Smartphone is one of the greatest invention of science and technology . Like every other technology it has its own merits and limitations . Utilisation of smartphone accurately can really make us smart , enables us to explore and share our new innovative ideas ,helps us to gain knowledge , helps us to connect and make network with same minded people. But problem starts when we start depending on technology, it starts controlling us .
The greatest challenges faced by today’s generation is social isolation, individualistic society, loss of face to face conversation. There is an increased lack of interaction between individuals and society as communications are just done by the message on the phone. The face-to-face conversation would no more happen and the offline real-life friends are slowly diminishing.
* Smartphone and cognition:-
Heavy use of smartphones, internet, and social media can have damaging effects on our neural processing, cognitive performance, and behavior. People who use many social media platforms feel increased anxiety and depression, hyperactivity , impulsivity etc. Smartphone enhances knowledge quantitatively but reduces focus on qualitative exploration of cognitive skills. It reduces centre of focus on a particular topic .
For example when we search meaning of a particular word from Google , it shows lots of related topics simultaneously that’s may be the cause of distraction. Use of dictionary has almost diminished in this era of living .
*Are smartphones actually making us smart ? I think the answer is yes, ofcurs science and technology has advanced because of the human welfare – but only if one knows the effective utilisation of their cell phone .You are in control of your smartphone. It does not control you! YOU ARE THE SMART ONE!
*So let’s set our own rules because we need to live with smartphones the rest of our life :-
#Quality life :-Always remember a real life friend who helped us in need is always more important than social media or friends book follower . Priority must be given to quality time with quality friends.
# Enjoy your food:– Psychological factors are important for digestion and maintenance of good food habbit. Concentrate on the food and avoid cell phone distraction.
# Family is important:– Give time to family as it can make us feel guilty when it’s too late. Warmth, attachment, physical proximity is more important than chatting on phone with those who are not physically present.
#Sleep enough:–Good sleep is required for healthy living. Using cell phone before sleeping may destroy our deep sleep. Mobile phone use at bedtime may reduce sleep duration and lower sleep quality results insomnia .We need deep sleep to detoxify our brain.
#Event Reminder – Sometimes smartphone provides negative impact on our ability to think, remember, pay attention, and regulate emotion. Even in the old days people could remember phone numbers, important events , but now we rely on phone for life events reminder notification, we may try to remember some essential phone numbers of family and important life events.
#Restrict rules and regulations:-It is often seen that many family gives Android phones to their child to keep them engaged with games or videos. But A smartphone is not a toy; it should not be given in hands of young children.
# A Sunday outing:-Keep the cell phone switch off for a whole day , spent time with yourself,give full attention to travel,food ,fun. Let’s Spend a technology free day.
#Turn off notifications:- It helps to keep away with distraction when we are doing any work .
#Driving:- Driving is a very crucial work , using cell phone while driving is equally harmful and dangerous as drinking & driving. So, cell phones must not be entertained during driving.
#Bathroom:- Nowadays every private work includes cell phone specially among teen-agers , keeping cell phone away for sometime will reduce dependency on material thing.
#A friend in mask :-Social media contains many such friends who lives in dual personality .So privacy must be maintained, blocking the person immediately.
#Virtual world :– A boundary must be maintained in between real and virtual world of cell phone technology. Certain virtual games like PUBG induces adrenaline rush that causes violence, self harm, and accident-prone attitude ,morever child may forget real-virtual world differences.
# Fix limitations :- Let us fix limitations on call time , number of hours spent in mobile phone per day, restrict usage of messaging, restrictions on some inappropriate apps, games , videos etc.
#Ethical use of social media sites:- Avoid posting mean comments, spreading gossip, forwarding embarrassing photos, via technology is unacceptable. A beautiful relation of friendship can be ended because of cyber bullying .
#Charity out of compassion:- Help people in need , people in phone often neglect someone Infront who is in need for help.
# Catharsize /sublimation:— Use smartphone and social media site to share great and innovative ideas.
#Fixing own standards :- Many child feels inferior because they do not get smartphone like their friends at an early age, parents may try make them understand that there is right time , right age for everything that enables one to utilize it in an accurate way.
Human beings are social creature , so socialization is one of our basic need . Building a social platform where people will talk to each other and be with family , sing , dance and celebrate life not for uploading videos on social media but to really enjoy life , being in the very real world just like the old days with no cell phones and technologies ,can sometimes makes us feel better. Our full presence is the greatest gift we can give someone in the age of technology and distraction.
Author, Angana Nandy – I am a student of psychology , my belief is that knowledge is learnt to share and writing is a beautiful platform to share and express my views and perspectives about the world.
