In a way, we can say that there is no other device like the mobile phone that has been universalized and popularized to such a great extent. The first mobile phone was the size of a large brick. One could speak on it only for thirty minutes at the most. Messaging was impossible. Its battery needed a ten-hour long charging as well. However, the mobile phone has undergone massive transformation through the years.
Today, a great number of people spend their time on smartphones. From a mere device to making a call, smartphones have become an integral part of our lives, connected to almost every aspect of life. We pay electricity bills and water bills through our smartphones. We need a mobile phone to meet our friends or to cancel a meeting. A mobile phone is used to send messages to our friends and relatives living abroad. We can get the help of the Google Map on our smartphones while travelling. It helps us to calculate, take a snap, watch a movie, listen to a song, etc. Sometimes, we use our smartphone as a torch. The world is pervaded by smartphones.
According to a study conducted in the United States, an adult person browses his/her mobile phone an average of 344 times a day, which means once in every four minutes. In other words, we spend three hours a day on our smartphones. Even though we pick up our mobile phones for a specific use, we keep browsing other things as well for a longer time.
It is said that the more the smartphone is useful to us, the more time we spend on it. When we use smartphones excessively, neural paths are formed in our brains. It leads us to a smartphone addiction that forces us to depend on the mobile phone for doing any task. Even when we really do not need a mobile phone, we have an inclination to pick it up. Studies claim that smartphone addiction is on the increase day by day. Multitasking can disrupt our concentration. Using a smartphone while driving is an example.
A group of researchers, who made a comparative study on how a smartphone in hand and a smartphone kept away from the eyes can affect one while doing a task, made these findings: They asked some of them to place their smartphones at a distance they can see. Some others were asked to keep it in their pockets. Another group of people kept the smartphones in the next room. All three groups were given the same tasks. Even though all these groups completed their tasks, the group that kept their mobile phones in the next rooms performed their tasks better than the others. The reason is clear. They forgot about their smartphones and were immersed in their tasks. While the others lost their concentration when they received messages or calls.
In short, keeping your smartphone in your hands or keeping it near you can result in brain leakage. It reduces your creativity and concentration. It induces you to check your phone time and again. The reason why it is prohibited to take your smartphone with you into the examination halls or you are asked to keep it in silent mode is that it distracts your concentration.
It is true that we cannot bid a complete farewell to our mobile phones in this contemporary scenario of the digital world. Nevertheless, we can keep a distance from smartphones. We must do it. Otherwise, it will adversely affect our creativity and brain. We will depend on them for everything and that will reduce our capabilities. We should put a curb on our tendency to check our smartphones now and then. Remind yourself that there are more things in your brain than you imagine. Thus, new neural paths will be established and we will be able to overcome our tendency to check our smartphones often.
Understand that nature and our own innate thoughts can give us many things that a smartphone can never give.
