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NOMOPHOBIA
Yes! That's a real word and it means "no mobile phobia". People who suffer from this are quite unable to be more than 5 ft away from their phones and i think we all may be nomophobic.
I remember some years ago, i was home from school on vacay. I was in the bathroom washing and my sibs were in the room. I wasn't hearing a single sound coming from there so i thought they were sleeping and i went in to confirm. To my utmost surprise, they were all in the room, awake with their faces glued to their phone screens. I screamed at them to drop their phones and talk to eachother. An advice they laughed off.
We know that if you walk into any room, there's a 90% chance or more of everyone in that room using their phones. Its funny & puzzling too...
So it begs the question.
Why why why are we addicted to our phones?
I'm also as guilty as charged,But in my defence, its not the social media, Its the books in it... And maybe IG and Pinterest and Mirakee... Okayy im guilty too...
Some may say the phone is like a companion; & i may agree because Has your phone battery ever died on you before or have you been stuck at an event or something without your phone? It almost feels like you can't do anything with yourself. So our phones keep us busy and keep us from getting bored.Right?
A guy named Will Berard wrote up this article about phone addiction being related to rewards and dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with the brain's pleasure& reward pathway.
Plainly put, whatever activates this pathway will give off a feeling of pleasure, a "feel-good" feeling...
Things like food, getting a compliment, sex, recreational drugs and now phone addiction...
He classified it into 3 Rewards...
RewardOfHunt: the pleasure of getting information, learning something new.
RewardOfSelf: pleasure from being validated, liked which we feel when someone likes our picture or any comment.
RewardOfTribe: pleasure from a feeling of belonging e.g to a group or any platform(like in my case Mirakee).
These rewards can activate that pathway and then you get that dopamine rush and it makes you feel good. Your brain takes note of what made you feel like that and then you wanna do it again and again. Hence the addiction.
Well im no brain scientist or psychologist so i can't say for sure if this is correct... But it has some truth elements; which one of us hasn't been excited when our pictures/quotes get massive likes or when you learn something other people dont know.. yet?
On the other hand here are some benefits of not being addicted to our phones:
YOU STILL KNOW HOW TO HANDLE A REAL CONVERSATION: ever seen this scenario when 2 people chat excellently on the phone and then when they actually meet, its hyper-ackward and there's nothing to say? Well at least you can avoid that.
YOU WILL NEVER SUFFER TEXT NECK: "TextNeck" is some form of neck stiffness which you get from looking down at your phone a little too much... Funny right?
NO EYESIGHT DAMAGE: Well research has shown that the light from our phones have bad effects on our eyes; can cause dry eyes, blurred vision etc...
YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS NOT AT RISK: A lot of relationships suffer because the couples can't seem to leave their phones and talk to each other. You may see couples who are supposed to be chilling together, having a moment; rather they are talking to their phones.
BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT: if we ever calculate the amount of time we spend on our phones, it may be shocking to realize that we spend more time on them than we do sleeping. Thats an awful amount of time wasted.
Do something else.
Read a book or write one, hang out with friends, play a game(non-virtual), go for a walk... The world is for you to see; dont waste it on a virtual life.
I personally dont think there's anything wrong with loving your phone and pressing it a lot and wanting to be with it all the time...
I mean its yours..
But lets all make sure its not ruining things like our real relationships, friendships, neck muscles, eyes and fingers.
Its okayy to put the phone down for a while and get back to the real world.
Maybe just maybe, our phones may breath a sigh of relief.
Also Read...
Technology what have you done
I remember some years ago, i was home from school on vacay. I was in the bathroom washing and my sibs were in the room. I wasn't hearing a single sound coming from there so i thought they were sleeping and i went in to confirm. To my utmost surprise, they were all in the room, awake with their faces glued to their phone screens. I screamed at them to drop their phones and talk to eachother. An advice they laughed off.
We know that if you walk into any room, there's a 90% chance or more of everyone in that room using their phones. Its funny & puzzling too...
So it begs the question.
Why why why are we addicted to our phones?
I'm also as guilty as charged,But in my defence, its not the social media, Its the books in it... And maybe IG and Pinterest and Mirakee... Okayy im guilty too...
Some may say the phone is like a companion; & i may agree because Has your phone battery ever died on you before or have you been stuck at an event or something without your phone? It almost feels like you can't do anything with yourself. So our phones keep us busy and keep us from getting bored.Right?
Plainly put, whatever activates this pathway will give off a feeling of pleasure, a "feel-good" feeling...
Things like food, getting a compliment, sex, recreational drugs and now phone addiction...
He classified it into 3 Rewards...
RewardOfHunt: the pleasure of getting information, learning something new.
RewardOfSelf: pleasure from being validated, liked which we feel when someone likes our picture or any comment.
RewardOfTribe: pleasure from a feeling of belonging e.g to a group or any platform(like in my case Mirakee).
These rewards can activate that pathway and then you get that dopamine rush and it makes you feel good. Your brain takes note of what made you feel like that and then you wanna do it again and again. Hence the addiction.
Well im no brain scientist or psychologist so i can't say for sure if this is correct... But it has some truth elements; which one of us hasn't been excited when our pictures/quotes get massive likes or when you learn something other people dont know.. yet?
On the other hand here are some benefits of not being addicted to our phones:
YOU STILL KNOW HOW TO HANDLE A REAL CONVERSATION: ever seen this scenario when 2 people chat excellently on the phone and then when they actually meet, its hyper-ackward and there's nothing to say? Well at least you can avoid that.
YOU WILL NEVER SUFFER TEXT NECK: "TextNeck" is some form of neck stiffness which you get from looking down at your phone a little too much... Funny right?
NO EYESIGHT DAMAGE: Well research has shown that the light from our phones have bad effects on our eyes; can cause dry eyes, blurred vision etc...
YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS NOT AT RISK: A lot of relationships suffer because the couples can't seem to leave their phones and talk to each other. You may see couples who are supposed to be chilling together, having a moment; rather they are talking to their phones.
BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT: if we ever calculate the amount of time we spend on our phones, it may be shocking to realize that we spend more time on them than we do sleeping. Thats an awful amount of time wasted.
Do something else.
Read a book or write one, hang out with friends, play a game(non-virtual), go for a walk... The world is for you to see; dont waste it on a virtual life.
I personally dont think there's anything wrong with loving your phone and pressing it a lot and wanting to be with it all the time...
I mean its yours..
But lets all make sure its not ruining things like our real relationships, friendships, neck muscles, eyes and fingers.
Its okayy to put the phone down for a while and get back to the real world.
Maybe just maybe, our phones may breath a sigh of relief.
Also Read...
Technology what have you done
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