There is a time and a place for everything. Have you ever pulled out your cellphone during a conversation or during a dull moment at an event? Did you ever consider why the event was boring or the conversation was lacking? It starts with you and your willingness to participate in making things better. Actually engaging in a conversation may lead to new opportunities and connections with friends and strangers. Turning to your cellphone will eliminate any chances for connecting with others.
While smartphones have become a fixture in our society, that does not mean they are acceptable everywhere. Arianna Huffington, co-founder and former editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, has become an enlightened leader on the importance of limiting technology before it takes over your life. The consequences of letting technology, specifically smartphones, rule our time and conversations have lasting effects.
Huffington suggests removing phones from our tables during meals and from our bedside tables when sleeping. The presence of phones during meal time conversations severely diminishes any conversation abilities, which in turn damages relationships. If we are not able to pay attention to the person sitting in front of us for just a few minutes, then how will we be able to learn to work with people in times that we have to?
Clinical psychologist and sociologist Sherry Turkle from MIT has studied in depth the effects technology has on conversations. The consequences of missing out on face-to-face conversations are showing in a lack of empathy people have with each other. Turkle further explains that “We turn to our phones instead of each other” for things at work, in friendships, romantic relationships, and in families.
We turn to our phones to not feel alone, but this has actually created the reality of being alone. Nomophobia is a real condition that has developed out of our cellphone dependency. Surveys have found that roughly 84 percent of people across the world cannot go a day without their phone without stress and anxiety over possibly missing something important.
A study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions reported that female college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their phones, with male students on their phones for eight hours a day. The addiction starts early and is steadily growing to affect more and more people. Another study on college-aged people by James Roberts, Ph.D. found differences in what make men and women addicted, but in the end, “Cell-phones have become inextricably woven into our daily lives – an almost invisible driver of modern life. It is incumbent upon researchers to identify the all-important ‘tipping point’ where cell-phone use crosses the line from a helpful tool to one that enslaves both users and society alike.”
Cellphones may be our new favorite things, but they bring with them dangerous side effects. Health is greatly affected. Let’s face it, our phones are not the cleanest surface. Our safety is also affected. The over stimulation of our phones reduces our ability to get sleep by suppressing the brain’s release of melatonin. Research has found that even pedestrians on a cellphone are less likely to look both ways when crossing the street and take longer to cross the street than if they had put the cellphone down.
Now that you have read this, put your cellphone down and go talk to someone face-to-face. Make a goal now to put your phone down for your meals so that you can eat in peace and talk with those around you at home and at the office.
To learn more about how to break your addiction and get more out of your phone when you do use it, read Turn Your Smartphone into a Productive Phone.
Photo: psychguides.com
