The latest statistics reveal that there are 27.38 million registered mobile phone connections in Sri Lanka as at the end of last year. Around 6.71 million people use the internet regularly of which 63 per cent go through the mobile phone to access the internet, while 92 per cent access social media through mobile phones.
These figures show that the mobile phone has become indispensable in our day-to-day lives, changing the way we do things and connect with people.
Way of life
To the question, can you live without your mobile phone? You might answer, “I think I can, in theory… maybe, if I really tried, definitely I can.”.
Obviously, you can literally live without your mobile phone, but in terms of convenience, information accessibility, and productivity, the mobile phone has proven to be an absolute technological game changer for us. With the answer to any question at your fingertips, apps for every situation, and the continual addition of new features and apps, you would find it hard to remember what life was like before your mobile phone. Hence it has become a great potential for productivity.
At the same time, mobile phones are dangerously distracting. Be honest to yourself and answer: How many mornings have you woken up, intent on spending time on something important, but found yourself instead frittering away the time on Face Book, Twitter or YouTube or some other time waster?
Has the time in the evenings which you used to spend reading or helping your wife and kids been eclipsed by mindless scrolling through Instagram or tapping addictive phone games?
What to do
Therefore, some call the mobile phone a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it enables us to use apps which can make us more organized, accessible, and informed. On the other hand, it can be a spiralling pit of distraction, making us less productive and finally lead to family issues too.
What do we do? Revert to dumb phones and forego the myriad blessings the mobile phone has bestowed on us? Do we search out a new product like a type of awesome minimalist phone? Or is there a way we can harness the good parts of our mobile phones while not being sucked in by the distracting parts?
Taking time to reflect on the proper use of the mobile phone is important since the dependence on them could have a dehumanizing effect. They lose touch with reality and human relationships, though everyone is not so. There are certain signs which indicate that they have gone too far, and need to stop and take measures.
Three such signs are:
1. You feel both busy but void. Within a hurried pace of online life, time itself loses its meaning. People experience the double sensation of having no time to do anything and doing nothing with their time. American Sociologist Richard Stivers calls this experience the “sterilization of time.” He explains that, “When time loses its meaning it becomes the space within which we produce and consume as much as possible.”
Without much time to reflect upon and interpret experiences, life becomes all jumbled. People then experience boredom, exhaustion and psychological stress that is so much a part of modern life. When this paradox of having no time yet wasting so much time strikes, it is time to stop, disconnect and think about how to use mobile phones less or more constructively.
2. You become addictive to the phone. According to a survey conducted last year, among 2,000 internet users in urban areas in Sri Lanka, nearly 59 percent believed they are addicted to their mobile phones. It revealed that 39 per cent of users spend an average of 8 hours a day online.
When internet addiction starts to affect your relationships and take huge amounts of your time, it is time to stop, disconnect and take measures. Ironically, the mobile phone that supposedly empowers people now has power over people.
3. When you believe you cannot stop. You know you have to change when you feel you can’t take a break. Many people regret their addiction to mobile phones and the time wasted on them. However, they are blinded by myths that they simply cannot control their usage. They believe no one succeeds in disconnecting. They give up on making any effort based on these myths.
It is then that people should stop and disconnect. Ironically, it is precisely at the time when people realize the danger of technology overload that they are in the best position to disconnect. People should take advantage of this insight to become motivated to change their lives.
Not alone
People need to take courage from the fact that they are not alone. Millions throughout the world face the same problem and are taking measures to limit their use of technology.
Those addicted to smartphones for example, are going back to simpler phones. One out of every seven Americans are now using the so-called ‘light’ phones that only make calls and send text messages.
Some 24.2 million such phones were sold in 2018, many of them to those who wished to unplug. Others are simply disciplining their time online to reflect realistic needs.
Technology should be used like a person on a horse who rides the horse towards a goal in life.
Today, technology has become a wild horse who drags the fallen rider from the stirrup. When people start losing control, it is time to stop and get back on top of the horse.