How is my phone changing me?

Or, how does your phone change you, too? 

Yeah, it is not just us that’s capable of controlling our phones. In many ways, it seems to be the other way around. When I tried asking Google of ways my phone is changing me, I found myself looking at countless results, mostly of religious connection. It was not bad at all, but I wanted to see something that specifically answers my questions.

And since, I cannot find the exact thing I was looking for, I decided to put together all the things I have realized so far as to the query, “How is my phone changing me”?

Have you ever forgotten your phone at home and felt perfectly uncomfortable the whole day at work? I did it again the other day, and I was quite restless. I was shocked to  find out this feeling is now referred to as NMP or No Mobile Phobia.

What??? My hydrophobia has proven enough to bear, so please no. Danke. (Thanks).

Most of the time, I put my phone to good use. In fact, it is where I can comfortably learn and practice German, talk with my husband,  check my emails, use maps when traveling, and communicate with friends and colleagues. I believe that is only to name a few.

So how is my phone changing me? 

It is one the first things I check in the morning. I bet you, too. How can I not think of it first thing in the morning when it wakes me up for work? I do not sleep with my phone close to me (for some obvious reasons), but it will be the first thing I will find the moment I gain my consciousness back from slumber. Most likely, I don’t want to push the snooze button, so I put it somewhere in the room where I cannot reach by hand unless I get up. The thing is, at times I wake up with a couple of messages and would start ticking the keypad right away. Of course, one message can lead to another and it sometimes end up eating much of the time I rather enjoy in the shower, breakfast or make-up. So yeah, it grabs time before you even realize it. 

It messes up with my posture. Is there anyone who uses the phone and raise it to the eye-level? As much as I try to do it, this doesn’t seem to work automatically, right? So, given that I am using my phone for longer hours in a day, doesn’t matter what the purpose is, it just causes me to slouch. More often than not, I feel it on my shoulders and neck. When I feel so, yet I am so engrossed in whatever I am doing (phone can be so addicting), then I will slouch on the couch, or the side of the bed, or worst, continue with what I am up to while I lay down. This leads to the next problem.

It strains my eye. Yeah, I think I have seldom seen people check their phone and watch it at the eye level. That is weird to imagine as it was like granny going techie. Of course, who wants to check their messages or play their games for everyone to see? I think the slouch helps protect privacy, at least from the less nosy. 😀 Or, perhaps, because I don’t want to increase my phone’s font size that enables me to see the texts from a good distance, I have to bring it really closer. Research says excessive use of phones or computer causes myopia, so I guess I know why eyes are problematic.

It has become my constant boredom killer. And so at this age, it is really funny to think of myself a techie junkie. I never had this attachment with TV, and was hoping the same for the laptop or my phone! Mostly, I fail.  What used to be periods of reading my favorite novels have become extended periods of clinking links and reading or watching countless things I didn’t intentionally want to watch. I still get to read of course, but it is now almost often done on the screen than on the page. 

It grabs my ZZZZZs. I always keep a limit as to what time I will go to bed, but every weekend, my mind seems to be conditioned to stay up. So, of course, I would cure the nocturnal sickness with my phone again. Often, I would say to myself that I only need 15 more minutes then I would go off. That fails again as you may have know too. Minute after minute, my brain can’t shut off and I ended up rolling from one side of the bed to another, trying to force myself to sleep. If it comes to worse, I will get up, reach for my phone, and try to play relaxation music on Youtube. So, the very thing that keeps me awake will now at least help me sleep. That’s ironic.

So, yeah, I guess I need to take more smartphone vacations often.  

 

Has your phone changed you too? If it does, how?