Years ago all we had to worry about with mobile phones was whether the electromagnetic waves were causing cancer. They didn’t find any proof to back that up. However, with the frequent use of mobiles now 20 years old, there are many more problems we are facing.
Only yesterday on BBC Radio Oxford they were discussing how the number of injuries has shot up due to people just not looking where they are going. People are now too busy looking at their phones. Falling down stairs and ending up in A&E is becoming more common. In Holland, they did an experiment where they asked learner drivers to text negotiating a course while driving, and of course, they failed. Common sense tells us that when we are doing something that needs our attention. It is potentially dangerous, and ALL of our focus should be on that, not our mobiles.
Amy Cuddy, in her book “Presence”, highlights how body posture can affect mood. If we stand up straight with our shoulders back, we feel more confident. With that in mind, her research found that as technology has become smaller, our body posture has been getting more hunched over our tiny devices. The change left people feeling more vulnerable, depressed and less happy.
Addicted 14 year old
I saw this recently in consultation with a 14-year-old girl who didn’t want to go to school and had developed severe anxiety. When talking about blue light from tablets and phones, she squirmed and held her phone as if she were Golem from Lord of the rings. The Precious phone. She said her psychologist had told her she could use it at any time as it made her feel calm. Likely a lie, a way of getting what she wanted, as no mental health professional would suggest this as a possible way of feeling relaxed!
She was accessing the phone for hours at night as well. Research from Harvard University by neuroscientist Anne-Marie Chang has found that the blue light from tablets etc. disrupts the circadian systems.
Melatonin
The brain chemical melatonin is present at low levels during the day time and begins being released a few hours before bedtime. It peaks in the middle of the night, and studies have shown that light suppresses melatonin, and can cause circadian delay, or resets the clock to a later schedule. The change means our sleep pattern shifts.
It is essential to get the correct number of hours sleep each night, for adults between 7 – 8 hours and teens 10 hours. Lack of sleep causes problems in regulating emotions and processing memories. It can also increase our waistbands. Recent research has found a link between sleep and the peptides that regulate appetite. “Ghrelin which stimulates hunger increases and leptin which signals satiety to the brain and suppresses appetite decreases.
Focus
When your Facebook page goes ping, and your mobile phone emits a sound every time you receive a text. You respond because you have become conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs. The ding interrupts our focus. Over the years, I have been seeing more and more people who are finding it difficult just getting on with the things they need to do. Whether it’s revising for exams or running a business, ping – they’re distracted.
So the best advice I can give is to put down that tablet, to switch to a good book and leave your phone in another room at least an hour before going to bed. Simple but it works, but if you or a family member are having problems with focus, anxiety, or sleep, then a short course in hypnotherapy could sort you out.
Also see: What wakes us up from sleep
and Fear of losing your mobile phone