The term that defines the addiction to a mobile phone is Nomophobia, which comes from the nomenclature "Not-Mobile-Phobia"Which comes to represent the fear that some people feel about leaving home without their mobile phone.
It is characterized by increasing nervousness, anguish, a feeling of loneliness and of being untraceable when not carrying a mobile phone. Although it is not yet considered a disease, it is a reality that is increasingly present in our society, which portrays a relationship of pathological dependence with the technological object.
With the arrival of new technologies, we find mobile phones, devices with great functionality for day-to-day use due to their communication capacity, which overwhelm our society to such an extent that it would be very difficult for us to imagine a life without them now same.
It is left behind both resorting to libraries, books and encyclopedias to consult a question, as well as the format of a written letter to communicate with our loved ones, which involved a great investment of time, since from the moment it was sent until it was received it passed a period of time that today would be inconceivable.
It is clear that our relationship with the world has changed and our behavior has changed., since we have had to adapt to all these changes.
As we have already seen, any reinforcing behavior can cause an addiction, whether or not it has chemical substances.. The use of the Smartphone can be very rewarding and reinforcing but an inappropriate use of them could lead to an addiction, although there is still a question mark as to whether new technologies generate an addictive disorder in the same way as behavioral addictions.
In what there is an agreement is that the Smartphone was created with an adaptive purpose of use, but in many cases they lead to addictive use, that use that the person makes in an abusive way causing negative consequences in their life.
This addictive use depends a lot on personal vulnerability, being the teenagers the population most at risk of addictive use of mobile phones. Adolescence is the stage in which our self-concept begins to form, in such a way that we do not have very defined our values, our beliefs, or our personality.
We are vulnerable, we have the need to establish a social group of equals with whom to develop in harmony. We no longer ask our parents if we can or cannot do one thing or another, if we have doubts about a topic, etc. Our point of reference begins to be our social group that can exert some pressure on our decisions. That is why it is so important that in adolescence we have the approval of others.
Fashions play an important role in adolescence. As i mentioned before, adolescents need to feel part of a peer group to form their self-concept. On many occasions, this feeling of integrity depends on fashion, that is, whether or not you have the latest video game, pants, or mobile phone. The acquisition of Smartphones is increasingly at an earlier age, generating greater vulnerability to people to develop an addiction.
Unlike people who use their mobile phones properly, certain behaviors of those who develop Nomophobia should be highlighted:
People addicted to Smartphones spend practically all day glued to their mobile phone, they even develop symptoms of anxiety, sweating, and palpitations when they don't have it. We could say that they develop symptoms similar to that of abstinence syndrome.
This is another of the main characteristics of these people. The more dependence they generate on the mobile, the more they isolate themselves, even being in a group of young people all with the mobile phone without speaking, communicating through social networks.
People with addiction can look at their mobile repeatedly so as not to miss any news.
They get to spend so much time with the mobile that they stop doing those activities that were pleasant to them. This can become dangerous, because when a person loses reinforcers such as playing basketball or cooking, their self-esteem will notice that loss and it will probably decrease..
Let's not forget that for good writing and oral and written expression, reading is necessary. What about smartphones? We get used to smart keyboards that even finish the words we want to write without giving us the option to make mistakes. On other occasions, we read messages that we receive with a language created to communicate by mobile, forgetting the correct spelling.
The communication through the mobile does not suppose any cost, it is immediate. If we stop to think, what this immediacy is doing is creating people with difficulties to delay responses and with the need for immediate reinforcement. To such an extent that they generate frustration if the mobile is slower, or the person with whom they want to communicate does not reply to the message.
At this point, it is of special relevance that the reader knows some of the consequences of misuse of mobile phones in adolescents and in the adult population
Problems with parents are usually the most frequent, usually because they stop attending to housework to spend more time with the mobile or because the interaction between family members is reduced. Among couples the most abundant problems are jealousy and control.
In the case of adolescents, there is a decrease in their school performance because they spend more time on the mobile phone than in classes
Like conversations with friends, rewarding activities; reading, sports, painting, etc.
All this entails: fatigue, tiredness, inattention, irritability, etc. There are studies that show us how the use of the mobile phone before going to sleep is detrimental to falling asleep since the screen generates a short wave blue light, in such a way that the head interprets that it is still daytime and does not make enough melatonin to fall asleep
Isolation usually affects adolescents the most
In addition to all of the above, depression, anxiety, stress, lack of privacy and security can also occur..
I would like to end this article by concluding that new technologies such as the Internet or Smartphones are tools that human beings enjoy to expand our knowledge and communications. Even having been created for adaptive purposes, misuse of these can lead to serious problems in our professional and personal life.
We must be aware of the signs that may be indicating an addiction to our Smartphones. Probably many of us feel this discomfort, even if it is small, when we do not have our mobile phone with us, or when we have forgotten it at home. I propose to the reader that during one day he counts the number of times he looks at the screen of his phone without any end..
Adolescents are the most vulnerable group to develop addiction to new technologies and particularly Nomophobia, due to the evolutionary stage of development in which they are found, but also to the accessibility to these.
Let us remember that new technologies should bring us improvements in the quality of life, they should make us gain flexibility and in many other things. Sometimes, however, more and more moments of rest and leisure invade us, depriving the individual of freedom., who lives with the feeling of having to be permanently connected and available.
We end up being very connected and poorly communicated. We make superficial communications "facing the gallery" with many acquaintances, but few friends. We get closer to those who are further away and we move away from those who are close to us.
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