Mobile Addiction

The devil in your hands, or in your pocket. It is not unknown that your phone is a hazard. A quick look on the internet suggests hundreds of websites and articles stating that mobile phones have direct impacts on the mind and indirectly on your health. The phone, invented to portably contact any person at first, has now become a danger to health? Several unknown or intentionally hidden reports have been suspected to have contained the issues your mobile device has. The truth is unknown. But logically, your device has become another world, a form of escapism. You scroll and swipe and scroll some more! The never-ending cycle is a threat to all your dreams, thoughts, and to-do lists! 

Teenagers are the direct culprits. Phones have been handed to them to ensure their safety since parents want to know where their child is. But now it's only a medium to make TikToks it seems. If it's banned in your country, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts make up for the "void". Personally, I find this trinity an absolute waste of time. If you're making any of these or spending time on them, my friend, you are stuck with the Algorithm. 

The algorithm is a system that most apps follow. Ever noticed the permission for "cookies"? If I could explain it most fundamentally, it asks for your personal information- what videos you like watching, what you spend the most time on, who you follow, etc. is taken up by the websites/applications.  This information is taken so that advertisements are displayed ACCORDING to this information. This advertisement is put up to interest and you henceforth, sell the maximum amount of products. The only people benefiting from Cookies are the businessmen and the app/website owners. The things lost include your time, your money, and your privacy. Ever noticed ads selling boots on Instagram, after you looked those up on Amazon? Exactly. 

The algorithm catches and suggests to you all the fun stuff you are attracted to on a usual day, and fill up your feed with it. So you're stuck in a bubble. 

There are many ways to alter your settings to ensure your information says private, but let's not get into the tech part, for the time being. What we really want to take away from the blog, is the TIME you're spending on your phone. 

Let's get calculative- my favourite part! It's basic maths, so don't worry. 

Assuming you use an hour on your phone to scroll through Instagram, or maybe catch up on your favourite web series. One hour every day of the week is 365 hours every year, which is 15 days a year. 15 DAYS! I can't even imagine how much time would be wasted if one is having screen time of 4 - 5 hours. 15 days are more than enough to do all you could think of! Hear me out, it's unrealistic to stay without a phone in today's time. All I'm saying is, control it. Your phone controlling you is not an ideal situation. 

So how do we stop, you ask. We've got you covered! 

1) Hobbies: You would only reach out to your phone if you're bored- mostly. Getting yourself invested in something else would automatically result in the phone being isolated. You enjoy painting....create something new! If it's a small period of time, doodle. For the writers, think of rhyming words for your poem! Or write a piece of content ON PAPER! Dance, sing, swim! So much you could do. My personal favourite has to be reading. And obviously, the cult favourite is ~studying~. I noticed that my screentime is more during the summer holidays than during regular school. I spend less time mindlessly scrolling because I'm obligated to submit my assignments. So, basically, get a job. Or something to do!  

2) Tracking: Let's speak stats. When you see the actual numbers, it's when it hits you. It hit me. I slowly started getting concerned about the time I was spending. Looking at the numbers falling is another level of satisfaction! It feels rewarding, and you feel proud of yourself. Therefore, I suggest you download some apps or maybe enable the required settings on your phone, and get tracking now. 

Disclaimer: Please don't freak out. You're going to do it, but stress will only force you to find a distraction, aka phone. Come to terms with it, but allow mistakes- we're only human! 

3) Trash: Do you REALLY need Instagram? I mean you have your friends' contact details, text should be enough. Do you REALLY have to maintain a SnapStreak? ( I'm not familiar with that term but I know it's related to Snapchat :) ) Well, Do you REALLY have to watch that web series. It's not the end of the world if you don't. So I say, please get rid of all these unnecessary apps until your life depends on them. You can keep the account and check it weekly or so- but please don't spend too much time too, just the urgent stuff. I deleted Instagram from my phone and would use the web version once in a blue moon. Guess what? My life was still the same. So no biggie. Even though now I have the app, I don't reach out because now I'm out of habit, and also it's mostly used for this blog! ( A gentle reminder to give it a follow ;) )

4) Convenience: Why are our devices so addictive? Remember the huge boxy computers that required coding to handle? Of course, you don't, it's not very widely seen. But it wasn't addictive because it was a task to deal with. Can you imagine coding long paragraphs to just calculate a basic arithmetic equation? No one would take the toll. 

Image Credits

Using this analogy, we shall make our lives inconvenient! You read it right....."inconvenient"- so that we're not so inclined towards performing useless actions. Set long passwords for example. Avoid those fingerprint locks, they make it super easy to access and scroll through. Download "Lite" apps, or apps with simpler coding, which do not have accessible features. They will annoy you and then you'll avoid using the app altogether! Sounds like we're reversing the actions of scientists and engineers hehe. 

5) Will: Make the final goal a motivation- we've mentioned this several times in the previous blogs. It just seems to be the best way to get anything done successfully. You don't want to waste 15 days- do you? We all want better lives, and that idea can be gradually achieved if you constantly remind yourself of it. 

There will be ups and downs and highs and lows. But we trust you. It's ok to fail, but it's not ok to quit. Let us come together and snatch controls back from these devils! :)