Zeeshan Rasool Khan
COMPUTER technology has revolutionized the world. Earlier, people had limited access to computers. These were used exclusively in banks, companies, institutions, etc. Time has changed. Computer in the form of laptops, palmtops and specifically in the form of cell phone has reached every hand. With advancement in technology, a cell phone is not any more a tool of two-way communication only but more than that. Cell phone now modernized as ‘Smartphone’ has cooped the world in its palm-sized screen.
With an internet connection, the Smartphone is like the ‘world’ in our hands. On a click, we can get at the information about anything we like. Also, we can connect with several people, living in remote areas instantly. At present, this new technology enables us to hold video-conferences, wherein distant people can talk and even see each other. For uncountable purposes, we require this high-tech device. Of course, people from all walks of life are benefitted by this advancement and indubitably it has hugely contributed to the progress and development of the world.
However, a superfluity of the mobile-phone usage has resulted in a myriad of problems. One such problem is weird ‘Smartphone– dependency’, which prodded the Cambridge University to declare the ‘Nomophobia’ as the word of the year 2018. The word Nomophobia has been derived from the phrase – ‘No Mobile Phobia’, that is, the phobia of being without a mobile phone or the fear at the idea of being without your mobile phone (mainly Smartphone) or unable to use. According to the latest research, Nomophobia has gripped the biblical proportion of the population. People, primarily, the youngsters are showing much dependence on these useful, not essential smart phones. Many fail to afford even an hour without them.
Using the technology creatively and productively is fair enough, however; becoming its slave is no-good. The prolific use of gadgets is favourable, but developing a dependence on them is unfavourable as any kind of ‘dependency leads to instability’. Nomophobia is not the boon. It is abnormal psychological behaviour making a person feel incomplete without the gadget. Besides, it has several problems connected to it. Phobic suffers from anxiety, discomfort and nervousness after being out of contact with a cell phone. Thus it has been included in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders.
Nomophobia influences noxiously not only the physical and psychological health of a person but also his social life by making a user use the mobile phone obsessively. Medical complications like headache, eyestrain, body aches, neck and thumb ache, lack of sleep, etc very often crop up in the user as a result. And a generation of a sense of incompleteness and fear among users while being without phone is its psychological disadvantage. Virtually cell phone brings the people close but realistically it distances them. Nomophobia never attaches importance to people surrounding him/her. Even in large gatherings, user feels isolated without a device – which is actually of secondary importance.
Last but not the least, the wastage of time in the over-usage of smart phone is another serious drawback that is related, in particular to the career of youngsters. Time has great significance in one’s life. Success depends upon the way time is utilized and when a person wastes the same, he/she is bound to face failure. The Smartphone is one of the greatest and useful inventions. We must derive benefit from this. However, allowing it enslave us gives rise to negative consequences. The need of the time is to make its appropriate use instead of making the life liable to diverse risks.
Consuming time on the Smartphone, inordinately, is nowise benefit. Because it is known to all that we usually forget our actual assignment and are trapped in other otiose things while using advanced mobiles. Far better is to utilize the time wisely and minimize their use or use them only when required. In fact, we must concentrate to achieve what we are meant to – mastering the technology without letting it master us. This shrewd use of Smartphone, on one hand, would be in our interest and on the other hand will constrict the space for the spread of the phobia called – Nomophobia.
—The writer is freelance columnist.
