Cyber Addicts Be Aware:
- Smartphones have dominated all our lives and interests due to their increased functionality and ease of use and access, with just a few clicks away. However, the negative aspects of smartphone use, such as smartphone addiction, have recently been brought to notice by Psychologist, Psychiatrists and civil societies. Existing reports from various countries have shown that, two thirds of these individuals do not leave their home’s without their smartphones in hand.
Smartphone Notifications the Culprit!:
Few technology (people and companies) through their choices will steer what a billion people are thinking today at this moment.
- When you pull out your phone and you have a notification it schedules your thoughts
- It keeps you informed what you are supposed to be informed
- It makes you do what you don’t want to do
- It makes you feel what you don’t want to feel
Is Smartphone Addiction a Mental Disorder:
- A need to use the smartphone more and more often in order to achieve the same desired effect repeatedly.
- Continual failed attempts to use smartphone less often.
- Preoccupation with smartphone use.
- Turns to smartphone when experiencing anxiety or depression.
- Loss of sense of time.
- Has put a rapport or job at risk due to excessive smartphone use.
- Tolerance:(a) Need for newest smartphone, more applications, or increased use.
- Aggressive Withdrawal Symptoms, when smartphone or network is unreachable.
- Anger.
- Tension.
- Depression.
- Irritability.
- Restlessness.
Physical Effects of Addiction:
- Eye Strain
- Pain and discomfort for prolonged usage.
- Eyes begin to Burn and Itch.
- Blurred Vision.
- Eye Fatigue.
- Eye Strain can cause Headaches.
- Neck problems
- Also known as “Text Neck,” which refers to neck pain resulting from looking down at smartphone or tablet for too long.
- Increased illnesses due to germs
- (a) Smartphone has faecal matter on it.
- (b) Has bacteria, which can cause fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea, is found on many phones.
- (i) Causes painful abscesses.
- (ii) Life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, bloodstream, heart valves, and lungs.
- Car accidents
- (a) Multitask and using their phones while driving, casques significant impairment and puts the driver and others on the road in danger.
- (b) Research has revealed that texting and driving can be just as dangerous as drinking and driving.
After Effects of Extensive Usage of Internet / Smartphone:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Problems of Paying Attention, Excessive Activity, Difficulty in Controlling the behaviour / It may contribute to low self-esteem, troubled relationships and difficulty at school or work.
- Depression: A mental health disorder characterised by persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life.
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Is characterised by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead to compulsive behaviours. OCD often centers on themes such as a fear of germs or the need to arrange objects in a specific manner.
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Symptoms include an excessive need for admiration, disregard for others’ feelings, an inability to handle any criticism and a sense of entitlement.
- Hypochondriasis: Symptoms include a long-term and intense fear of having a serious condition and worry that minor symptoms indicate something serious. A person may frequently visit or switch doctors.
- Schizoaffective And Schizotypal Disorders: Paranoid Beliefs, Suspicion, Social withdrawal, Social isolation & Aggression.
- Body Dysmorphia: People with this disorder may frequently examine their appearance in a mirror, constantly compare their appearance with that of others and avoid social situations or photos.
- Voyeurism: Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviours, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature.
- FoMO OR Fear of Missing Out The relentless fear that something’s happening and you’re missing out. A major research by Oxford University documents how FoMO is linked to general discontent, social anxiety and stress.
- Phantom Ringing Syndrome Your brain makes you think that your phone is ringing even when it is not.
- Nomophobia Or ‘no-mobile phobia’ It’s the anxiety that arises from not having access to one’s mobile device, and ranges from an uncomfortable feeling to full-blown anxiety due to tech deprivation.
- Cybersickness People feel disoriented and nauseous from a virtual environment. It happens when our brains get tricked into motion sickness, when we are not actually moving.
- Facebook Depression It’s caused by social interaction, or its lack, especially among young people that is directly linked to the amount of time they spend on Facebook. It happens when other people post only good news about themselves—vacations, party pics, fun etc—that creates the false belief among others that everyone else is leading far happier and successful lives than you (when this may not be the case at all).
- Internet Addiction Disorder Also called ‘problematic internet use’, it happens to those who use the internet excessively and compulsively, so much that it interferes with one’s daily life.
- Online Gaming Addiction An unhealthy need to access online games. The American Psychiatric Association has given it the status of a unique disorder, similar to gambling addiction.
- Cyberchondria People obsessively check the internet for medical information, adding new anxieties to an existing tendency of hypochondria.
- The Google Effect We tend to forget a lot of things simply because our brain knows that all answers are only a few clicks away—on Google.
- Technoference Digital behaviour drags down our relationships, interrupts leisure time, conversations, family hours and intimacy in sex lives.
- Truman Show Delusion A kind of narcissistic behaviour, a feeling of being persecuted along with a sense of being very special, it happens to overly connected people, who lead a lifestyle based on reality TV and social media.
- Charge your device outside the bedroom
- Access social media from your computer instead of your Smartphone
- Keep only important tools in your home screen
- Keep your phone away during meals with friends and families
- Device Free Meetings
- Use Grey Scale mode on your Smartphone
- Use Free Apps: Screen Time on iOS and Digital Wellbeing on Android
