Smartphone Addiction

Good morning my read.cash family. Lately I have been interacting not so much on this platform even though I still read and comment on at least thirty articles daily. A lot of you might have wonder why, thinking maybe I probably gave up, but that's not the case. I have really been busy, added to the power issues we have been having in my area, this has been the reason for my reduced activeness as well as missing to post articles daily.

This has been compounded by the damage done to my phone yesterday where I went to charge it, consequently I might take a leave from the platform or be minimally active as I can not afford the repair right now ( or anytime soon if I am to be honest ). Hope you guys won't miss me much, whichever it comes to?

Let me not bore you further tho; to the business of the day. Have you ever being in a situation where you are really hungry and there's nothing to eat? You definitely did everything in your power to get food and when that failed, you must have done something unconventional or even illegal like stealing just to satisfy that hunger. Why? Survival; self-preservation. You needed it to preserve your life. Now, have you ever been in a situation where your phone was down and you couldn't get a place to charge despite doing everything in your power?

We all probably have. While some would probably just give up, others would do unconventional things like enter the room of that neighbor they have been avoiding, or go to the house of that boy ( some people will understand😂 ) because he has generator. Why? Because they somehow feel feel their phone is important to their survival.

The truth is, the phone is not that important. What we are seeing here is what I will be calling smartphone addiction. You might ask, is that really a thing? Yes, smartphone addiction is really a thing and it is more common than you can possibly think; you probably have it too. To fully get this concept, let's break it down;

Addiction

According to https://www.healthline.com/health/addiction#types, "An addiction is a chronic dysfunction of the brain system that involves reward, motivation, and memory. It’s about the way your body craves a substance or behavior, especially if it causes a compulsive or obsessive pursuit of “reward” and lack of concern over consequences". While The American Society of Addiction Medicine defines addiction as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual's life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.”

Smartphone Addiction

Smartphone addiction refers to the obsessive usage of a smartphone. This is also known as nomophobia; the fear of being without a mobile phone. This obsessive usage derives from the constant improvement of the capabilities and functionality of smartphone. As smartphone are being upgraded to take over the job and task of different other things in our everyday living, our department on it increases everyday. A critical look will reveal that smartphones are basically designed to be constantly used by the owners and this would be fine if it didn't cause any harm, but it does, hence they are almost inherently addictive.

Signs And Symptoms

According to https://www.psychguides.com/behavioral-disorders/cell-phone-addiction/signs-and-symptoms/ , the signs and symptoms of smartphone addiction includeusage constant need to use a smartphone more frequently

2. The loss of awareness of time due to phone usage

3. An insatiable desire for the newest phone, software, application and utilization

4. Any effort made to limit the usage of smartphone usually fails

5. Preoccupation with smartphone use.

6. Withdrawal, when cell phone or network is unreachable, demonstrated in forms of:

Anger.

Tension.

Depression.

Irritability.

Restlessness.

7. During time of negative feelings, they resort to using or spending time with their phone.

Effects of Smartphone Addiction

According to https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/phone-addiction/

Phone addiction can lead to:

Sleep deficit

Lower concentration

Creativity blocks

Aggravated ADD

Anxiety

Reduced cognition

Stress

Loneliness

Insecurity

Impaired relationships

Poor grades

Psychological disorders

An honest assessment of our phone habits will show that majority of us have smartphone addiction to varying degrees. Please for the sake of all things good, check it. I will be writing another article on how to check and control it.

Thanks for reading..

Thank you to all my readers, commenters, upvoters, subscribers and sponsors. I really appreciate you guys