Nomophobia, the abbreviation for "no-mobile-phone-phobia", is a psychological
disorder that is caused by the fear of being out of mobile phone connection. A
study done by a U.K. university claims that some 53% of the population had
anxiety when they couldn't use their phone (Piombino, 2014). Technology has made
the situation worse. With the rapid technological advancement in
telecommunication sector in Singapore, Singaporean teenagers grow up in an
environment whereby phones are a form of necessity. The severity of the nomophobia disorder
varies across different demographic groups, and the disparities are clearly
visible in Singapore society. In the Infocommunication Development Authority’s
(iDA) Technology Roadmap, teenagers age 15 – 24 spend an average of 7.3 hours
daily on social networking platforms, and with a smartphone penetration rate of
over 90%, a large percentage of these hours are spent on social media via their
smartphones (iDA, 2012). In order to tackle
Nomophobia as a major social problem, iDA should lead the entire operation and
join forces with other relevant stakeholders especially schools and families to
develop campaign and talks to warn teenagers of the harmful effects of
nomophobia.
By understanding the
biochemical chain of reaction that caused nomophobia, we can conclude that
smartphone addiction is similar to other addictions as it involves a
dysregulation of dopamine. A local article by Wong (2014) quoting Greenfield,
an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University Of Connecticut
School Of Medicine, explained “Every
time you get a notification from your phone, there’s a little elevation in
dopamine that says you might have something that’s compelling, whether that’s a
text message from someone you like, an email, or anything.” The same article pointed out that mobile phones are
no longer a tool for communication, but a major channel to fulfil human nature
of being a social animal. The negative impact of Nomophobia on teenagers far
exceed that of adults as teenagers have less self-control and often easily
influenced by external environment. The fear of being left out from their
social circles forces them to constantly check and be active on their mobile
phones.
The influence nomophobia
has over teenagers could affect Singapore social structure and cause negative
repercussions that involve their families, social circles and even the entire society.
Many teenagers prefers to communicate with other people via phones and avoid
face-to-face interactions. This reduces their connectivity with the rest of the
society and cause unnecessary friction within families. Furthermore, constant
usage of mobile phones is one of the top distractions that actually decreases work/study
efficiency (MACRAE, 2011). As a result, school
results might be affected and effectiveness of learning might potentially drop.
Despite the increased
amount of attention on Nomophobia, no cure or prevention method has been proven
to effective against it. The most common measure to deter Nomophobia has been
online articles and videos that increase awareness of Nomophobia. For example,
online communities such as Singapore Hardware Zone and the Straits Times forum
that allow advocates to voice their opinions and suggest solutions for this
issue. In such articles, self-help measures are being suggested as
recommendation for mobile phone addicts.
However, this efforts
in combating Nomophobia is far from sufficient. Purely increasing awareness
will not deter teenagers from falling into the trap of Nomophobia and within
the youth community, there is no powerful influence to mitigate the peer
influence and the strong culture of mobile social networking. As mentioned
earlier, most teenagers fail to consider Nomophobia as a negative behaviour,
and even when they realise this issue, they lack the necessary self-control to
remedy the problem.
iDA which oversees all
media related issue should consider including Nomophobia in the latest
Technology Roadmap. Just like Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) healthy lifestyle
campaign, iDA could initiate an island-wide campaign to increase Singaporean’s
awareness, and it could initiate different sub-campaigns to encourage Singaporeans
to understand how over-usage of mobile phone and social networking can be
harmful. To effectively reach out to the teenage population, social media mobile
campaigns should be the main form of engagement. A good example should be
UNICEF Tap Project, a project to donate clean to third world countries via a
mobile app. iDA can adopt a similar system with a similar app that tracks the
amount of time spent on social networking platforms by a user and incentivise
users to reduce usage. A possible incentive can be Ministry of Education’s
(MOE) School Pocket Money Project, whereby the MOE donate money to needy
students to support their basic education. Similar to the UNICEF Tap project, every
minute without social networking will contribute to students who need financial
aid. By promoting this App to the youth population in Singapore, they are
essentially helping members of their own community and people who they can
relate to, even their friends. This will provide a greater motivation for them
not to be over-dependent on mobile devices. In addition, iDA collaboration with
schools and Community Centres (CC) will further increase the general awareness
of Nomophobia. Through this collaboration, students and families will
understand the damages that nomophobia might cause and prevent them from occurring.
While Singaporeans
enjoy the convenience that cutting-edge telecommunication provides us, we
cannot overlook the side-effect of having a digitally connected world. The Singapore
government has the responsibility to mitigate these side-effects on
Singaporeans, especially the future generation. Educational institutions that
interact directly with these teenagers too have a significant influence over
them. Most importantly, the motivation to change must come from within the
youth community, self-motivation and regulation is the only way to solve the
root of issue.
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References
iDA. (2012). Infocomm
Technology Roadmap. Retrieved from
https://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Technology/TechnologyRoadmap/SocialMedia.pdf
MACRAE, F. (2011, Augest 4). Mobile phones and laptops given to workers actually DECREASE
productivity. Dailymail. Retrieved
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2022440/Mobile-phones-laptops-given-workers-actually-DECREASE-productivity.html
Piombino, K. (2014, Jan 12). The Guide to
Surviving Without Your Smartphone (Infographic). Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230764
Wong, S. (2014, Augest 1). Feeling stressed without your phone? You may be suffering from
nomophobia. Hardwarezone.com.
Retrieved from http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-feeling-stressed-without-your-phone-you-may-be-suffering-nomophobia