How many times you have unlocked your phone to check the notifications and ended up browsing the social media posts for one hour ? well, you are not the only one. It’s a well-known fact that most of us check our phones a minimum of 150 times a day.
It is estimated that roughly one-third of the global population uses social media and about 210 million people suffer from internet and social media addiction. Apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Whatsapp are stealing a large chunk of our time which could be spent on things that make us more productive. Technology was supposed to make our lives easier and happier. Technology is also a way of bringing all of us closer. Instead, it seems to be making us hopelessly distracted and driving us apart. We are spending too much time on our screens, affecting our work, health and relationships. The pandemic and the lockdown period have only increased our addiction to the screens.
If the first thing you do in the morning is checking your phone for any notification, it is a sign that you have a slight social media addiction. In the daytime, during the online classes, you may be checking the social media feeds constantly. The frequency of which increases if you have posted something on Facebook or uploaded a photo to Instagram. You want to see how people react to your story. The primary reason for all this is that we all want to grab attention. You might have observed that if you talk about something controversial on social media, it goes viral.
Social media is addictive in a certain sense of the word. The companies that run today’s most successful social networking apps and websites are always working hard on growing the number of people they can bring onto their platforms. This will undoubtedly increase the amount of time a person spends on their platform. The more time a person consumes, the more ads he will watch, eventually growing profit for the brands.
While social media seems to be relaxing and fun, it has a significant effect on your brain.
Whenever you log on to your favourite apps, the signals of the neurotransmitters in your brain associated with pleasure called dopamine increase; once you complete browsing, the brain identifies this as a rewarding activity, and you are tempted to repeat it. These positive feelings are only temporary, as any behavioural addiction. Hence, it will take more of that stimulus to activate the same level of dopamine, and addiction persists. This affects your emotional, behavioural, and psychological well-being.
In a study conducted in 2018, it was found that teenagers (especially students) who spend 5 hours daily using their phones were almost twice as likely to exhibit depressive symptoms than counterparts who dedicated only 1 hour to their phones.
Another interesting observation of the study is that the relationship between excessive mobile use and depression appears strongly linked to gender, with 58% more females than males experiencing depressive symptoms.
Some people use their smartphones while driving even though it is dangerous and punishable under the law, like drunk driving. People who type a lot on mobile phones suffer from Blackberry thumb.
In one of the Ted talks, Professor Adam Alter explains the impact of some of our daily apps. Apps used for relaxation, exercise, education and health make people feel good, and on average, a person spends nine minutes a day on these apps. On the other hand, apps used for dating, social networking, gaming, entertainment, and news make people less happy, but they spend twenty-seven minutes (three times) on them. Adam explains that the reason for this seemingly confusing observation is the lack of stopping cues. A stopping cue is a signal to move on or start something different. It is like finishing reading a newspaper or watching one episode of your favourite TV show. Once that is completed, we can do something else. But in the world of the internet and social media, there are no such cues. Everything keeps going on and that's why a five-minute notification check ends in an hour of browsing.
Once you are addicted to social media, it requires a lot of effort to free yourself from its clutches. You will experience increasing loneliness and depression, anxiety, stress and even sleep disorders. Some people suffer from FOMO, which is a fear of missing out. This is a compelling act because one frequently checks the smartphone, fearing that he may not be up to date with everything that is happening out there.
There are many ways to overcome this internet addiction. Some of them may require a lot of effort. Digital detox is something that one can practise at home.
If you are obsessively using your smartphone, one way to detox would be to schedule time intervals to check your phone. For example, try to check your phone only every 30 minutes or 45 minutes.
Keep your phone away during mealtimes. That is the time we spend with our family, and you should be concentrating on food, so keep the phone in a different room.
Many applications are available to track your smartphone usage; for example, I have a lock screen on my phone, and whenever I pick up the phone, it shows the number of times I have unlocked my phone. Some applications block social media sites for a scheduled period.
When you go to bed, put the phone in Airplane mode. It is ideal to stop looking at a screen one hour before bedtime; it may not be possible since nowadays we are dependent on our digital devices for studies. Do not use your phone as an alarm clock; instead, buy a small alarm clock. If you still have the urge to check the phone when you get up during the night, keep the phone in another room.
If you find yourself responding to every text alert, email, or notification from your social media apps, it is better to shut off the notifications in your phone settings. This will prevent you from the urge to respond to every noise it makes. The ‘do not disturb’ function in your phone can be turned on when studying.
Technology is a powerful learning tool. We all have reaped the benefits of online learning during the pandemic. Many things which seemed to be impossible twenty years ago are now possible only with the help of internet-ready devices. When used well, technology can help improve education for students, parents, and teachers.