'47 per cent believe they spend too much time on their mobile phones!'

The Demon on My Palm | Snippets from An Outlook Feature 

Outlook, dated 16 September 2019

Even as there’s a spate of digital device-related disorders that have been downing its devotees for the past decade and more, right here at Bangalore today, we all musta heard about the shocking news of a boy, by name Raghuveer Kumbar, who beheaded his father Shankar Devappa Kumbhar (61) after Shankar started advising his son not to play the PUBG game and asked him to stay away from his smartphone! The full news item HERE!

Well, as teachers, it becomes our bounden responsibility to emphasise on this harmful addiction of the mobile phone on our wards, and help them come out of its obsessive-compulsive lures and pulls, ain't it?

Coincidentally, Outlook magazine, has done an extensive feature - surprisingly just this week - on its magazine, on the addiction to the smartphone and the enormous digital distress that it leads people to!

Just reproducing excerpts from this week’s issue for y’all –

Here goes –

The addiction to the internet is emerging as India's newest lifestyle disease but we are not ready to accept it. The smartphone revolution is causing enormous digital distress!

As screens, clicks, taps and emojis mediate experiences and interactions more and more, the lines between real lives and ­virtual realities are getting blurred.

An unnerving new word is doing the rounds for unnatural attachment to digital devices: internet addiction. Yet, the phenomenon remains virtually undocumented in national surveys.

In contrast, China, South Korea and Japan recognise internet addiction as a serious public health problem.

In May 2019, online gaming addiction, or the unhealthy need to access online games, has been given the status of a unique disorder, similar to gambling addiction, by the World Health Organization. “Digital disorders are hugely under-recognised in India,” says Dr Rajesh Sagar, head of psychiatry at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. “But it is fast emerging as India’s newest lifestyle disease.

Outlook decided to chronicle and analyse the health-seeking behaviour of a society in the throes of major socio-economic changes.

Market researcher Karvy sent out field workers across nine ­cities—Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Indore, Calcutta, Patna, Chennai, Bangalore and Vijayawada—asking 1,648 men and women, between age 18 and 55 years, about their attitude to health and sickness. Over 70 per cent respondents were executives or business owners, all graduate and above.

The survey reveals that many of the ­respondents are aware of their unusual ­attachment to digital devices: 47 per cent believe they spend too much time on their mobile phones. Over 62 per cent admit they remain attached to their devices even when they eat.

What’s more, one in five across all age groups say they feel tired from excessive social media use. Hunched over their computers, smartphones or tablets for 7-10 hours every day, back pain is their biggest bane, forcing one in nine to pop painkillers regularly. Depression, anxiety, anger and guilt wear out 28 per cent respondents.

When questioned about the addictive potential of technology, 45 per cent readily confess they want to bring down the time they spend on their mobile phones.

India may embrace technology with open arms, but doctors are worried about the range of behavioural aberrations they come across: from anxiety and irritability to sleeplessness, neglecting important ­activities, avoiding face-to-face inter­actions with family and friends, and ­drifting away from intimate relationships.

“Most sufferers don’t realise they have a problem and most don’t seek treatment,” says Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, associate professor of clinical psychology, who set up India’s first digital detox centre at NIMHANS—the SHUT clinic or Service for Healthy Use of Technology. The disorders are often not severe enough to cause functional impairment, although in severe form they can be devastating, leading to loss of judgement, insight and control.

New disorders bring new expressions in their wake -

FoMO OR Fear of Missing Out: The relentless fear that something’s happening and you’re missing out. A major research by Oxford University documents how FoMO is linked to general discontent, social anxiety and stress.

Nomophobia Or ‘no-mobile phobia’: It’s the anxiety that arises from not having access to one’s mobile device, and ranges from an uncomfortable feeling to full-blown anxiety due to tech deprivation.

Cybersickness: People feel disoriented and nauseous from a virtual environment. It happens when our brains get tricked into motion sickness, when we are not actually moving.

Facebook Depression: It’s caused by social interaction, or its lack, especially among young people that is directly linked to the amount of time they spend on Facebook. It happens when other people post only good news about themselves—vacations, party pics, fun etc—that creates the false belief among others that everyone else is leading far happier and successful lives than you (when this may not be the case at all).

The full cover story may be accessed at their link HERE!