Nowadays,
smartphones have become part of our lives. Either to check our emails, to
chat, to take photos, to read newspapers or to check twitter and facebook; we are using
them the entire day because of a necessity of being connected.
However, it is said that several people around the world are becoming addicted to this devices. According to Lisa Merlo, Psychologist from the University of Florida, there is a series of behaviors regarding smartphones which may be alarming and signals of addiction; for instance, checking the phone every 5 minutes not only for missed calls, but also to catch up on anything that happens in social networks or emails; faking to do something on the phone to avoid contact with other people; getting into the phone and losing awareness of what is happening around; freaking out if the phone is left at home; among others.
The
consequences can be sleep problems, increase of stress and nervousness,
increase of dependence, lose of social skills and even extreme anxiety when the
phone is not near.
In the next CBS News report, Betty Nguyen consults specialists about this issue.
What about
you? Do you consider yourself as addicted to your smartphone? If you don't have one, would you like to?
I got a smartphone a few weeks ago and I have become a little addicted to it. Despite this, I think I am able to realize when and where to stop using it, unlike people I see every day in the place I work waitresing tables, where couples and families do not talk to each other during the entire meal bacause of their addiction to cell phones. Sometimes they do not even pay attention to me while I am taking their orders. That is very annoying. This leads me to think that human relationships are in danger.
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ReplyDeleteWell, I have a smartphone and I have to say that I like it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Pía said that is really annoying to see people spending time with their family and watching their phones the entire time. I would never do something like that! That's why I don't like to consider myself addicted to smartphones.
Usually I use my phone whenever I'm bored, or because I like to check my e-mail account regularly because of personal reasons.
I don't have a smartphone and I think I would never get one. I feel so annoyed when I'm talking to people and they're just stuck in their phones' screen, and even when I'm not trying to talk to them: it is just annoying. It's like their life depends on checking who liked their status or their photo. Why can't they just wait until they get home?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel very happy and satisfied with my tiny and old fashioned cell phone because I can listen to music on it, I can receive calls and it even has a flashlight! The only moment in which I am kind of stuck in my phone's screen is when I'm checking the time, but that's all.
Also, as Pia said, I think that smartphones have a lot to do with relationships becoming more distant because people do not pay attention to others anymore. It is very sad, because personal relationships are the foundations of society, and if we don't have that, we will build a distorted society based on egoism.
I own a Smartphone--I bought it two weeks ago--and I have witnessed several people--actually, an alarming amount of people--having their lives "absorbed" by these devices to a point in which the only thing they are focused on is their so precious cellphone and they cannot perceive what is going on around them.
ReplyDeleteThat is why I am trying to see my Smartphone just like a regular cellphone, because I do not want to be one of those who could be in a life-or-death situation without noticing it. I strongly believe that the ability to use the Internet with your Smartphone is to make you more dependent on social networks.
On the other hand, I have to confess that I use my Smartphone to play games--which, unfortunately, have gotten me somehow obsessed; so, if you see me staring at my cellphone for a long time, it is because I may be dealing with "Diamond Dash."