Your Phone or your life?

Imagine being confronted by armed robbers with the old popular slogan of “your money or your life” but replaced with “your phone or your life”. What would you do?

It is incredible how we went from using our phones for just calls and SMS in the early 2000s to living inside the telephone after 2 decades. How many of us can go without our phones for just a day? Did you know that an average person now spends 4hours and 20 minutes every day on phone?

I once saw an accident victim rushing to take selfies for social media while still lying down in his pool of blood. Families having lunch, couples in bed at night, best buddies on trip, lovers on evening date, employees in meeting room, students in class…. all glued to their phones. These scenarios are easily found as it is now a culture, ‘me and my phone’. Everywhere you go; in the toilet, stadium, cinema, places of worship, classrooms, workplaces, hospitals, …. everyone is glued to his or her phone!!! It seems we are now practically slaves to our devices. Many of us are victims to our phones being the first thing we reach for in the morning and the last thing we touch before bed?

So, why is phone now very important?

We are social creatures and it is evident that social acceptance drives our happiness and fulfilment. Positive interaction with engagement triggers hormones that reduce stress and increase happiness. And as such, with advancement in technology and introduction of social apps, we have traded real human-human interaction with social apps. We now heavily rely on social media platforms to connect with one another.

Smartphones boom is fuelled by social media usage such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Telegram, Pinterest, WeChat and many more. With internet becoming available everywhere and affordable, we have round the clock access to these social media. Thanks to the constant alerts and notifications, concentration, focus, sleep, and other activities are regularly disturbed.

Social media has contributed immensely to our society. We can easily communicate and stay up to date with loved ones globally.  New friends are easily made. Awareness and important issues are easily shared. It is an invaluable tool for marketing, source of information and knowledge. With social media, voices are now louder!

Benefits of social media cannot be overemphasized. However, we need to be aware of the negative aspects of social media. A lot of people enjoy staying connected which often leads to isolation from real world. With lockdown due to covid-19 pandemic, social media became an invaluable tool for keeping in touch with friends and the world at large. Several studies showed high correlation between heavy social media usage and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, and self-harm. It increases the feeling of void and emptiness with increased usage of social media. We need to understand that Social media platforms are designed to distract and steal our attention, keep us glued to our mobile screens and engrossed in virtual world. This is how social media companies make money

The number one factor that drives social media usage is FOMO (fear of missing out). FOMO is simply the feelings that others are having more fun or living better lives. This can impact your self-esteem leading to anxiety. You are constantly evaluating your life and validating with posts from your contacts. Negative impacts include Isolation, depression and anxiety, Cyberbullying, Self-absorption. It can also lead to being distracted at school or work, having no time for self-reflection, engaging in risky activities in order to gain followers, Insomnia and mental health issues.

So what do we do?

-   Consciously reduce online time

Make use of screen time trackers,  Switch off your phone at certain times of the day,  Disable social media notifications,  Do not take mobile devices into bedroom,  Uninstall social media apps, Get engaged with value adding activities and Spend more time with offline people

'Yemi