The Impact of Mobile Phone
A Serious Addiction Despite what some may think, smartphone addiction is a very real phenomenon. It has been found that female college students spend an average of ten hours a day on their cellphones, surfing the internet and sending 100+ messages. That’s more time than spent with friends. So what makes us so eager to play with our phones instead of engaging in real life? Experts say our brains get a hit of dopamine and serotonin – the chemicals linked to happiness – when our phones beep or ring. These are the same chemicals that give drug users their ‘high’!
Nerve Damage Smartphones don’t just affect your health on a day-to-day basis – they may also cause long term, incurable side effects. Like occipital neuralgia – a neurological condition where the nerves that run from the top of the spinal cord up through the scalp become compressed or inflamed. This condition causes symptoms similar to those you’d experience with a severe headache or migraine. Unfortunately, there is no cure for occipital neuralgia – only treatments to manage the pain which include steroid and numbing injections, yoga, massage and laying off the smartphone usage!
Anxiety & Depression Spending so much time staring at a screen can lead to anxiety and even depression as people expect constant updates and interaction from friends, and worry when these aren’t received. For every minute you’re playing Candy Crush, you’re missing out on a minute of exercise, of cooking healthy meals, of walking the dog and of real-life human interaction – all of which are important for good mental health. A study from Northwestern University revealed that the more time people spend on their phones, the more likely they are to be depressed. The average daily use for a depressed person was 68 minutes, compared to just 17 minutes for someone who has better mental health.
Stress Having a smartphone means we’re always ‘available’ – to take calls, text messages, instant messages, social media notifications and emails. The workday no longer finishes at 6pm as emails continue to push through late into the night. But research from 2012 has found that the need to immediately read and respond to every one of these incoming alerts is causing rising stress levels. The study, which looked at 100 university students, retail workers and public-sector employees, found that the stress gets so bad for some, that they actually begin to experience phantom vibrations, thinking their phone is buzzing when it isn’t!
Weight Management & Fitness Levels Have you ever got lost in the virtual escape your smartphone provides, only to return to reality minutes – or even hours – later? This is precisely why we’re spending less and less time exercising – once we’ve fit in our daily dose of phone use, there’s no time! In one study, researchers surveyed over 300 college students about their cellphone use, leisure activities and physical activity. Unsurprisingly, those who spent up to 14 hours daily on their phones were less fit than participants who only averaged about 1.5 hours of use.
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