Smartphones have become a huge part of our lives. Everyone is completely dependent on their smartphones. Well, that is because smartphones are easy to carry around, they have all the information you need access to be it work, commute, entertainment and even health tracking. Nevertheless, these smartphones are unconsciously affecting not only our physical but also our emotional well being. Neuroscientists are concerned regarding the excessive screen time that is affecting the brains of humans.
The Brain’s Response to Continuous Excitation
Historically speaking, the brains were designed to handle occasional outbursts of stimulation like finding food or facing a threat. Nowadays, we are always distracted by texts, notifications and other types of information provided by our cell phones. These temporary stimulation has affected the concentration level of human beings, even while eating food they are distracted and are always on their tippy toes. There might come a time when a brain can not take it anymore and that is called “cognitive overload” or overwhelming amount of news.
Lack of focus, memory loss and decision making are some of the side effects of cognitive overload. The brain’s functionality may decrease as they try to process an ongoing flow of news. Regularly switching in between the task is known as “multitasking” meanwhile it can also make it hard for the brain to concentrate on one task at a time. This can lead to less functionality and an increased level of stress.
Dopamine and the Addiction Risk
Smartphones are designed to trigger the brain’s reward system, which makes them stay on the phones for multiple hours by showing engaging content. A neurotransmitter is linked to pleasure and reward, then dopamine is released with notifications or texts. Over time, the brain gets addicted to dopamine and smartphones are the easiest source of it, thus turning this into an addiction.
Addiction to anything is never good. The blue light from screen disrupts sleep, poor sleep schedule is how mental health problems and mood disorders are birthed.
Impacts on Relationships and Mental Health
According to research, excessive usage of smartphones can lead to loneliness, anxiety, depression; this is commonly affecting the younger generation. Social media can be used to connect people but it can also aggravate feelings of failure and self comparison worsening mental health.
Additionally, people use smartphones so excessively that even when spending time with family or friends, they keep looking at their phones, ruining the essence of being together.
In earlier times people used to learn phone numbers and now people rely so much on smartphones that they lack basic IQ.
Techniques for Controlling Your Screen Time
There are many ways by which one can control the usage of smartphones.
Setting time limits or timer on your phones, restricting yourself by such reminders will also test your self control.
There should be a rule of not using your phone 1 hour before bed and the same in the morning. After an hour you can check your phone.
Using smartphones in your free time should be replaced with reading, walking, dancing or some kind of physical activity.
Turning off your notifications is another great way to get tempted by the dopamine smartphones provide.
Following these steps will help you with the addiction of smartphones. Even though smartphones are very useful technology for connectivity and productivity but consumption of anything in excess is harmful. Over usage of smartphones can turn it into an addiction and harm your physical and mental wellbeing. Practicing mindful usage of smartphones will help everyone live a better life.
To learn more about how smartphones might be affecting your privacy, click: Are Your Phones Eavesdropping on You?
