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Smartphone Addiction- Causes, Symptoms, Effects and Statistics

The 21st century cannot be imagined without a smartphone. The features and its easy accessibility are irresistible for one and all. Young adults mainly, belonging to the generation that has seen a smartphone since their teenage find it even more fascinating as they have never even had to wait for a webpage to load, let alone wait for a letter for days to communicate with their loved ones. Everything has literally been on the fingertips.

Addiction is considered by WHO (WHO Expert Committee ‑ 1964) as dependence, as the continuous use of something for the sake of relief, comfort, or stimulation, which often causes cravings when it is absent. (WHO, 2014) Substance addiction and behavioural addictions are the two major categories of addiction.

What is a Smartphone?

Smartphones are advanced devices with a wide range of features, even more than an ordinary mobile phone. They provide medium for communication through voice, video, texts. It also has the capability to provide wireless communication through the use of wireless internet services. The facilities that are provided in a smartphone attracts huge numbers of users.

What is Smartphone Addiction?

Smartphone addiction is a behavioral addiction characterized by compulsive usage of a smartphone and an inability to minimize the urge of using it. The addiction has impact on the physical and psychological health of the individual and impairs the daily functioning.

Causes of Smartphone Addiction-

There are various factors that may contribute to the addiction-

Loneliness– Feelings of loneliness can make a person feel really helpless. The presence of a smartphone with all the social media applications where you can communicate with innumerable people may make the person feel less lonely and may feel that there is someone who can listen to them.

Stress– Stress from work, school, college is bound to exhaust an individual. Smartphones can be a mode of relieving the stress temporarily by watching movies, reading e-books, talking to friends and so much more.

Unstable home environment or work environment – Families where parents are often engaged conflicts, addicted to substances, a boss who is autocratic are difficult to deal with. Using smartphones can be a way of escaping from the challenges that need to be faced on a daily basis.

Anxiety in social situations– Some individuals experience a great deal of discomfort in social gatherings. For such individuals, smartphones are a way to connect with people at their own ease and pace.

Availability of resources- The availability of an up-to-date mobile phone with all the features, 24/7 internet connectivity are also an important cause of the addiction. The better the resources available, the higher is the probability of an individual to be making maximum use of the resources.

Symptoms and Signs that you are addicted to your phone-

Missing a planned task/activity due to overuse of smartphone.
Experiencing pain in the wrist or back while using a smartphone.
Difficulty in maintaining concentration while trying to complete assignments.
Worried even by thought of staying without a smartphone.
Feeling impatient when the smartphone is out of your sight.
Using the smartphone longer than intended.
Constant urge to keep checking for notifications.
People around you often point out that you spend a lot of time on your phone.

Effects of Smartphone Addiction-

Physiological Effects

Back or neck problems- Due to prolonged usage of looking on the smartphone screen while sitting/lying bed.

Eye fatigue– The light from the smartphones strain the eyes often causing headaches.

Accidents- There have been several headlines stating the driver or the pedestrian kept moving ahead without looking carefully at the road and met with an accident.

Psychological Effects

Sleep Disturbances– Disruption in sleep is often observed for individuals who overuse their phones, either by using continuing to use it past their bedtime or unable to fall asleep as their phones are right next to them, buzzing with notifications.

Difficulty in concentration– Individuals might find it hard to work with complete attention and concentration when their phone is right next to them while working.

Anxiety- Some people may experience anxiety related to the updates on various sites, keep checking for text replies, likes and shares on their social media profiles. This can affect the overall functioning of the individual.

Ways to prevent oneself from overuse of Smartphone-

Keep a track of the amount of time spent on the phone each day.
Set a time for replying to emails and texts.
Avoid sleeping with your phone in the bedroom.
Remove unnecessary applications from the phone.
Turn off notifications from unimportant applications.
Restrict the usage for entertainment purposes.
Avoid checking your phone as soon as you wake up.

Statistics on Smartphone and Internet Usage

Around the Globe

Usage of mobile phones and internet have skyrocketed in the past few years as it allows users to share and access data instantly. According to a study in April 2019, there are 4 billion individuals who own a mobile phone. By a data February 2019, 48% of webpages around the world are accessed using a mobile phone, and the highest consumers of such services are from Asia and Africa. The maximum rate of internet traffic from mobile phones was found in Nigeria, followed by India, Ghana and Kenya. The highest mobile broadband subscription penetration rates are found in America (97.1%) and Europe (93.6%). The global average for broadband subscription penetration rates was found to be approximately 69.3% in 2018.

India

A smartphone was possessed by 18.21 percent of India’s population by 2015. In December 2016, the most frequently installed operating system in India was android and the Google-backed company’s share in the country’s smartphone OS market was found to be at 77 percent. In 2017, a study conducted found that 49% of Indians visited a social networking site using their phones and 9% used it to listen to music.

As of 30th March, 2019, India had 451 million active users monthly. A report by IAMAI in collaboration with Nelsen Holdings claimed that India is after only the China’s 800+ million users. This was the first report by IAMAI stating the monthly active users rather than the total internet users in the country.

There are 385 million users out of the 451 million users that belong to the age of 12 years and above whereas 66 million users are from ages 5 to 11, which suggests that a huge number of users are school students. Most of these users do not have their personal devices and use the mobile phones of their family members for accessing the internet.

There is no significant difference in the number of users in rural and urban areas. There are 192 million users who belong to the urban areas and the number of users from the rural areas is approximately the same. However, the usage of internet is less in rural population due to its inaccessibility in their areas. India has an overall Internet penetration only of 36%. Urban users spend more time on the internet compared to the users in rural areas. The IAMAI report indicates that 33 percent of urban users spend more than one hour on the internet whereas rural users spend only fifteen to thirty minutes on internet.

Conclusion

The addiction and problematic usage of smartphones is rising with each passing day, mainly in the young adult population. We should keep in mind that these devices were made to make our lives easier and try to use them only when its purposeful.