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Most people will admit that they spend too much time on their phones. Social media, texting, and games divert from priorities and obligations.
Technology addiction can result in people burying their faces while socializing with others. This can be during class lectures, at the family dinner table, or to escape the silence between combative friends. Cell phones and other electronics take away from life, which is inappropriate.
Most parents are usually busy working, as teenagers are preoccupied with extracurricular activities. When they finally get to spend time together, it is while multitasking with devices.
The music streaming company ROXI conducted an independent study through CensusWide, a global insight-driven research company. They discovered that children spend twice as much time on smartphones and other gadgets as they do with their parents. Laura Donnelly, a health editor for news website The Telegraph, explains:
The survey of 2,000 families with children below the age of 14 found that on average they were spending 3 hours 18 minutes a day on personal devices. By contrast, they were found to be spending 1 hour 43 minutes a day engaged in conversation with members of their family…Overall, children were found to be spending an average of 23 hours a week isolated on their mobiles, tablets and games consoles at home…54 percent of parents worry that their children are missing out by spending too much time isolated on their devices.
As children grow older, their electronic dependence doesn’t get vanish. Millennials tend to spend over half of their day starirng at the 5-inch screen. The popular apps teenagers and college students use are Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Tumblr, YouTube, Tinder, games, and texting. Yet the majority of people, both young and old, are readily distracted by these apps.
According to an article on Elite Daily, the same hormones are released when eating, having sex, and texting. One hormone is endorphin dopamine, which controls the pleasure-seeking system of the brain. Senior Editor for Elite Daily Alexia Lafata states:
“Your desire to seek gets fulfilled each time you send a text message, and you get caught in a dopamine loop. And getting that reward — receiving a response, that is — for seeking makes you want to seek more. Sometimes, even if you get the reward, the dopamine loop forces you to keep seeking… Unpredictability also stimulates the dopamine in our brains. When something happens that we didn’t expect, we get a boost of dopamine. Most of us know we will receive text messages throughout the day, but you don’t exactly know when or who it’ll be from, right? It’s unpredictable. It’s exciting. It increases our dopamine, and we become addicted.”
It’s hard for people to get off their phones when everyone else around them is also addicted. For undergrads, it’s a social standard to go on their phones during an awkward moment or free time. One might wonder why this is, and the reasons vary—boredom, robotic habit, avoiding to look foolish in public, electronic addiction, and not knowing of anything better to do.
But if someone wanted to break the mold and use their phone less or even give it up entirely, would others judge or follow?
For more information about the endless distractions cell phones cause, check out some of these articles:
- Here Is How Social Media Can Lead You Into Addiction
- New Study Proves You’re Actually Addicted To Instagram
- 15 Signs You’re Addicted To Your Phone
- Your Internet Addiction is Ruining Your Health, According to New Study
- How To Cure Phone Addiction: Must-See Tips & Advice
