In our modern era, it is difficult to imagine our lives without a smartphone. We can live without a laptop, without an Ipad, mp3 player (or those extinct already?), and some people claim they can even live without meat products. But the smartphone?
Apparently, that piece of metal and plastic is quite addictive. And the addictiveness of a smartphone is comparable to that of cocaine, according to researchers from the University of Maryland’s International Centre for Media. However, before we start bashing smartphones and throwing them into our trash, we have to ask ourselves, is it that bad? Water, for instance, is quite addictive too, but nobody runs around screaming that we need to drink less. In fact, most doctors recommend consuming a ton of water. So are smartphones are really that bad?
Lets consider purely biological perspective. First of all, frequent smartphone users might develop a bad posture, due to physically looking down all the time when using smartphone. It is also called the nerd neck, and can develop among computer users too. However, proper neck stretchings and exercises can combat the nerd neck situation, so that one is out of the list.
Secondly, the light from the screen. The blue light from the screen can mess up the circadian rhythms in our brain, as our brain thinks that blue light = day time. This alone might be the reason why so many people develop insomnia. But again, we can combat it by using blue light blocking glasses, which block the blue light from getting onto your eyes, which will positively affect your sleeping cycles. So this negative effect is also crossed out.
Finally, you smartphone might contribute to worsening of your health by actually killing you, in case you text and drive. And how to combat this problem is quite self explanatory – just do not text and drive at the same time.
Seems like smartphones are not that bad for us and our bodies after all! In case proper actions are taken, of course. However, the impact of smartphone use on mental health was not covered, and that topic is welcomed to be discussed in the comment section below.
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Thank you Mykhailo for your post, it sure was an interesting read. My question to you is if you not consider what smartphones are doing in a social aspect. A lot of people consider smartphones as a negative development due to the fact that people stop interacting in social activities due to the connectivity of smartphones. Do you not consider people meeting as preferable to talking on Whatsapp? Moreover, a lot of complaints of people arise on the subject of social activities that do occur becoming less social, as a lot of people are less interacting with each other and spending more time on their smartphone whilst being in company of others.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Sincerely,
Koen Walsteijn