The mobile is an integral part of our daily lives. The phone connects us to any person or service in seconds. It has simplified our lives greatly. People depend to a great extent on their phone to do most of their work like banking, business, marketing, shopping etc. It has reduced travel and time to accomplish task and work. It’s a wonder gadget. While the mobile helps us at work it also provides us with a lot of entertainment and unnecessary information. Due to advancements in technology the mobile can do things that we could only imagine in sci-fi movies.
People spend more time on Facebook and less time face to face. People are spending more time on their phones and social media. Watching movies and serials. Believing the reel life to be the real life.
People are posting nice happy poses and pictures on social media. They pause and break the natural flow of their interactions with people just to click photos which affects the quality of their interactions. Other people who see these images and stories begin to believe that the people in the pictures are having a perfect life and that their own life is miserable. They feel bad about their lives and wish they too had the life that they see in the photos. They believe in the lies of the reel world and feel unhappy about their lives thereby becoming unhappy and feeling dissatisfied with an already normal and healthy lifestyle.
People are far more disconnected emotionally with their loved ones. The are less emotionally invested in their real relationships. Spending less time interacting with loved ones drives the wedge deeper and the relationships become distant. Even though they live side by side their hearts and minds are miles apart.
Reduced person to person interaction causes people to ignore real issues and focus on urgent problems. They focus on the petty issues of the moment and ignore the real issues. People are more focused on the short term gains and totally ignore the long term pains which will follow. They only wake up to the issue when they face the serious consequences of ignoring the investment in relationships that had to be done in the past. The negligence due to spending too much time with their gadgets causes great damage to their relationships.
Spending too much time with the computer, phone apps and games that are quick paced, makes their reflexes fast and quick but at the same time it reduces their ability to concentrate on task that require prolonged time of focus. It results in reduced attention span. Students experiencing shorter attention spans and find it difficult to focus on long answers and stay focused in classroom teaching.
Spending more time alone absorbed in the company of their gadget they tend to become more self centered. Since they have considerable reduction in social activity they rarely consider people as real people, with real feelings. They feel disconnected and alienated. This further drives them away from social interaction and more absorbed in their virtual world.
The digital world is filled with fast actions and quick results. Everything happens very fast. This reinforces the Instant gratification network in the brain. When they play computer/mobile games or post on social media they get quick recognition for their efforts and skills at posting and playing the games of rewards and likes. This triggers the – Dopamine network in the brain. Every time a like appears or they win a game, instantly the brain releases a dopamine shot. This makes them feel happy. It motivates them to post more and play more. In the process they get addicted to social media and games. The more time they are with their games and social media the more they are away from real people and the real world. They loose touch with real life.
The speed of the digital world is far too rapid and the consequences are far too mild as compared to the real world. People die and kill in the virtual world and there are no drastic consequences. The apply the same action and consequences model to the real world, which is really dangerous.
They develop Restlessness and Impatience. It’s difficult for them to wait and exhibit patience in the real world. They become emotionally unstable far quicker. They find it difficult to persevere when the going gets tough and they quit far too quickly thereby loosing out on their efforts.
Deep thinking and reasoning ability is reduced. Fast thinking is greatly increased and the person can react to situations quickly but the Deep thinking is greatly harmed or underdeveloped causing the person to undertake quick and rash decisions without giving a serious thought to the long term consequences. The results of these impulsive actions can have mild to severe or even serious consequences. For example riding a bike at high speeds in narrow lanes. Due to quick reflexes he can maneuver quickly but a slight error can have disastrous consequences. Due to reduced deep thinking the person is not aware of the dangers or long term consequences of their rash and impulsive actions for themselves and for others.
They want money, love and things very quickly and easily without much effort. When these things don’t happen as expected they feel depressed, resentful and angry. Wanting quick happiness and pleasure they easily fall prey to intoxicants and narcotics. This is a path to self destruction.
Not being in touch with the real world they also become distant from social values and morals. This increases the possibilities to indulge in online anti-social activities. They find joy in harming people and getting even with those who hurt them in the real world by indulging in cyber shamming, online thefts and frauds.
Spending too much time online increases and aggravates underlying psychological and psychiatric conditions. Depression increases spending too much time alone with the phone or computer and not interacting with people in flesh and blood.
Development of health problems due to increased sedentary life which is filled with dopamine from gadgets but not from physical and outdoor activities like outdoor games and exercise. The lack of physical activity causes heart, bones, joints, digestion and a huge list of physical and mental diseases.
The hard fact is that electronic gadgets are here to stay. We will find it hard to live without the comforts of these gadgets so developing a healthy balance is critical to living a happy healthy life. Learn to recognize this balance and discipline yourself to respect the balance.
Homeopathy combined with counseling has proven time and again to be extremely effective in overcoming mobile addiction.
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Dr. Alfred D'Silva 
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