Smartphones are the new drug. The addiction is real. If you don’t believe me, thump through the Reels on Facebook, the Shorts on YouTube or the video clips on Instagram. You just can’t put the phone down and wouldn’t know how long you have been on it. It’s a time robber.
That’s my main grouse against smartphones. It steals a good amount of my time. I’ve been fighting it with varying degrees of success.
Can’t I put the phone away? No, I can’t. I need it. It’s an essential tool for communication and helps me ease into the office work. Much of the office communication comes through WhatsApp, which also helps me keep in touch with friends and relatives.
Phones are pacifiers for infants
WhatsApp is a huge help. A hindrance too. Time yourself when you use the app, and you will find that the more groups you are in, the more time you waste. Groups are the worst offenders, as most of them are like chatrooms, while others are hubs for forwarded clips. I could do without them, which is why I have archived most groups.
Despite my best efforts, phone is still an addiction. That’s why my blood boils when I see parents thrust their phones at children in strollers to keep them quiet. The infants go silent instantly. It works all the time. Times without number, I’ve seen the scene played out in malls.
Why would they do that? It’s a quick fix. Little do these parents realise that they are feeding an addiction. Would they give drugs to their children? No, never. Then why do they give phones to pacify their children? I raised two children without resorting to phones. Pacifiers worked. But phones weren’t so smart, and children didn’t clamour for screens.
Children are digital natives. It would be foolhardy to deny them smartphones. But it’s important to teach them to use the devices responsibly.
Smartphone addiction is frightening, and children are suffering. Take away phones from them, and the fiery response is scary — a classic sign of addiction. Earlier this year, millions of Chinese were shocked to see the video of a 13-year-old boy in Guangxi threatening to hack his father with a cleaver after his father took his phone away. That prompted China to restrict smartphone usage among children.
Addiction aside, excessive smartphone use affects physical and mental health. It reduces social interaction, cognitive disorders, vision, sleep quality, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and psychological dependence, according to a study published in the US National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine. We knew this all along, although we have done little to remedy the situation.
There have been calls to limit the time children spend on smartphones or even ban their usage totally. Parents’ worries include shorter attention spans and exposure to harmful or illegal content.
A Barbie phone to cut usage
In this scenario comes a basic phone (aka features phone) that claims to help young people wean away from smartphone addiction. The Barbie-branded phone is predictably pink. It’s a flip phone with a rear camera but no front camera, one game and limited access to the internet. There is no app store, touch screen, or social media, but it can receive SMS messages.
Its manufacturer HMD, which also makes Nokia phones, says the Barbie phone is aimed at people who want a smaller digital impact on their lives. That raises the question whether dumb phones are the solution to smartphone addiction.
Some experts say it’s not feasible since smartphones have become an integral part of our lives — we feel crippled without a phone as apps have definitely made our lives infinitely better. They argue it would be better to teach people to use their devices in a controlled and healthier way. That would apply to children as well.
Children are digital natives. It would be foolhardy to deny them smartphones. But it’s important to teach them to use the devices responsibly, including disallowing access to screens to infants.
Features phones like the Barbie phones would help them ease into the cyberworld. Let the children learn to swim in a pool before we allow them to navigate the seas.
