Baskadia

Phone addiction may sound silly to some readers who

remember a time before smartphones and 5G internet, but it is

a real and serious issue plaguing thousands of people every

single day. Consider another term for phone addiction - this

term is referred to as “nomophobia,” which is the fear of being

without a mobile phone.

This type of addiction is a disorder that involves the compulsive

overuse of mobile devices. These compulsive habits are

typically quantified by the total amount of time that a person is

online within an average day, as well as the total number of

times a person accesses their phone. However, compulsive

overuse is just one facet of phone addiction.

This type of addiction is typically supplemented by concurring

internet addiction. This is when a person cannot control their

urges and behaviors regarding computer use and the internet.

This can lead to someone suffering from psychological distress,

as well as mental and physical impairment.

Worse yet, it is extremely easy for a modern-day person to

become addicted to the internet. At the beginning of the internet revolution in the late twentieth century, the internet

was relatively difficult to access - you had to be technologically￾savvy to successfully surf the web.

Nowadays, this process has been simplified and color-coded

through social media and other apps. Rather than having to

understand a computer programming language and perform a

series of keystrokes, now with a click of a button and a swipe

right you can access any kind of content you could imagine.

Plus, due to factors that will be discussed below, it is extremely

easy to endlessly scroll and lost sense of time due to the ease

of access.

Short Term Memory Problems

Short-term memory loss is when someone forgets something

that was experienced recently.

This is something normal that happens as people age, but it can

also be a sign of a deeper problem. Incidents involving short term memory loss seem to be occurring much more frequently

among people from the younger generations. Sometimes this

happens due to brain damage, illness, or a mental health issue. Overuse of phones has been linked to short-term memory

problems. There is a known term for this unfortunate

phenomenon. This is known as “digital amnesia.” The

researches at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute

have revealed that increasing exposure to devices does in fact

negatively affect the memory of adolescents.

The type of memory that is damaged is called “figural

memory.” This form of memory helps a human make sense of

patterns, shapes, and images. This process happens in the right

hemisphere of the brain.

It has been suggested for some time that smartphones may

reduce the cognitive capacity of a person. Cognitive capacity

refers to the total amount of information the brain is capable

of retaining at any particular moment in time. Phones can drain

the cognitive capacity of a person, thus limiting the ability for a

person to successfully complete a task even if they are not

using a device at the time of the task!