Adverse Effects of Smartphone Addiction

Today, as the world progresses, the inevitable dominance of technology has taken over almost every aspect of our lives. Unfortunately, relationships are replaced by virtual ones, leisure time is spent while scrolling, and you no longer need drugs to escape from reality. Instead of shutting your eyes and empowering smartphones to rule our lives, it would be wiser to embrace this revolution, let it infuse in your daily routine, and exploit its power to enhance your life.

What is smartphone addiction?

Smartphones are a prominent example of a tool that empowers you to utilize this wave of automation. Now the ball lies in your court that either you avail this opportunity or blow it. Blowing it indicates that you are addicted to extensive and unproductive use of a smartphone, which leads to time wastage and energy drainage.

Every morning when you wake up, if you check your phone before even greeting morning to your spouse, then you are in a problem. As Larry Rosen, psychology professor and author of The Distracted Mind, pointed out:

Most people check their phone every 15 minutes or less, even if they have no alerts or notifications. We've built up this layer of anxiety surrounding our use of technology, that if we don't check in as often as we think we should, we're missing out.

On top of this, this obsession rises every time dopamine kicks in. In a 2012 study, Harvard research scientists reported that talking about oneself through social media activates a pleasure sensation in the brain usually associated with food, money, and sex.

This wild craving for smartphones can cause a variety of adverse effects:

Short attention span:

Microsoft Corp. carried research on the evolution of the human brain. While highlighting the impacts of extensive internet exposure on the brain, they concluded that over the years, our average attention span has fallen from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. "Heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli — they're more easily distracted by multiple streams of media," the report stated.

As a result, most of the tasks that demand our pure attention get compromised. Students are no longer able to concentrate in lecture halls. Even friends are staring at the phone while one of them speaks, and we no longer ponder over our thoughts when alone. Complicated tasks such as the dissertation structure seem more complex when you have a poor attention span. Compassionate friendships are not there anymore.

Moreover, those quiet moments that are crucial for self-growth and creativity are now occupied by persistent push notifications.

Fragile Relations:

Our natural craving for healthy relationships has got replaced by a desire for virtual connections. This notion might portray real-life relationships less critical as compared to the ones we have online. We all have caught a glimpse of friends sitting together and staring at their smartphones.

Moreover, kids these days prefer an hour with a mobile device instead of an outdoor game with their friends. Sadly, social media is impacting our relationships in some unimaginable ways.

With materialism controlling our world, bragging about almost everything has become a routine work. Social media has promoted desperation for attention among the millennials. Because of this, the desire to do something for your friend or your spouse has got replaced by this obsession that makes you post everything online. Thus, we people plan trips with friends or surprise our spouses just to put it up online so that we can grab some likes and followers. Our entire focus is on seeking everyone's attention and impressing our virtual friends.

Without even realizing it, we have compromised our real-world relationships. That overwhelming feeling of fullness is not there anymore. Thanks to dating apps, we have also lost the ability to strengthen our bonds. We have started to believe that a content relation can be developed by swiping right.

Look, the thing is you cannot fall in love with someone or form a deep and meaningful relationship overnight. It demands consistency, sticking to your commitment, and practising those little things daily that matter. 

Impatience

Today, nearly everything we want is just a few taps away. Anything you would like to have, go on Amazon, a couple of taps, and boom! It's at your door. Despite its perks, this swiftness has certain serious drawbacks as well. It has moulded an already impatient human being to be more restless.

Simon Sinek, a famous motivational speaker, explains that we have become so fond of instant gratification that we have this idea of discovering a healthy relationship or a satisfying job. Whereas it's not about discovering a thing, it's about summiting a mountain. It's about the feeling you get on that summit. Contentment we are looking for requires hard work, help and it takes time.

Mental health risks

Consequential to the above-discussed issues, mental health problems caused by smartphones are of grave concern. One might fall into the illusion of being delighted and satisfied because of being online. However, issues like anxiety and depression are commonly found among social media users.

Undoubtedly, most of us only post the highs of our lives on social media. Lows are exhibited only among close friends or family members. This dilemma initiates a depressing wave. As your audience on social media is
only exposed to a brighter side of your life. Consequently, in the subconscious, they start comparing their life with yours. But as they are only considering the booming moments of your life as compared to the highs and lows of their lives, they end up in despair and self-hatred.

As we often hear: "Too much of anything is bad." Same is the case with the usage of smartphones. Excessive consumption of online content, mainly social media, might give rise to stress or cause energy drainage.

Final thoughts

I believe it's time that we realize the adverse repercussions of free utilization of smartphones. And we must take a step back and revamp our
smartphone use and place certain limit checks in our lives. This unfaltering
obsession has to end!