There was time when people used to have long journeys in order to get the whereabouts of their friends and relatives living in far off places. Now the time has changed and so are the people. With the fast moving technology, people have become more like machines, that is, without feelings and sentiments. Harsh but this is the reality of the current generation who choose to ignore relatives and friends at social gathering and rather find solace in their smartphones. What an irony? Man invented the smartphone to make our lives easier, simpler and hassle-free but it also brought with it the curse of spoiling the special moments we could have created with our closed ones.
Travel by any means and you will see groups of people with their heads down trying to concentrate fully on their smartphones and trying to disconnect themselves from their surroundings completely.
Phubbing
Nowadays, Internet addiction has taken a wholly new level and has become so popular that people with Shakespearean brain have christened it with “Phubbing”. This term was invented during a campaign carried out by Macquarie Dictionary, which illustrates how people habitually start snubbing the people around them in favor of a cell phone. This behavior of people is proliferated because of the increasing inclination towards Internet and smartphones.
Varoth Chotpitayasunondh from the University of Kent, Britain, expressed his views, “This experience of phubbing and of being phubbed themselves made people more likely to think that phubbing was ‘normal’ behavior.”
The fear of being left out or lack of self-confidence has given rise to the Internet addiction, which in turn is converting the people into smartphone addicts. The scenario has worsened to an extent that people have started losing their temper if something happened to their mobile phones and behave like something precious has been taken away from them.
Depression
Another negative effect that technology is having on the mobile addicts is depression. A recent study has revealed that regular addiction to – not simple usage of – smartphones and Internet has resulted in giving rise to anxiety and depression among the teenagers. However, the interesting fact is that those who use mobiles and smartphones simply to fight boredom are not affected at all and neither have they faced any negative mental health outcome. According to the researchers, people have long history of fearing from new technologies that are released in the society and this fear generally develops with video games, televisions and very recently, mobile phones. The research stated that those people who are more addicted towards the smartphones and Internet score much higher on anxiety and depression side.
Those with iPhones are more likely for such addiction as Apple products have that charm that you can’t leave your iPhone away for long. If not chatting, these people keep on looking for iPhone accessories online, such as iPhone tempered glass, case covers, Apple earphones, etc. What an addiction!
Symptoms
Well, the above facts for sure would have sent chill down your spine. Let’s check out the symptoms to see if you are an addict to smartphone or a league apart:
- An urge to use handset as frequently as possible to experience the same desired effect
- Failure in an attempt to use the smartphone seldom
- Always engrossed in mobile phones or keep on checking for messages or calls
- Switch to smartphone in case of depression or anxiety to overcome the uneasiness
- No sense of time when using smartphone
- To put job or a relationship at stake due to excessive smartphone usage
- Less tolerance power and increasing urge for latest handsets, more use and new applications
- Uneasiness, anger, irritation, tension, anxiety and depression when the network is unavailable or the Internet speed is low.
So if you or any of your loved one is facing these issues, then it is the time to take precaution and start taking the measures to cure this addiction before it’s too late to get rid of!
