Last Updated on 2022-07-26 , 2:05 pm
Have you heard of nomophobia?
No, it has nothing to do with food. Or the fear thereof.
It’s the colloquial term used for Smartphone Addiction Disorder.
In any case, the cure hasn’t been prescribed beyond limiting the patient’s use of smartphones, or keeping them busy with people if they are wee tots whose parents can enforce the rule.
So what is this Smartphone Disorder?
Defining Nomophobia and Its Consequences
Nomophobia is actually its unofficial name.
All of us millennials probably suffered it at some point in time. It’s the excessive use of your smartphone for games, online chatting or social media, and neglecting your interactions with people around you in real life.
Excessive flipping through WhatsApp, emails or apps.
Doing anything but nothing while waiting in line for food or the bus.
Dogging your Instagram like a daily gossip diary.
Being antisocial in essence.
The consequences are dire:
Relationships suffer:
Young couples playing their smartphones instead of interacting with each other. Families whose parents glue their eyes to screens and not their children in restaurants.
Information Overload:
A pretty obvious and common consequence of spending beyond 12 hours on the handheld screen. Seeing too many ads, moving pixels.
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Compulsions:
It comes in whatever forms, like excessive online shopping, gambling etc. Taobao can be quite addictive due to its cheap prices.
Online Sex Abuse, Scams:
Not to mention, these are common.
Loneliness, Depression:
By far the most common consequence young people suffer. Let’s face it: the Digital Age has brought many enhancements, but also much cause for concern.
The effects of excessive handphone use are a constant loop:
Lonely, surf net, lonely, touch screen, bored, Facebook, sad, see cat video, bored, Instagram, lonely, on repeat.
The end result is loneliness and/or depressed states. The list goes on.
Symptoms and Cures
Tiredness. Headaches. Poor focus and blurred vision are some of the symptoms you might’ve experienced.
A fast-beating heart, sometimes, deep anxiety that results in me reaching for my phone time and time again. Sometimes I’d feel an urgent need to reply to phantom messages online before returning to my task at hand. All these are common symptoms of excessive phone-time.
How To Deal With It?
Online self-help sites recommend therapy and counselling, which was what Jurong West Secondary School’s counsellor did for his young charges when he found those kids attacking their parents over confiscating phones.
But let me confess, the cure is both easier and harder than you think. It requires you to first acknowledge that you have said problem of addiction, then work to overcome it.
My own therapies include going out for long cycling sessions or long walks without my phone. It is secured deep in the drawer. I take deep breaths, feel Nature replenish me with her powers of rejuvenation, and strengthen my limbs in the process.
I turn to people. Force myself to interact even as I deal with constant social anxiety (yes I do have people-fear). I find those khakis I am comfortable being around.
Studies have shown that a healthy social circle or even just talking to the kopitiam uncle you buy your kopi from makes a world of difference in having a depressed or carefree day.
So yes, put your smartphone behind, and go enjoy some me-time with nature or your khakis. Reestablish connection with the real world.
You need it, after all.
Featured Image: mae_chaba / Shutterstock.com
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