At the beginning of October, something unusual happened worldwide on social networks: WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram were without signal. It was more than 6 hours of worldwide suffering. I can tell you that I found out about the signal loss because my son told me about it. And you may wonder why I didn't find out personally, I will tell you why I didn't find out personally when the social networks went down. First I want to say something that stood out in the behaviour of the people who were close to me and what I could see later in some of the content.
At home, during those six hours, there was an exaggerated feeling of anxiety, including tachycardia, on the part of some adult family members. Yes, I am not exaggerating, and I might add that this altered emotional state also provoked headaches and an upset stomach. And also to my neighbors and their teenage children. Several days later I was able to read some content from my computer that the symptoms of the technological failure or crash were the same worldwide. Thousands of people expressed the same obsessive thoughts about not being able to communicate for those six hours. Everyone was in a nomophobic state for six hours!... to die. For those of you who don't know the term "nomophobia", I'll tell you in simple terms what the irrational fear of being without a mobile phone, not being able to see any notifications, messages, social networks or not being able to get into apps or games is - living proof that we are in a world dependent on technology. With the pandemic and health confinement, the use of mobile phones for all activities in our lives has increased. Even the number of people searching for partners online has increased. Thank God, the traditional way of "making" a baby and bringing it into the world is still alive and well because can you imagine, an online baby!
But to what extent have we fallen into a nomophobic state? Well, I can tell you that if you constantly give immoderate use to your mobile phone, or in other words, if once you have finished with your daily routine, either your work activities, or if you are a student, you have finished with your academic duties, you have had several conversations with family and friends and you still have an overwhelming need to check your mobile phone at every moment of the day and night, I can tell you that you could be in a kind of addiction to technology. Welcome to the world of nomophobia.
Nomophobia is not a disease, it's a symptom. It is an irrational fear you feel of not being able to communicate or interact in other activities or with other people through your mobile phone. Fear is an obvious symptom of your addiction.
As with all addictions, there are always levels of persistence to the addiction, and only by seeing an addiction specialist can you determine your level of addiction and then your personal treatment, although I will tell you that you can also manage to eliminate or lower your level of addiction to the mobile phone if you have a lot of willpower. It all depends on what your level of addiction is and if that addiction is causing you any other problems in your life on a personal and family level.
Now, going back to the question of why I didn't find out when the system failed for six hours of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, I will tell you the following, and my sister @gertu13 is a faithful witness that what I have said is true. For the last two years or more, my mobile phone, because it is a very old technology, no longer accepts WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram applications. I can only use it for text messages. It doesn't even work for making calls because it has a lot of interference and calls are dropped without being able to talk. I have tried to scrape together the dollars to buy a better technology to reconnect to the world of social networking but I have always had to divert the money to other higher priority causes such as food and medicine.
It is now three months since I started writing for read.cash that I have been able to keep up a pace of saving in dollars, so that I can finally buy a mobile phone. I think I can have a new mobile phone by November, God willing. That's why I didn't hear about the downfall of the social networking system. I am not addicted to the mobile phone, I have overcome this addiction for three years without a new mobile phone. But be careful, when I buy it I can't guarantee that I won't fall into the nomophobic world... hahaha... I am planning to dabble in other platforms like noise.cash. and in games, which can generate cryptocurrency income for me. So I don't know how I will be further ahead with my new cellphone in relation to nomophobia. What do you think?
The computer I use nowadays, how old is it?...very old too, I think it dates back to the time when man first stepped on the moon, to give you an idea of how old it might be.... But that's another story, which I'll tell you someday... I'll just tell you that it's quite an odyssey to write and communicate with you. I have overcome many barriers, but it is worth the perseverance and perseverance in being with you. I am grateful as always to be on read.cash.
To finish for today... what can you tell me about technology addiction, are you nomophobic?
Pictures from Unsplash.com
hopefully you'll get that phone soon...