Teenagers and Cyber Addiction – by Mitesh Mehta
Cyber addiction is the most commonly used term for people who are into excessive use of the internet, or we can say poorly controlled by machines. This is due to the various social media activities, gambling, gaming, or making them engage in some of the other online activities. This addiction can even make teenagers develop many health issues.
Seeing children being slaves of the internet is especially not liked by the parents, and they, for sure, cannot underestimate the ill effects of the same.” Why Do Teenagers Get Addicted To Online Platforms?“ This is the most frequently asked question by parents. There are many reasons behind, though let’s try to discuss a few among them:
- Isolation
Not having much real-life relationships or friendships can be one of the major causes. We humans need affection. When not satisfied with real relationships, we tend to search for connections on the internet.
- No Family time
Due to parents’ or family members’ busy work schedules, a youth tries to fill in the void by being a part of social media.
- Search Engine
Earlier, when we had questions or queries, we would rely on support studies and find out the answers. Now, every solution is just a click away. We have all the answers to possible questions, which leads to excessive use of the internet to solve queries and complete the task.
- Less Outdoor Activity
Self-entertainment applications like many web series and movie provider platforms make them habituated, making them stay awake day and night.
- Fear of Missing Out
Social network is in the trend today. Every teenager likes to update their social media profiles. It is kind of “cool” for teens. They don’t want to miss out on anything their peer groups are doing.
Repercussions of Cyber Addiction
As per many researchers, every fourth teenager is addicted to cyber, which we should consider as an alarming danger. Cyber addiction in teenagers is correlated with mental health and physical health due to the combo benefit of high-speed internet and affordable devices like mobile, computer, and laptop. Cyber addiction is a problem of modern society and interdisciplinary incidents that create psychological, social, and school life difficulties. It’s an impulse control disorder that does not involve using any noxious drug. It is similar to a person who is addicted to gambling.
The adverse effects of cyber addiction are as follows: Due to prolonged use of computer/Mobile it leads to neck pain, nerves compress, headache, back pain, hearing syndrome, vision issues due to blue radiation, and wrist problems like carpal tunnel syndrome, a risk factor to implement anxiety, depression, stress disorder, increase of pending works, less time management, no proper time scheduling, mostly isolated.
Conclusion
The truth is, YES, we do live in the 21st century, and we should accept the new implementation of technology, but at the same time, we should control the machine, not the machine controlling us. Technology always comes in a dual package; it has both advantages and disadvantages. Any habit of excessive use of materializing technology is still harmful to humans, so monitoring is mandatory. We call it addiction when it is off-limit, and it always leads to negative bangs. Keep track of your usage and let it not exceed to the point wherein you cannot function without the internet.