it up and take it to a shelter.

Pretty cool, right? It’s not surprising that people in other cities have got in touch with Laura, to hoping that she could help develop similar projects for their communities.

Some people, however, dread the safety of the uneaten food. They think such food may not be clean enough. Still, this project is a clever way to help solve the problem of food waste and it helps those in need.

5 . It was decades ago now, but it’s still one of the most memorable conversations of my life. On a long, slow train heading north, with nothing to do but watch the rain, the man sitting opposite began trying to talk to me. Like most young women who have learned the hard way to be careful of strangers, I was unfriendly. But curiosity took over when he said that he was just bored, and liked talking.

So that’s what we did for hours and hours as the man turned out to be quite talkative. When the train finally pulled in, we didn’t change numbers. However, I still think about it sometimes on long, boring journeys, before getting a phone out and scrolling silently like everyone else. It’s a rare person who can cheerfully break the social rule about not talking to strangers without any ill intention, but life would be more interesting if more of us knew how to do it.

And that’s why I can’t be as cynical as I probably should be about “Tube Chat” campaign launched to encourage Britons to talk to each other. All anyone is being asked to do is to start a conversation they wouldn’t otherwise have had — maybe with a friend from whom they’ve been apart or a neighbor they don’t know.

Obviously, it takes more than a bit of small talk over garden fences to unite strangers together. More people live alone than did so a generation ago, and the rise in freelancing (自由职业) means more of us work alone too. We socialize increasingly through screens, sending texts instead of bothering to call.

It’s true that the “Tube Chat” campaign of a few years back failed in its attempts to make Londoners talk to each other on public transport. But even city people who would normally die rather than make eye contact with strangers still happily gather in large numbers by the Thames for the New Year’s Eve fireworks. They would get a far better view at home on television — it’s not really about the fireworks, but about being part of something communal (公共的).

There’s no guarantee (保证) that this latest campaign to reconnect will succeed wherever others have failed. But if there ever a moment to stop social disbelief it may start a fire to warm a world that sometimes feels cold. Wherever my train friend is now, I hope he’s still talking.

10 . Raegan Byrd tries to complete her homework every night. But the high school student in Hartford. Connecticut, has to use her mobile phone to search for the necessary information because she does not have internet connection at home.

In May, the US Department of Education (DOE) published its findings that the number of homes without access (接入) to internet has been getting smaller, but 14 percent of homes in city areas and 18percent of homes in the countryside still do not have internet connections.

In some states, the problem is much more serious. For example, in the countryside of northern Mississippi, a third of the 294 homes in Maben do not have computers. And close to half have no access to internet whether they can pay for it or not.

Sharon Stidham, a mother in Maben, has to take her four boys to the school library at East Webster High School. Her husband works there, so the children can use the internet for their schoolwork. A signal tower can be seen through the trees from their home, but they could not put aside any money for the internet. Research results from the National Center for Education (NCE) have shown that students with internet at home get much better scores in reading, math and science than the ones who do not. Some teachers call this problem “the homework divide”. Jessica Rosenworcel, an NCE member, said, “The so-called homework divide is the cruelest part of the digital age and it is hurting the poor students and creating a big barrier to their dreams.”

Local communities (社区) have started to help. They made lists of restaurants and other businesses with Wi-Fi places where children are welcome to come and do their homework. And many public libraries have also planned to provide free access to the students next year.