More than 2.5 billion people use smartphones in the world today and most of them can’t imagine spending time without this device. Nowadays smartphone has become a very important part of our life. In this era of modernization we can’t live without smartphone, so its excessive use has the potential of serious harm.
Smartphone addiction has spread like an epidemic among people from all walks of life. Not only adults, this addiction has set paws in the habits of children and teenagers. Many of us spend time using the internet on our phones at night before going to sleep. The amount of physical damage is beyond our imagination. Health experts have said that being stuck on the mobile phone screen at night is very harmful to health.
What is a smartphone?
The 20-year-old Simon smartphone is currently housed in the Science Museum in London. On August 16, 1994, the world’s first smart phone was created. This phone made by technology manufacturer IBM was named Simon. A smartphone is a handheld mobile computing device.
A smart phone is a small device powered by a mobile operating system, powered by advanced and powerful hardware. Through the use of smart phones we get access to internet, multimedia, apps and software and making phone calls.
Nowadays, to keep pace with the modern world, phones are used in all areas and using this smartphone provides the same benefits as a computer. That is, all the tasks that can be done on a computer can be done normally by this mobile phone. That is, nowadays mobile phones have become so smart that it is possible to enjoy all kinds of facilities through it.
Expert opinion on mobile phone use
In August 2018, UK telecoms regulator Ofcom reported that people check their phones on average every twelve minutes. 71 percent never turn off their phones. And 40 percent of people pick up their Android phones within five minutes of waking up
Apart from this, experts also say that due to mobile phone addiction, the eyesight can decrease, the hearing power of the ears can decrease, there is damage to the bones and joints of the body. According to US researchers, mobile phones contain 10 times more bacteria than toilet seats. The used mobile phone should be cleaned regularly and we should be careful in using it.
According to Tristan Harris,
Tristan Harris worked as a design ethicist at Google. Now he runs a company called Time Well Spent, whose main mission is to inform you about how modern companies are stealing our attention and profiting from it.
Tristan Harris has some simple tips to get rid of this strong smartphone addiction. They are-
1. The very first step is to turn off all notifications. Usually, when someone wants to communicate, they do so through calls and text messages.
There are many apps that create an illusion of such social interaction. For example: if Facebook sends a notification that a friend is interested in going to an event, they are trying to play the role of a puppet master. In order to create social relationships, they increase the desire to make you use their app more.
2. The second suggestion is to turn the phone screen to black and white or ‘greyscale’. Human eyes are more sensitive to warm colors. These colors are the way to easily attract the user to the screen. Eye tracking tests have shown that bright red is the most attractive color. For this reason, most apps use bright and warm colors when redesigning their icons. The notification bubbles are red for the same reason.
This option can be found in the accessibility settings of modern phones. If all the apps are black and white, the brain will not be more attracted to any app. This is the biggest reason behind the dominance of bright colors in slot machines.
3. Only daily essential apps should be kept on the smartphone home screen. That is, after unlocking the phone, only the apps that are necessary for your life should be visible in front of your eyes. Some such apps are Uber, Maps, Calendar. These apps cannot afford to drag the user into a ‘bottomless vortex of stuff’.
How Smartphones Are Ruining Attention
Cell phones are diverting our attention from our current tasks and activities or our daily work Distraction from work due to cellphone notifications is difficult to regain. And that notification may be an advertisement, although it is not a problem in leisure time, it takes time to get back the attention if the sound of such notification rushes in the work.
Sharon Horwood, a senior professor at Deacon University School of Psychology in Australia, wrote in a CNN report, “The thing is, having the phone in front of you is enough to distract you, whether you are in ‘silent mood’ or not.”
Psychological and physical threats of smartphone overuse
Cell phone radiation can cause problems such as brain cancer, concentration, eye problems, increased stress, neurodegenerative disorders, risk of heart attacks, fertility and hearing impairment. A study by AIIMS and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) claims that mobile radiation can cause deafness.
How to protect yourself from harmful radiation
Using your cell phone for more than 50 minutes puts stress on your brain. But we kept talking on mobile for hours. So we should use headphones. Now Bluetooth headphones are also available in the market. But there are questions about how safe it is. So use wired headphones while you talk.
There are companies that have developed anti-radiation cases to protect against radiation. The exterior of these cases is synthetic and the interior is made of microfiber. These materials prevent radiation in addition to protecting your phone.
Usually, the cell phone stays in your pocket after use. But even if the mobile is not used, it emits radiation. So keeping mobile phone in pocket is not safe at all. For this reason, when you are not using the phone, it should either be kept in a bag or in your hand. Mobile should be used less in places where network signal is weak.
Physical harm of using cell phones at night
All the damage that can be caused by excessive phone use
1. People who use smartphones before going to bed at night may suffer from lack of sleep. It can cause damage to your brain and mind. This can lead to more problems, your body will become weak and your mind will not be able to work.
2. Many people get involved in social media before going to sleep. In this, the harmful blue light of the mobile phone directly hits the eyes, resulting in damage to the eye cells and pain in the eyes.
3. According to the American Macular Degeneration Association, blue light from cell phones can permanently damage the retina and cause you to go blind.
4. If you use the phone at night, you will be deprived of sleep. Mental health may deteriorate as a result. Apart from this, lack of sleep can reduce thinking power and physical strength.
5. According to the World Health Organization, cell phones emit electromagnetic radiation, which can increase the risk of certain types of cancer.
Antenna radiation
Phones emit the most radiation near the antenna. On modern phones, this antenna is located on the back of the phone. Most people use the phone with the antenna upside down. But the closer the antenna is to the head, the greater the risk.
It is believed that the cells of the body that are close to the mobile phone are more damaged, and the cells that are further away are less damaged. So keep yourself away from the phone as much as possible
Here are some ways to beat smartphone addiction
One of the causes of phone addiction is vulnerability to social media. For those who have a habit of checking Facebook or Twitter every now and then, this app called Stay Focus can help reduce your addiction. Because through this you can know how many times you open the Facebook app every day or how much time you run the account, you can know how much time is wasted.
Through this you can determine how many times to launch any app on the phone. Later the app will notify you through a notification that you intend to use the app more than the specified limit.
In this app, users can create profiles according to their needs. The 4.5 rated app can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store. However, many have raised the question, how much is it possible to overcome addiction through the thing that is addictive?
Psychiatrists believe that the process of overcoming any kind of addiction varies from person to person. As a result, it is difficult to say for sure that certain apps will work for everyone’s mobile addiction.
So what is the way to get rid of this terrible addiction? Scientists call this phone addiction ‘nomophobia’. Experts suggest some ways to overcome nomophobia. They are-
Schedule phone usage
Schedule smartphone usage. Decide how many times a day to use. First decide not to look at Android-Phone more than 20 times a day. Also, don’t use while eating and talking to people.
Not in bed with phone in hand
Before going to sleep, turn off the phone and sleep. Don’t leave the phone open thinking that there is no harm in turning off the phone while sleeping. Addiction is one of the causes of lack of sleep or insomnia. Many people set an alarm on their phone to wake up in the morning.
In most cases, users wake up, turn off the alarm and start checking their phone’s notifications To avoid such problems you can use alarm clock instead of mobile alarm.
Social media is off
Remove unnecessary apps from your Android Phone. Although social networking apps like Facebook and Twitter are useful, you can remove these apps if you want to reduce addiction. There are many other apps that waste time. Removing such apps will save your valuable time and reduce phone storage and charge.
Avoid Smart-Phone in chat
Many people are busy on their mobile phones even while chatting with family or friends. As a result, family ties become lighter. So it is better to avoid phone in these situations.
Meditation
Set aside at least 10-15 minutes a day for meditation or some other mental relaxation exercise. It’s an effective way to control your mind in any field, not just mobile addiction.
Suggestion for your purpose is that we use smartphones a lot all the time. Many people severely underestimate the amount of time they spend on this unnecessary use. Try to keep only daily essential apps on your phone. That is, after unlocking the phone, arrange to see only those apps that are essential to your life. Avoid this bad habit yourself, and keep your cell phone away as much as possible and stay healthy.
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