Mobile Phones Are Killing Us (Quite Literally)—What About the Future?
Our stories may not be this extreme but at the same time, it’s also not too different.
I came across this news article when I was researching for writing an article.
The dangerous effects of mobile phones are foreign to no one. But when you hear a case like this, it shocks you to the core.
The case was of a 16-year-old girl from the state of Kerala, India. She was a class 11 student. Phone addiction ensnared her so badly she could see no better way to get out than taking her own life.
She committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling fan in her bedroom. When no answer came after constant knocking, family members and neighbours broke the window pane and found her hanging body.
An officer investigating this case said, “During the period [pandemic], she grew fond of the music videos of popular Korean bands that she used to regularly watch on YouTube. In her suicide letter, she claimed to have found it difficult to withdraw from her addiction.”
She was not found to actively use any social networking websites or any gaming applications. Her deteriorating academic performance is also said to be one of the reasons for the steps she has taken.
It is one of those cases that shocks you to the core and makes you question the things concerned all over again.
Are we acting naive?
Are we crossing limits when it comes to interacting with gadgets like mobile phones?
Is the internet a place to find knowledge in abundance or feel an inferiority complex beyond any limits?
How is it that something virtual becomes more important than real flesh and blood humans?
And many, many more.
It is also worth considering what the future has in store for us if things keep going in this direction. Not in a favourable way, though.
The speed at which immersive technologies are being developed is commendable and alarming at the same time.
I was reading a book yesterday about how SaaS companies make users “addicted” or habitual to their products with the help of design, psychology, and behavioural economics. It’s called Hooked, if you want to give it a read.
I found a quote by Paul Graham, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist, in the book which summarises this growing tech concern the best.
“…unless the forms of technological progress that produced these things are subject to different laws than technological progress in general, the world will get more addictive in the next 40 years than it did in the last 40.”
There was no Facebook before 2004.
There was no YouTube before 2005.
There was no Twitter before 2006.
There was no Uber before 2009.
There was no Zoom before 2011.
There was no TikTok before 2016.
Heck, not even the Internet is 40 years old. Can you believe that? It was invented in 1983 and was put in the public domain in 1993.
Trying to visualise how the world will be in the next 40 years is a topic you can dive into in your spare time.
It’s going to be extremely different from now. That’s for sure.
If we can’t control our addictions now, it’s a complete dystopia to even think how much we can be addicted to the Internet of Things in the future.
It's just a scary possibility, but it can be entertained nevertheless.
What can we do?
It all starts with being conscious. If we don’t know the dangerous effects a drug has on our health, we are not incentivized much to try to leave it.
Mobile phone addictions are the same. For a long time, I didn’t know I was engulfed in my smartphone for more than 6–7 hours every day.
I don’t want to spoon-feed anyone how to quit their smartphone addictions. We all know the drill. Still, here are some of the most basic yet most effective ones.
- Check your screen time. 99% of us will be shocked by the numbers.
- Uninstall social media apps and use them in a browser if needed. We are all lazy; use it to your advantage here.
- Block notifications. Switch to Focus mode. If it’s not distracting, you won’t be distracted. Simple.
- Use greyscale. That boring black, white, and grey mode is effective in making things boring, hence less appealing.
Abandoning something is rarely a solution. If the early humans had not domesticated wild animals, they wouldn’t have been able to survive.
The same is the case with us today. We can’t abandon smartphones due to the sheer amount of utility and convenience it provides. We will need to use it to our advantage and not let it take control.
We should always be the ones in control, always.
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