What Mobile means to you?
Funny Question testing
What are the 3 basic needs essential to Human Begins? (Hints: FWA)
Answer: Food Water Air
Oh I'm sorry that's not the correct answer for now.
The answer is Facebook Wifi Apple
Actually, it was a funny question in 10 years ago. However, it's still valid for 2022. Of course, people may shift from Facebook to Instagram or TikTok and Apple IPhone is not the only dominant smartphone in the market. Yet, it is no doubt that many of us can't live without Wifi, Smartphone and Social media.
How often do you use your mobile a day?
Here's my average screen time for a week
Research found out that, people averagely spent over 3 hours on their phones per day while only one fifth of smartphone users spent more than 4.5 hours on their phone (Howarth, 2022). Oh my god, I am those one-fifth of people. Maybe I have to start to review how addicted I am to my phone (or those apps).
However, other than those mobile apps, my entire life really relies on my iPhone. I set up my alarm for everyday on it, I take pictures when I want to record something (such as lecture notes, doing the price matching in supermarkets ,etc.), I also use the "Notes" a lot when I am worry about I might forget something important (such as the login information about different shopping sites). And of coz Safari for searching anything I don't know and I want to know. Literally, mobile is my personal assistant, Professor and buddy!
When I want to be connected, I use the social media apps to see what's happening in world. News, trends and even what did my friend have for her lunch. I don't want to be outdated, I want to get close to the world (virtually, mentally) For sure that, the world wants to be known and wants to share. So as I. I always shared what I ate for dinner and where i visited this weekend. Other than personal life, I also shared the posts I saw that's funny on my Instagram Story. Through the sharing and watching, people are all connected. We may leave a reply or comment, or give a sticker to start a conversation. It in fact foster more interactions between people and makes the information move quicker without boundaries. I just moved to Canada since this June and most of my friends and family stayed in my home country. But, it seems nothing changes much. I still know the weather there, how they celebrated the festival and everything happened there. Of course, it may take a bit slower than before.
Though some may say Smartphone has numerous negative impacts to social interaction as well such as distractions and isolations (Marfo, 2021). Sometimes I just want to kill a bit of time while I'm taking bus or waiting in a queue or just want to relax after a long day of work. We may not aware that we have already spent over an hour on it by just scrolling the Instagram posts. But, I didn't feel connected. What did I receive from it in the past hour? This question always comes up to my mind at night and I may feel regret of wasting too much time on the phone. "I should read a book that I always don't have time to read, or I should do some exercise which I promised myself in the beginning of the year" Because we always use the phone unconsciously. We don't know what we want to get from it, and we don't aware of what we are actually doing with the phone.
It is a two-edged sword for sure, yet, it depends on how you use it and how you manage it rather letting it controls you. Try to ask yourself "What do you want now for using the mobile?" or "What are you going to do with the mobile phone?" before start using it. And try to remember the answer while using it (I know it's difficult!). But try to make a little change starting from today.
Reference:
Howarth, J. (2022). Time Spent Using Smartphones (2022 Statistics). https://explodingtopics.com/blog/smartphone-usage-stats
Marfo, E. A (2021). Mobile phones and social interaction. https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2021/08/02/mobile-phones-and-social-interaction/
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