VINOD CHANDRASHEKHAR DIXIT
While smart phones have enhanced our lives, excessive usage is dangerous. Often, the excessive use is symptomatic of other
underlying problems in that person's life. The effects of excessive use of smartphones are raising serious concerns among
health and educational authorities due to negative effects of such use in children and adolescents.
Today, parents of teens know that technology brings special challenges. For some parents, the rapid changes in technology
may be a bit of a mystery. The majority of teens, 95%, have access to a smartphone, and these devices have seemingly
limitless ways to connect, including messaging apps, internet connectivity, social media, and games. Smart phones are
enormously useful, but sometimes their allure can prove too strong. We feel compelled to respond to them, even if it means
ignoring the people we're with.
They wake us in the night, interrupting our sleep. We feel anxious or naked when they are not there. For some users,
there is no life without a mobile phone. They take it wherever they go, including the morning or evening constitutional.
During a train or bus journey, one encounters chatters of various phone users. Ringing tones, with options such as the call
of a cuckoo or the cry of a baby, and other bizarre tones, could be very disturbing. No more do teens come home and talk
to parents about their teenage problems! They are too busy either texting or chatting with their friends or groups or
community.
Husband and wife sit across the sofa in the drawing room, each lost in their own world of online activity on the mobile
platform. They interrupt our work and our play. Are we obsessed with these miraculous devices? Is it compulsion that causes
us to prioritize our phones above other things? Is there such a thing as smart phone addiction? In recent years, smartphones
evolved to be multitasking and have displaced electronic devices such as a computer, camera, and many others which have
made us to use them more often .
Excessive use of such technologies may put one at the risk of adverse effects such as isolation and feeling of loneliness,
decreased interpersonal relationships, and social interactions in them.
Pediatricians and health care professionals should be aware of the potential risks related to inappropriate use of
smartphones. They should monitor, in cooperation with parents, possible associated adverse effects, in order to early
recognize signs and symptoms suggestive, or at high risk, for addiction.
Another concern associated with smartphones is adult content. Most youth see internet pornography sometime during their
childhood or play video games with adult content. So it is important to speak early with children about adult content on the
smartphone. Smart phones really are addictive and the more you use one, the worse it gets, a new study has revealed.
Moodiness, loneliness and jealousy are all key indicators of smart phone addiction, along with an obsession with physical
appearance. There is no question that smart phones have changed the way the world interacts with one another but don't we
think that it should be now made compulsory that anyone selling smart phones should warn customers of their potentially
addictive properties.
The smartphone, unlike a diary, has many risks that parents need to feel empowered to help teens manage. The Government
should also embark on an awareness drive aimed at educating the public on the main symptoms of Smart Phones addiction.
