Is Your Phone Ruining Your Life?
Does that idea scare you? Do you even care?
Guess what? You have likely already been programmed to pay more attention to your phone than anything else--including your kids, family, and friends--so right about now you may be thinking about clicking away from this page, about not reading what follows. Don't worry, that's a natural reaction to being told your favorite thing is bad for you. If you are curious about this phenomenon, if it actually does scare you, even just a little, read on.
As data surrounding the the impact of digital devices and the apps we use is collected and analyzed, a cohesive developmental picture is emerging, and the world is becoming aware of just how harmful smartphones can be. Today's infants and toddlers develop differently because of the decreased attention they get from phone-addicted parents. As a therapist who specializes in relationships between families, couples, and individuals, I am here to tell you the the impact of smartphones on our relationships (of all kinds) is indeed significant. We make jokes: "Remember in the 90s when you had to actually call someone on the phone?" But such statements are not actually jokes--we laugh as a coping mechanism because they make us nervous and anxious about the loss of human connection ...and then we share memes about them on social media and wait for the likes to pour in.
The Globe and Mail has compiled a fantastic article about all this. I invite you to give it a read: Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. So why can't you put it down⁉️