With the advent of the digital age, mobile phones have become one of the key partners in the daily life of people, it has become a necessity for everyone. With devices designed to make you addicted with attractive displays, sounds and visuals, and by making life easier with information accessible with a tap, phone addiction has become a major issue of the present.
Effects on Health and Well being
Nomophobia or the fear of being without a phone device has some very adverse effects on our health and wellness. To list a few issues caused by it are Stress, Anxiety, Aggravated ADD, Sleep Deficit and Psychological disorders. According to a study conducted by The American Journal of Neuroradiology, excessive use of mobile phones may result in GABA dysfunction. Some studies also point to a loss of grey matter in the brain.
GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter which lessens a nerves ability to receive,create or send chemical messages to other nerve cells. The Grey matter is a system responsible for enabling individuals to control movements, memory and emotions.
Mental Health and Phone Addiction
Addiction to phone devices has taken a toll on mental health. With a steady rise in depression and suicide among teenagers and cases of individuals experiencing anxiety when they are away from their phones, it is evident that the problem is deep rooted.
Addiction to screens has resulted in social isolation, a withdrawal from real world relationships and interactions which in turn fuels depression and loneliness. Disruptive sleep patterns caused by the blue light emitted from screens which affects the production of sleep hormones called Melatonin, responsible for the regulation of sleep, causing insomnia and poor quality sleep which adds to worsening mental health.
With continued distraction from repeated notifications and messages, the productivity is reduced which results in feelings of inadequacy and reduced self-esteem. Lessening attention and cognitive issues from lower attention span, multi-tasking and information overload from scrolling through our devices the entire time also result in poor work performance which adds to stress.
In many cases the phone acts as a medium of escapism and avoidance from life problems, using it as a coping mechanism to avoid addressing underlying issues.
FOMO or the fear of missing out and the pressure to maintain a curated online presence, keeping the social media updated and to catch up on the latest trends, keeps people hooked to their phones, not allowing them to escape.
Coming to a conclusion, addiction to phone devices is a major threat of the upcoming days. With the young generation exposed to newer and updated versions of the devices and apps specifically designed to keep them glued to their screens, creating a healthy balance becomes quite a challenging resolution. We must ensure to use our devices more wisely and with new features now being made available to check our phone usage such as the Digital Wellbeing feature introduced in android, the time one spends on the phone must be limited and the connection to the real world valued, to make the maximum benefit of this useful tool of technology and maintaining a healthy, balanced life.
