Smartphone Addiction

Are you a person with nomophobia?

Colloquially smartphone addiction is known as nomophobia. It can be simply explained as fear of staying without a mobile phone that can be associated with the over usage.

We all know that smartphone can be a major productive tool. Yet, the compulsive usage of smartphones can have a massive impact with your work, education and relationships. Sometimes people spend more time on social media, playing games, repeatedly checking texts, apps, e-mails etc. than interacting with real humans. Hence, it is a good time to rethink your technology usage with smartphone.

Because this month I am talking about smartphone addiction.

Smartphone addiction is associated with various impulse control issues.

Online compulsions such as gambling, gaming, online shipping, stock trading, auction sites, cyber- sex can lead to purchase goods/services that you really do not need and cannot afford. These are merged with the short-term pleasure or excitement feelings.

Have not you noticed that many people in the younger generation are glued to his/her smartphone? Due to social networking with the help of various apps, online virtual relationships have become more important/dominant compared to real time relationships. Actually, Internet can be a fine place to meet new people, find old acquaintances, start romantic relationships etc. But these online relationships are not a healthy substitute for real life human interactions.

Even smartphones can alter our behavioural patterns with information overloading. We tend to do compulsive surfing, playing games, watching videos, checking news feeds, inserting reactions in social media apps etc. As a result, it can take away your precious time and cause you to neglect your important parts in life of hobbies, health and relationships.

Common signals of smartphone addiction can be detected by the experience of withdrawal symptoms. These can range from irritative nature, restlessness, lack of focus, insomnia or sleep related issues, craving access to the smartphone etc. Even there are negative impacts on your life due to smartphone addiction. It can promote loneliness, depression, social isolation, stress, anxiety, attention deficit disorders, sleep disruptions etc.

As an academic, I feel that the usage of smartphones has diminished the ability to focus, think creatively and deeply in our students. Compared to our learning period, nowadays the students can get distracted easily, as they are with a short attention span. We used to sit for lectures of four hours of duration (with a break in the middle) during our university period. But nowadays such lectures are an impossible task with the current student generation. With the current scenario, it is even really hard to keep their focus on the subject matter for two hours when we teach.

I feel that we all need to find a time to be alone with our thoughts to look into ourselves instead of being connected 24 x 7 in online mode. Here what I mean is that we need to get out of FOMO mode. That is fear of missing out. It is true that we want to feel the sense of belongingness in the virtual world without staying out of the loop. But you need to know the limits without switching into compulsive phone checking behaviour.?Hence, you need to curb your FOMO. Most of us are closer to our smartphones in real life. So, you definitely need to monitor your screen time. Because smartphones can trigger the release of dopamine and alter your mood accordingly similar to the usage of drugs and alcohol.

Removal of social media apps from the phone is another way that can be used to avoid smartphone addiction.?As I weekly check my social media platforms from my computer, I used to spend less time with these apps. As I spend very less time comparing myself unfavourably with the standardized virtual representations of life, I do not worry much about my life. In addition, I do not think of the ways to boost my own sense of self-worth as well as the mood depending on those social media platforms.

Meet a friend physically, do meditation, read a book, engage in a fitness routine/hobby etc. can be substitutes of healthy options for excess smartphone usage. Even you can turn the phone off at certain times of the day. Moderate usage without being a slave of the smartphone is advised in this situation. It is similar to the way you go on a diet. You still need to use your phone for your daily life just as you still need to eat when you are on a diet.

In short, cutting back the excess time that you spend with the phone to a healthy level of usage under your own supervision should be your smart move in coping smartphone addiction.

(This article originally appeared in Probe- November 2022)

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