Opinion | The Perilous Side of Mobile Phones

Mobile phones can be a productive tool, It becomes an integral part of our lives, but at the same time there are a number of concerns regarding the excessive use of mobile phones. Smartphone addiction is sometimes colloquially known as  ‘nomophobia’  (fear of being without a mobile phone).When you spend more time on social media or playing games or you can’t stop yourself from repeatedly checking messages, emails, text, apps  etc. even when it has a negative effect on your life then it may be time to reassess your technology use. In the new era ,the children are exposed to technology at a much earlier age than ever before. There are various types of radiation generated by mobile phones, computers, and other wireless devices. Microwave radiations from the mobile phone are very harmful particularly for children and unborn babies. According to a recent research the brain tissue of children absorb about two times more microwave radiation than that of adults, and other studies have reported that the bone marrow of children absorb ten times more microwave radiation than that of adults. There are a number of health issues that can be caused due to overuse of cell phones, especially low IQ, improper mental health growth in children, psychiatric disease, sleep deprivation and even brain tumor. As already mentioned, in today’s digital era these devices are now part of our lives, but there are some preventive measures which one should follow  while using these devices. Mobile phones  can be used in a manner that is safe enough, The most important point is the distance, holding a cell phone away from your ear provides a thousand time reduction in risk. The   best place to keep a cell phone is somewhere like a pouch, purse, bag or backpack. These devices should be kept away from pregnant women and lactating mothers.

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF MOBILE ADDICTION
SLEEP DEPRIVATION: Excessive use of smartphones can disrupt your sleep, which can have a serious impact on your mental health. It can lead to an impact on your memory, affect your ability to think clearly and reduce your learning skill.
VIRTUAL RELATIONSHIP: Addiction to social media apps like dating apps, texting,  Facebook,  Instagram etc. can bring a person to a point where he/she feels that his /her online friends are more important than real life relationships. And regular use of these apps for short term relationships can change your focus to short term hookup instead of developing long term and real relationships.
EXACERBATING ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER: The constant buzz, ping and beep of your smartphone can distract you from important tasks, slow your work, and  disrupt your quiet moments that are so crucial for creativity and problem solving.
ANXIETY AND STRESS: The longer a person uses their phone, the greater the anxiety they experience. The continually checking and responding to email, messages and visiting social media can contribute to higher stress levels and even burnout.
ISOLATION FROM FAMILY AND REAL FRIEND: By using phone all the time your social life can be suffered because you spend all your time on phone and other devices and instead of spending your valuable time with family and friend you are spending it on virtual friendship which is usually temporary in nature.
HEALTH ISSUES: A healthy spine is a key factor of wellbeing during growing age. When our kids remain busy most of the time with their cell phones, they ruin their neck and back muscles. They feel the ragging pain in these parts. Also this pain, strain and arching neck muscle can cause a severe headache and also back pain which make the things worse. So to keep our children healthy, it is time to decide that we should not allow our kids to overuse cell phones and other wireless devices.
STEPS TO GET RID OF MOBILE ADDICTION
Studies have shown that spending too much time on your phone is bad for your focus and mental health. Study has also shown that most people check their phone every 15 minute or less.
Here are some of the preventive measures which will help in reducing the addiction to mobile phones:
1.Turn off  Notification:- A simple way to cut down distraction is turn off push notifications for as many apps as you can.                                                            2. Kick Your Device Out Of Bed:- Don’t let your phone be the last thing you see at night and the first thing to check in the morning.
3. Understand The Difference Between Interacting In-Person and Online:-Human beings are social creature, social interaction with another person face to face making eye contact, responding the body language, understand the relation in better way and it can make you feel calm, safe and understood, while as interacting through mail, text, and other nonverbal cues won’t have the same effect.
4. Remove the unwanted social media app from your smartphone
5. Limit Check: If you are addicted to checking your phone every few minutes, limit yourself to once every 30 minute and then once an hour and with time the habit of checking phones unnecessarily will be reduced.
6..Educate children to the side effects of too much screen time
7. Encourage Physical activities: Make sure that you and your children are spending enough time away from technology at home  to play outside or to do other activities.
CONCLUSION
We can say that mobile phones have many benefits but there are also concerns about the consequences that can have on children’s  as well as adult’s  health and development. The average time consumed on smartphones is increasing, so to get rid of mobile addiction parents and caregivers  need to take positive steps and ensure that children’s  mobile use is limited and also access to other activities like physical activities, social interaction and healthy sleep habits. By taking these steps we can help to mitigate the negative effect of mobile phones.
– The writer can be reached at Mohammadabhi786@gmail.com