Hooked on our Smartphones

Enisa Nazaj

We are so consumed with technology that we fail to enjoy the little things in life, which make us happy, as well as physically, mentally, and socially healthy.

How common is it for you to feel irritated when in the middle of a conversation with your companion, they bring out their phone and start scrolling on it? Sadly, many of us can relate to this scenario. People find it hard to disconnect from their smartphones. They have become an addiction that is hard to cure. I check my phone almost every ten minutes and I always feel like I’m missing out on things if I don’t. Frankly, I don’t really miss out on anything, but the idea of a new message popping up on the screen is engrossing. On a scale of one to ten depending on how addicted I am to my phone, I would give myself a seven, because I can’t go a day without this device, but I am conscious of its pernicious outcomes.

Let’s be realistic: it is impossible to not use your phone today. Technology has advanced to that extent, where it is crucial for everyday tasks. It helps us to manage work emails, pay bills, make appointments, connect to friends, family and colleagues, as well as read news articles, listen to music, create content, and organize our day. Of all these, social media and music are my favorite features. My instinct tells me to check my Instagram account or open TikTok whenever I get the tiniest bit of boredom.

Phones enable us unfettered access to short-term entertainment, which has made us allergic to boredom and similar malaises. These devices seem to ameliorate even the slightest inconveniences. Namely, the way the content on our smartphones programs is organized can be very addicting. Social media platforms, such as Instagram or TikTok, contain what we know as “Reels,” which are short videos, less than one minute in length, that display dynamic content.

The videos could show people doing everyday activities, like cleaning, working out, dancing, painting, cooking etc. However, the trick is that they show only parts of these activities, making them fit in a one-minute time length, often accompanied by musical background. We get the illusion that we are saving time by watching these short recaps of activities rather than actually doing them. According to a web article by Rohit Shewale, over 200 billion Reels are played over Instagram and Facebook every day. As tremendous as the figure may be, the phenomenon of phone addiction exists, and it extends past social media. People are hooked on online shopping and games as well.

In an ideal world we are supposed to have a healthy relationship with technology, not let it overwhelm us. The worst is that we don’t even realize how deep into the abyss of phone addiction we are because society promotes it vigorously. When you scroll on the phone to relax after a long day at work or try to find inspiration on programs like Pinterest, you unknowingly enter an anxiety inducing environment.

It is not hard to cope with this compulsion. We must first be aware of its perils to our mental, physical, and social health, then use “baby steps” to alleviate it. We can start by reducing our phone time. Instead of searching for inspiration online, we should look around us, visit art galleries, museums, or even do something as simple as sitting in your backyard. When you need information for a writing don’t look it up online, but try to find it in your local library. My best advice is to focus on the people around you, listen to them and express yourself more. One of the conveniences of the phone is that you don’t have to talk to it to make a sort of connection, but that makes you callous to people around you.

I speak from experience when I say that smartphones limit your line of thought. By over simplifying things, they confine us inside a space of short-sightedness. They make us distant from other people and hinder our social interaction skills. We often become so caught up with technology that we forget our key role of existence: to be human. Time flies and the only way to preserve it is by being present. The best memories are not caught on camera.