Achi news desk-
New Delhi58 minutes agoAuthor: Varun Shailesh
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A class 11 student died while using a mobile phone in Amroha. Doctors have declared a heart attack as the cause of death. Similarly, in Faridabad, Haryana, in May last year, a boy strangled his elder sister to death after she stopped him from playing a mobile game.
In the same area, a sister killed her brother because he was playing games on a mobile phone and did not give her the phone.
These incidents show how strong a person’s emotional connection is with mobility, which starts as a disorder and turns into a disease. Research is going on in the world of psychology to include it in the category of mental illness.
Counseling psychologist Soumya Nigam of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai says humans are getting addicted to smartphones.
It has become a worse addiction than cigarettes and tobacco. Just as there is a craving for drugs, in the same way a person has a desire to watch mobile. If a person does not have a mobile phone, he feels empty. His mind becomes restless. If a child or an elder who is addicted to smartphones is banned from using the mobile phone, he gets upset.
India ranks 8th among the countries that spend the most time on mobile every day. According to a report, in 2022, an average Indian will spend 5 hours a day looking at a mobile phone outside of 24 hours. In 2020 this figure was four hours.
data.ai. Lexi Sidow, head of Insights, says people are spending more time on smartphones streaming video, dating apps and watching short videos. They also spend money for this.
But Soumya says that even if internet businessmen see their growth in these figures, it also has a dark side, which reduces people’s tolerance and makes them angry.
A decrease in sleep makes humans violent
Soumya says that people who have become ‘mobile addicts’ cut short their sleep and look at smartphones all night. This causes stress, frustration and a negative impact on their mind.
Because of all these reasons, the person becomes angry, the effect of which can be seen clearly in the conversation as well.
mobile misleads the brain
- According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, smartphones in bed at night are tricking the human brain.
- In fact, there is a protein present in the eyes that detects light.
- This protein provides information about light to the brain. The brain then tells the organs to work.
- Most smartphones emit blue light. There is usually blue light in the morning.
- By seeing blue light, the body gets a warning from the brain to wake up from sleep.
- If there is blue light in front of the eyes at night, the brain will tell the body that it is morning time.
- Because of blue light, the hormone melatonin which helps in sleep is also not released in the brain.
There is a red light at night, seeing which one the brain is in the mood to wrap up its work and go to sleep.
If someone shows the symptoms mentioned in the graphic below for more than 6 months, then be alert. Soumya says withdrawal symptoms are seen if the mobile phone is not near for some time.
There is no sleep in this. Symptoms such as irritability, constant mood swings, depression, anxiety, pain, dry throat, cravings and fatigue are seen. Along with aggressive behavior, the man also becomes prone to fighting or abuse.
The human brain does not fully develop until the age of 25. Therefore, the mental development of teenagers who have become dependent on mobile phones may be affected.
- Smartphone addiction will make a child or any person mentally ill.
- A cell phone addicted child’s brain will not develop.
- There will be problems in making decisions and controlling anger and emotions.
- The child will become addicted to alcohol, tobacco and will not even eat food properly.
- Because of the phone, such children remain isolated everywhere inside and outside the house.
We will try to understand the answer to the question why smartphones attract us, through an experiment with pigeons and the design of casinos.
The question is – why do people remain so attached to smartphones that it becomes an addiction? Let us understand this through experiments and expert analysis.
The phone is unlocked about 60 times a day
How many times does a person look at their phone in a day? In order to know the answer to this question, Larry Rosen, Professor of Psychology at California State University, said in the results of a survey conducted on more than 200 students, that a young man unlocks about 60 phones in a day. And the phone remains unlocked for 220 minutes.
This means that on average a young man looks at his phone for more than 3.30 hours. However, you will also find many people who unlock their phones more than 100 times a day.
We will try to understand the answer to the question why smartphones attract us, through an experiment with pigeons and the design of casinos.
Question – Why are we attracted to the smartphone?
To understand this question, let us understand the psychology of smartphones. Professor Natasha Shull of New York University, who analyzes the design of anything, says – Sex, a person of choice and delicious food, these three things attract a person the most. Now smartphones are also included in it. This also attracts you and becomes addictive.
The question is why does a person become addicted to something?
Natasha gave an example of the experiment of BF Skinner, an American psychologist and the father of behaviorism.
What effect do rewards and behavior have on someone? To find this out, Skinner carried out many experiments on pigeons in cages. When the lever was pressed, food would come out as a reward. When you feel hungry, press the lever and you will get food. But Skinner found in the 1950-60s that reward addiction occurs when one does not know how much and when the reward will be received.
The desire for something new keeps a person glued to their mobile phone.
According to Skinner, pigeons also knew that they only had to press the lever when they were hungry, but if by pressing the lever sometimes they got food and sometimes they didn’t, then they would also stick to it and continues to press it continuously.
In her book called ‘Addiction by Design’, Natasha says that whether it’s a human being or an animal, if they don’t know what they will get as a reward, then they be attracted to it.
In casinos, most of the profits come from slot machines. A gambling person presses the casino slot again and again so that he can win something.
What could experiments with pigeons, slot machines and smartphones have in common? A pigeon pecking repeatedly at a liver for food, a gambler repeatedly pressing the slot button in a casino, or a commuter in the metro repeatedly checking the WhatsApp, Instapost or Facebook timeline, all are do look for similar rewards. Everyone wants to know what’s coming next?
Smartphone addiction also leads to the desire for something new. Let us understand this from the theory of pleasure loaf.
Smartphone is hacking human brain
Apps installed in smartphones make people addicted to mobile phones. This is where the effort to hack the brain begins, and this work begins with the activation of pleasure. We want to do things that make us happy. Whenever we feel happy, a chemical called dopamine is released in our brain which gives us happiness. Happiness ie pleasure is not a problem. The problem is the pleasure loop.
When you see something on a mobile phone for the first time, dopamine is released in your brain and you feel happy. Then you hang up and start doing your other work. But as soon as the level of dopamine in the brain drops, the brain again begins to crave for dopamine. Then you pick up your mobile and start checking social media, mail, WhatsApp etc. All this goes on continuously. If you’re looking at or checking your phone every so often, then you’re in the pleasure loop.
How do I enter the Pleasure Loop?
Thousands of engineers work behind all the apps available in smartphones so that mobile phone users stay in the pleasure loop and spend their maximum time there. There are three ways to keep you in the pleasure loop.
1. Novelty
Humans always like novelty. This is what apps do. They always give something new so you stay glued to them. Whenever you open the phone, you get new features, new messages, new notifications, new updates. All this keeps the users engaged.
2. Anxiety
When we feel hungry, we eat. If there is a problem, we will deal with it. That means we deal with anxiety. Similarly, mobile phone users solve their anxiety through new notifications, news feed, messages. Like how many likes the Facebook post got, how many views the reel got. In this way, we deal with our stress and enter the pleasure loop created through apps.
3. Attention
Humans like attention. This is what apps do, they highlight all your work. Your videos, photos, thoughts. Mobile phone users get happiness by seeing likes and views and then they get stuck in the pleasure loop.
Mobile has confused the mind, users are getting angry at everything.
According to Soumya Nigam, there are two types of memory in the human brain, long-term memory and working memory. All types of information go into long-term memory through working memory. Events that leave a serious impact remain in the long-term memory. But daily activities are limited to working memory. Working memory is most important. Everyday life depends on this.
Remember that situation again when you look at the mobile phone and also talk to someone. A lot of information goes through your mind on the mobile screen.
In this you also have to talk to the other person. The brain reaches a state of suspension. All this is mind boggling.
Dr Soumya Nigam says that excessive use of mobile phone can be making a person crazy, but today it has become a necessity.
In such a situation, it is important to avoid excessive and reckless use of mobile phone. As much work as it needs, only so much time should be given to a mobile phone. Give the remaining time to family and friends, life will be happy.
