I will never forget the day I received my first mobile phone. A red-coloured rectangular piece of wonder with a stash of blue at the rim, which would soon bring the world to my fingertips. I was delighted and overwhelmed with the boundless possibilities it exuded. I held it the way I would have held a woman’s palm, caressing it with a mixture of softness and boldness.
I remember being transported a few decades back when a similar gadget had entered my house for the first time — a black and white electronic cable TV —and how I had spent the rest of the week bunking school and sitting on the sofa, regaled by programmes that ranged from cinema to sports to what not! Here was an addiction that was tailored to our desires besides being home-bred and room-served.
With mobile phones, however, things got compounded. Not least because you could carry them around in your pocket. One doesn’t need to bunk school or be tied to a sofa. A mobile phone is designed and destined to follow you like a poodle. A constant source of instant gratification, especially when the mobile phone is a smartphone.
Shorter sleep duration and increased sleep latencies among inevitable long-term effects of constant smartphone use
As we now realise, these mobile gadgets (just like medications) are not exactly angels descending from the sky. They have their own side effects, which in today’s world can culminate into fatal consequences. Let’s delve deeper.
Research has been clear on the deleterious effects of phones on adolescent sleep. According to a review of 36 correlational studies, there are “significant associations” between sleep disorders and high social media use. According to a UK study, shorter sleep duration, frequent deep sleep awakenings and increased sleep latencies are inevitable long-term effects of constant smartphone use. For teenagers, who generally need more sleep for adequate metabolism, phones can easily herald long-term health hazards.
When it comes to addiction, this becomes something like an open-door policy. Truth be told, any form of instant gratification is largely a thoughtless, pleasure-seeking exercise. Worse, almost like an infectious disease, addiction has the potential to spread from one genre to another. Indeed, observational studies have clearly shown associations of problematic mobile phone use with alcohol and drug abuse, along with risky sexual practices.
Declining academic performance is another scientifically proven ill effect of excessive use of phones. Be it attention fragmentation or a full-blown Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a morbid desire to immerse into social media through smartphones is bound to cause damage to the immature frontal lobe of a growing individual. With a diminished ability to contemplate or be insightful, the brain invariably gets re-wired into an instrument that is inadequate, both structurally and functionally.
A prolonged exposure to the mobile screen can create unwillingness to communicate
Too much use of phones can lead to a schizoaffective disorder Shutterstock
Moreover, meaningful words are bound to dwindle when the entire focus is on a gadget meant to reduce attention span. The ripple effects can assume alarming proportions, including but not limited to the inability to communicate. Worse still, a prolonged exposure to the mobile screen can create unwillingness to communicate, which may breed isolation, depression and, in extreme cases, suicidal ideation.
I will go a step further. Overuse of a gadget meant to shape traits and personality could form the template of a future schizoaffective disorder, where unheard voices are heard and unseen faces are seen.
We find ourselves in a precarious tangle. In our quest for advancement, we are tortured by our own talents, where the only respite is an understanding that the enduring success of an invention can only be built on how intelligently and responsibly it is put to use.
Dr Shuvendu Sen, born and brought up in Kolkata, is a US-based physician currently serving as the vice chair, Research, at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center, New Jersey. An award-winning physician and author, his works include The Fight Against Alzheimer’s (Rupa Publications, 2024), Why Buddha Never Had Alzheimer’s (HCI/ Simon & Schuster, 2017) and A Doctor's Diary (Times Group Books, 2014), among others. Dr Sen can be reached at shuvendusen57@gmail.com
