How to hang up on the mobile
WE’RE A NATION OF SMARTPHONE ADDICTS, MEANING WE’RE GROWING DISCONNECTED, SAY EXPERTS
Hold the phone: Are you under the PUMP in this pandemic? Research conducted, pre-pandemic, claims we spend, on average, three hours a day on our smartphones – making calls, texting, playing games, checking apps, and surfing the net.
But for some smartphone addicts, three hours just doesn’t ring true – checking the phone as soon as they wake up and just before they go to bed – the figure is in the double digits.
In an era when the phone can be the only way to reach out to friends, family and workmates — how can you tell whether you are afflicted with a dose of “PUMP”, or “Problematic Use of Mobile Phones” or what the developer of app BreakFree dubbs Nomophobia (no mobile phone phobia).
Psychologist and director of Brisbane-based Psychology Consultants, Dr Stan Steindl, says any downside depends on the individual.
“It is measured by the way that it impairs, or gets in the road of other things,” he says.
“The classic example is when it starts to lead to disconnection with people immediately around you.
“It might be that you start to notice you are spending di more and more time doing things on the phone and that’s taking away from activities that are important to them in different ways and away from certain roles and responsibilities and relationships that are important to them; and from getting actual work done.
“For those who are actually very isolated or not living with anyone directly in their home, these difficult times are particularly difficult for them, and they might actually be benefiting a lot by being able to stay connected via their phones.
“For others, living with partners or families, it’s finding that everyone is retreating on to their phones. It creates disconnection in the home itself. For young people it also means they are not doing homework, or they are not handing in their assignments; for uni students similarly they will find they are getting behind in their studies.”
Steindl says there can be cravings to get on the phone and check what’s happening on Facebook and what’s the latest on Twitter and withdrawal symptoms if you go “cold turkey”.
COVID-19 has even given rise to a new phenomenon — “doom-surfing” or “doom-scrolling” – constantly checking online for the latest summation of the number of pandemic victims, even when the news itself makes us down or depressed.
Or have you been guilty of “phubbing” — the act of snubbing someone you are talking to face-to-face to answer a call or text?
Steindl knows how hard it can be to switch off.
“It (a mobile phone) does have addictive qualities — when we start to think ‘where is my phone, I need to check my phone’ and find it hard to resist doing that,” he says.
“Even I will be scrolling through Facebook and thinking ‘why am I doing this?’ — it is so ridiculous and then, all of a sudden, ‘Oh! There’s puppies!’ and I’m hooked again.
“It (Facebook) has these positive reinforcers every now and then and you get this little dopamine hit that gets these cravings going when you are away from our phones.”
Katie Mullins, 25, a student and quality control officer says she spends between two and three hours a day on Instagram and Facebook Messenger and says it is not only a distraction, it’s affecting her physically.
“I worry about how it’s affecting my posture, eyes and self-esteem,” she says.
“I often get a really sore neck and shoulders combined with headaches after using my phone for an extended period of time and I have noticed my eyes are getting more tired more often.
“I also never bring my phone to the dinner table or use it while I am eating (from both a politeness and health point of view), and I try and use my laptop for music when I study or work so I can keep my phone separate and not have it next to me constantly.”
Even I will be scrolling through Facebook and thinking ‘why am I doing this?