I totally agree that excessive usage of the internet has affected my personal relationships and other important activities in my life. This is a very serious one because it is literally what is happening to me currently.
Let me start from this year and what excessive use of the internet has done to me; When I re-continued my online business this year, it took so much time, still does and requires me to spend so much time on it. So basically, to make money now, I have to spend so much time on my phone.
Asides that, sometimes I just spend hours watching contents on Instagram and Snapchat and before I know it, so many hours has gone. It continues like this till late at night and the early hours of the morning before I finally give in to sleep.
So yes, this internet overuse has made me a socially isolated person. I don't fancy social gatherings so much like I used to, I could accept an invite to an event and not show up for the event.
It has also made me lose some friends because I no longer have time to talk to them everyday. Most times I reply their messages weeks later which can be frustrating and those meaningful connections once built are broken.
These excessive use of the internet made me lose sleep at some point and now I'm struggling to regain it back. It got so bad that I started sleeping only when it's 2-4am in the morning because I'll stay up late working or watching movies and I'll still wake up by 6 or 7am because I won't be able to sleep again.
This also affected my health a lot. I not only lost weight due to lack of appetite but I also experienced high levels of stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, reduced attention span and back pains.
I no longer had time for myself, it was as though my phone was more important than I was, I no longer called my family often because I always gave the excuse of "I'm busy" and I no longer had time to do important activities like read, meditate, journal or pray and worship God.
All of these contributed to affecting how I performed both academically, socially and physically as a person.
Experience |
|---|
In a day, frankly speaking I can use my phone for at least 15-20 hours in a day. I'm even just realising I spend almost 20 hours on my phone while writing this.
From 5-6am I'm awake finishing up some tasks, then I'll start my morning with playing songs that are soothing then read my morning bible reminders. From 8am I'm already looking for what to eat and freshen up before coming back to my bed to start working till about 11 to 12pm when I take a break.
Sometimes my routine fluctuates, I work until evening or I watch movies till evening depending on my deadlines for work. Then most times I journal, or learn a new thing on YouTube but I'm still always fixated on my phone.
The only time I've spent away from my phone is when I want to cook, or eat, or shower, or take a short walk, or sleep which in total doesn't even take up to 7-10 hours. I know this calls for serious improvement because this is crazy. At this point I can say I'm addicted to my phone.
Side Effects |
|---|
Electronic addictions has numerous side effects on the physical, social, mental health of anyone affected by it. It also affects relationships, friendships, emotional well-being and our daily lives in total.
To break the effects of these addictions further;
- Physical health: Phone addiction can lead to insomnia, eye problems, back and neck pains, including headache and neglect in diet. I'm really heavy on the insomnia part because when you get too addicted to your phone, you lose sleep over it and that's when your problems start.
Usually it starts with body soreness, followed by pains and you start feeling burned out, excessively anxious, irritable at the slightest and occasionally sad. This is one of the leading causes of depression.
- Mental health: In a generation where
mental health is most underrated and rarely looked into, these electronic addictions negatively affects our mind without knowing. It can lead to social isolation, decreased attention span, loss of self esteem, fear of missing out when you see people younger than you living the kind of life you want.
These can lead to so much stress worrying about our lives and not living in the moment or being grateful.
- Relationships and Daily life: Phone
addictions has also made relationships suffer, be it family, friends, or spouses. We won't know how to communicate properly with people, we neglect important relationships because we feel our phone is more important and then we prioritise online relationships over offline ones.
These can also lead to decreased productivity and efficiency and then we start neglecting responsibilities.
Solutions |
|---|
- Monitor your phone usage and screen time:
By setting reminders or alarms on our phone, we can regulate the amount of time we spend with our phone. So once the reminder to put our phone comes off, we stick to it. It'll also help to monitor our data usage and regularly delete apps and videos on our phone to reduce the amount of things that can potentially carry us to our phone.
Set phone limits and a phone free day
We can implement time limit on our phone. For example, we can set a goal to use our phone for just 4 hours that day with the rest of the day without using our phone. That way we'll have enough time to practice self care, exercise, eat well and take an afternoon nap.Engage in hobbies or activities that might interest us: When we see an event that we might enjoy or get invited to an event, don't turn it down. Register for it and show up, that way it'll be easier to meet new friends, build meaningful connections and learn something new and fun.
Maintain a healthy sleep routine: Practice sleeping immediately you feel like it, because once you ignore that urge, it becomes difficult to sleep again hence giving you more time to spend on your phone.
- Seek help and support from friends or family:
You can set tasks for your friends to help you stick to a good phone usage routine. Share your concerns with them. Join a wellness group or start going to the gym and practice self reflection. These tips will help prevent the rising surge of electronic addictions in our generation.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit