“Name a subject most people give a lot of time daily.”
The answer is simple but disturbing- “Their SMARTPHONE!”Yes, it is so simple that even a child can answer it but it is so distressing that sometimes I feel scared. Every day I go out and I see most of the people are engrossed in their smartphone. Well, I may not be a young millennial but even I find some sort of attractions towards these devices.
Smartphones are an Unending Addiction:
Admit it or not, the smartphones have become our lifeline! When you go out for dinner- starting from dressing to dining you just click the snaps and instantly put them onto social media. You feel an immense urge to do it.
Whatever you do, you feel this must be posted on Facebook or Instagram! Every now and then people check their WhatsApp, Messenger, e-mail, Snapchat or some other form of social platform.
We do that, we all do that!
Or, if you are a game freak- then you just keep playing games in between.
Even after making resolutions of letting your phone down a little bit you can’t keep it.
If you think on a serious note, then you can recapitulate many instances where you were so engrossed in your Smartphone that you were in life-threatening danger. Folks, we all are going through this problem.
Attention Seekers?
Calm down, think about it. It is not as simple as our grandparents think. Rather, it is a complex issue.
The truth is we want ATTENTION! Yes, it is the attention seeking issue. The smartphone has opened up a new world for us. Surely it is boon for us but unfortunately, we are using it as a bane.
Through smartphones, we see people living an entirely virtual life. Everyone looks good, eats good, lives well. This compels most of us to do the only thing we can make the others believe that we are better!
That’s why, you try to flaunt whenever you are out on a date, shopping, movie or dinner. Nowadays, we don’t make memories through those pictures we just click them just to upload on social media. And without smartphones this is impossible.
Adversities of Smartphones aka Modern Cigarettes:
Earlier people used to go shopping with friends or families. But, now either you shop through your smartphone or you just click pictures and send them for an opinion.
Even ten years ago, family gatherings or social occasions meant people meeting people, eating, drinking, dancing and enjoying each other’s company. Today, we go but we keep checking our phones most of the time.
In a family, earlier members used to talk to each other. Now, on the contrary, all members are busy with their smartphones and the bonding is getting weak day by day.
Separation due to excessive use of smartphone and not spending quality time together is on the rise.
Once Addicted, Always Addicted:
It is just like SMOKING. Yes, both are the same! A chain-smoker cannot stop the urge to have a puff even the situation wants them not to do it. Similarly, once addicted to a smartphone, one cannot stop that urge to check it.
Although we all use it we get irritated when someone opens the phone during a movie or when someone starts texting during dinner or any important gathering. It stops us from concentrating. Likewise, passive smoking harms our health and so does excessive use of smartphone has adverse effects on our health.
We lose our mental stability and peace of mind. For those who are using a smartphone, it is like active smoking or they behave similarly to the chain smokers. In fact, they become anxious if they can’t use their phones. Some of them even develop withdrawal symptoms like irritation, mood swings etc.
Today, even kids and teenagers are addicted to it and some of them even take drastic steps when their phones are taken away. Smartphone hijacks our senses.
It demands all of our attention. We are forced to stop our thinking or communicating one to one which is our biological trait. It causes insomnia, brain problems today many children cannot talk properly because of the Smartphone.
The comparison does not end here. Research proves that smartphone does long term harm to our memories and health or even to our personality. The cigarettes harm human health in name of small puff-rings.
Is it the same hormonal kick that you get when you use your phones for the sake of few likes or texts or some really cool snapshots that you just took a while ago? We think our phone is our recreation but it is just the addiction that makes us do so most of the time.
Like smoking, it affects our health in many ways- insomnia, loss of eye-sight or blurry vision, pain in neck or back or sometimes numbness in fingers. Today doctors too have admitted that smartphone addiction is responsible for causing text neck. For mental health, people lose concentration power, ability to communicate and the list goes on.
Further, this strange eroded attention has become a fad and we all are victims of it. We are becoming smartphone centered people whose world is their smartphone, not the earth.
So, isn’t there any solution?
Yes, there are solutions but it is up to you to embrace them. Try to interact with people more and more, read books, talk with people and make memories. Take pictures only when needed. Keep a tab in your Smartphone using. If you feel like you can’t do it then seek therapists help.
Together we can stop this epidemic addiction. Like this, there will be a future where we will use the technology for good and we will have a healthy attention span to grow stronger to become an ideal, developed civilization.
