Technology in Everyday Life: Mobile Devices and Digital Habits
The vocabulary of mobile devices and digital habits covers the phone itself, everyday phone actions, and the language used to discuss screen time and dependence on devices. Examiners test whether you can name device-specific vocabulary precisely (cargar el móvil, descargar una aplicación, hacer una videollamada) and whether you can discuss habits critically using dependence and moderation language (depender del móvil, revisar el móvil constantemente). This theme also contains the false friend actualmente, meaning currently/nowadays rather than 'actually' (en realidad/de hecho), which comes up constantly when students describe how their phone habits have changed over time.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Learn the core device nouns with gender: el móvil (mobile phone, Spain) / el celular (Latin America), la pantalla (screen), la batería (battery), la aplicación (app) - all need their accents (batería, aplicación) to be spelled correctly.
- Learn everyday phone-action verbs as collocations: cargar el móvil (to charge the phone), descargar una aplicación (to download an app), mandar un mensaje de texto (to send a text message), hacer una videollamada (to make a video call).
- Learn the false friend actualmente (currently, nowadays) and contrast it with en realidad/de hecho (actually, in fact); a sentence like 'actualmente reviso el móvil cada diez minutos' is describing a present habit, not correcting a previous statement.
- Learn dependence and moderation vocabulary for higher-tier answers: depender del móvil, revisar el móvil constantemente, ser adicto/adicta al móvil, silenciar las notificaciones, el tiempo de pantalla.
- Build past-versus-present comparison language, since this theme often asks how habits have changed: antes... pero ahora..., cada vez más/menos + infinitive, which lets you contrast old and new phone habits precisely.
- For listening, listen for numbers attached to screen time and frequency (cuatro horas al día, cada cinco minutos) since these are frequently tested as specific detail in exam recordings about digital habits.
- For writing and translation, practise linking a phone habit to its effect (revisar el móvil constantemente puede... distraer, afectar al sueño), since cause-and-effect sentences are what separate a descriptive answer from an evaluative one.
Worked example
Using these bullet points, write two full Spanish sentences: (1) how your phone habits have changed; (2) a negative effect of spending too much time on your phone.
- For bullet 1, use a past-versus-present structure with actualmente correctly meaning 'currently': 'Antes sólo usaba el móvil para llamar, pero actualmente lo uso para todo.'
- For bullet 2, choose dependence vocabulary and a consequence verb: 'Revisar el móvil constantemente puede distraerte de tus estudios.'
- Extend with a further specific detail: 'y también puede afectar a la cantidad de horas que duermes.'
- Add a mitigating suggestion: 'Por eso, es buena idea silenciar las notificaciones por la noche.'
- Check actualmente has been translated as 'currently/nowadays' and not as 'actually', and that batería and aplicación carry their accents.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Translate into English: 'Actualmente paso demasiado tiempo mirando la pantalla.'Show answer
Answer: Currently/Nowadays I spend too much time looking at the screen.
Q2Give the Spanish for 'to charge the phone'.Show answer
Answer: Cargar el móvil.
Q3Give the Spanish for 'to download an app', including the correct accent.Show answer
Answer: Descargar una aplicación.
Q4Translate into Spanish: 'I make video calls with my grandparents every Sunday.'Show answer
Answer: Hago videollamadas con mis abuelos todos los domingos.
Q5Give one Spanish phrase meaning 'to depend on your phone'.Show answer
Answer: Depender del móvil.
Q6Complete: Debería _____ (mute/silence) las notificaciones por la noche.Show answer
Answer: Silenciar.
Q7What does actualmente mean, and what English word does it resemble that it does NOT mean?Show answer
Answer: It means 'currently/nowadays'; it does not mean 'actually' (that is en realidad/de hecho).
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Spanish exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Translate this passage into English: 'Actualmente casi todo el mundo tiene un móvil y lo usa constantemente. Yo misma reviso mis mensajes cada pocos minutos y a veces me olvido de cargar la batería hasta que es demasiado tarde. Se que depender tanto del móvil no es sano, así que ahora intento silenciar las notificaciones después de las diez de la noche.'
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Read this text and answer the questions in English. 'Un colegio de Madrid ha decidido prohibir el uso del móvil durante las horas de clase. Según el director, actualmente muchos alumnos revisaban el móvil constantemente y esto afectaba a su concentración. Desde que se aplicó la nueva norma, los profesores han notado una mejora en el ambiente de las clases. Algunos estudiantes se quejan al principio, pero la mayoría reconoce que ahora se distraen menos.' (a) What has a school in Madrid decided to do? (1 mark) (b) According to the head teacher, what was happening before the new rule? (2 marks) (c) What have teachers noticed since the rule began? (1 mark) (d) What do most students now admit? (2 marks)
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Write approximately 40 words in Spanish about mobile phones and digital habits. You must include: how often you use your phone; something you use it for; how your habits have changed; an opinion about screen time, with a reason.
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See real GCSE Spanish past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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