Do you know that on an average a person touches his phone for about 2600 times a day.
credit - The New York Times
Not only this but, Accoring to a research, the screen time after post-covid phase has surged by 25% to 7 hours. That means that you are spending about 7 hours everyday on your mobile phones.
Wasting 7 hours a day in surfing, scrolling Social Media, seeing YouTube videos or watching Netflix, etc. This affects not only your studies, business or family relations but it has a negative impact on your brain too.
There are several people who feels annoyed and irritated if their phone has been taken from them even for little period of time. They also becomes angry and restless.
The following symptoms are nothing less than Phone Addiction.
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Let's discuss about its scientific causes, its impact on your life and its solution in some detail.
Scientific cause behind Addiction
You won't believe it but experts says that you can compare the addiction of mobile phones from the addiction of cigarettes, drugs, alcohol and gambling.
It might sound weird to you that social media (mobile phones) and drugs or alcohols are two very differnt things. Yes you are right as they have a vast difference but the way our body develops addiction for both of them is similar.
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To develop any addiction, our body performs a set of patterns called the Dopamine Pattern. Before knowing that first we should understand that, What is this 'Dopamine'?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which is produced in our brain. The work of neurotransmitter is to transfer signals to brain and to take the desired action from the brain.
credit - InterSTEM
For example - Oxytocin is a Love Hormone and is activated during bonding in relationships.
credit - Dana Foundation
For a long time, scientists believe that Dopamine is responsible for being happy. But accoring to the latest research, Endorphins are the hormones which is released to keep us happy and to get relief from stress.
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While Dopamine is released when we are thinking about the reward we are about to get. Dopamine level rises when we are anticipating about the pleasure or reward we are about to experience.
Now let us relate Dopamine with mobile phones. Let us take the example of social media to keep things simple.
So when you first time gets some followers and likes, your body releases Dopamine in your body, thus making you happy.
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The next time you gets followers and likes, you'll become again happy by the release of Dopamine by your body.
But after a peroid of time, when you are not getting enough followers or likes, you will become angry frustrated. You might think for more followers and as a result you will start wasting your time doing hard work in this.
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Thus, it will slowly and gradually lead to a Addiction to get more and more release of Dopamine by your body.
You can apply the same case with the addiction of cigarettes, alcohols or drugs.
Why only Phone Addictions?
Now you might be thinking that if this is the process followed by our body to develop addiction, then why we don't develop addiction for studies or earning money. This is because of the following factors:
1. Ease of Access
2. Speedy Rewards
These both factors can lead to addiction to any thing. This is the reason why we build addiction for Mobile Phones, cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.
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That's why you don't develop an addiction for an exam because it requires to do hard work and requires a lot of time to be rewarded.
Same thing with earning money because for that you need a ease of access, a way to earn money and you even won't get instant reward.
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This is the reason why people prefer to play gambling because it gives you easy access to risk you money and gives you a chance to get instant reward.
Now you can compare the same philosophy for social media. It just needs a click to get started and you can get instant reward by gaining easy followers and likes. Even watching a comedy video can also make you happy.
credit - Good Housekeeping
On the other hand, reading a book requires patience in order to understand its motive and it also doesn't provide instant reward. That's why people prefer mobile phones instead of reading books.
Dark Reality of these Companies
You might be shocked but these big Social Media companies have intentionally created such an arrangement so that people would use their app for a longer peroid of time and get addicted.
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They spends billion of dollars on psychological analysis and hires professionals to trap you in their app's addiction.
They pay attention from layouts to the structure of each button depending upon which will release more Dopamine in their users.
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Earlier their was an end in the feed when all the posts of our friends and relatives are over. But now these companies have add an infinite scrolling feature. You will go on scrolling for hours but it won't end and the app will show you definitely show you something.
Let's see what are the various factors through which these social media apps are making our life ruined:
1. Wasting of Time: It is the basic and the most obvious reason as its common that addiction leads to wastage of time only.
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2. Increase in Radicalization: The algorithm works the way that if you liked a post related to travel or you searched something related to travel, then you'll find your feed full with these topics only. This is done to ensure that you spend your most of the time in their app only.
3. Insecurity and Depression: On seeing the beauty of someone without thinking that the use of filter in that post creates anxiety and depression, particularly in teenagers. They feels disappointed on getting less likes from other and starts comparing themselves from others and hides themselves from the real world.
credit - YouTube
You might have observed that Social Media platforms have increased the distance between your friends with whom you used to meet physically and enjoy.
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You might have started talking to your best friends with whom you usually move out and slowly you are just having a talk with them occasionally. This is the reality of using Social Media.
The Ultimate Solution
The solution to get rid of these problem is hidden in the factors mentioned above only. Let's recall those factors:
1. Ease of Access
2. Speedy Reward
Now to overcome the addiction of these apps, you need to make it hard for you to access these apps and to prevent yourself from speedy rewards. Let us understand this in detail:
1. Delete all your social media handles from your mobile phones. Try to use it either in the web version or in laptop or computer. This is done to ensure that your ease of access is lowered and you have to enter a password anytime you want to login.
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2. If you can't follow it then just try to turn off the notifications, so that you won't get the updates of the speedy rewards and you would be using these apps only when you need it.
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The only thing you have to use to get rid of any addiction is to make it hard for you to access it and don't go for speedy rewards.
Give it a try and do tell me how it works by contacting me.
Share it with your friends or cousins who are addicted to these apps.
Thanks for Reading!
