How Excessive Smartphone Use Affects Our Mental and Relational Health
Originally published on: La Voce Di Newyork
Cell phones represent a sort of "black box": they contain work contacts, our emotional world, e-mail messages, apps, and social networks. Due to its multifunctionality, it becomes a modulator of separation anxiety from the partner, children and work.
In some way, it is a substitute for the physical distance and the fear associated with the loss of connection with others. Moreover, this way of communication offer the opportunity to "see" each other through videos, and interact with photos and chats even when you are unable to call.
Taking this into account, cell phones "play" with different aspects of our personality, allowing us to "always be present, constantly traceable," and at the same time generate "despair" when a phone is lost, broken, or, more simply, forgotten somewhere. Being connected is the rule of everyday life. The power of connection give us the illusion of having tools to limit unexpected events, cope with social events, and make project development decisions remotely. In addition, mobile phones satisfies human being's desire for visibility, and many expose their private lives on the web.
The pathological consequence is addiction, which can lead to obsessive-compulsive forms of photo and video sharing. To avoid this issue, it would be healthy to consider detaching ourselves from our cell phones at least for a few hours a day and reclaiming the "dimension of reality," especially for adolescents who, by overusing them, risk dangerous addictions, alienation and distortion of human relationships.
Cell phone are responsible for friendships, feelings, and, sometimes, even sexuality. With a healthy disconnection, we can take back the world, its noise, and the freedom of relating off-screen bearing the weight of our own soul.
Professor Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., is the creator and head of the Sbarro Health Research Organization, located at Temple University's College of Science and Technology in Philadelphia. Stay connected with him through his various social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, to receive the latest updates.
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