Are you slave to your mobile?

Don't Be a Slave to Your Smartphone!
Some may be beginning to recognize the problem with addictive technology.
Observations of students from a couple of my classes isn’t scientific proof, but it may be suggestive: in my experience, students may be now beginning to recognize the downside to smartphones.
This may be a result of the bad publicity around Facebook and other social media. In addition, the novelty and faddishness of the devices may be wearing off.
Years ago, to the astonishment of many, I stopped wearing a watch when I realized that I frequently glanced at my wrist to see what time it was for no good reason. Checking the time had become a senseless habit, a tic (excuse the pun)—looking at my watch, as if it mattered, when it mainly didn’t. There were enough other clues around to know the time when it was necessary.
One simple technique: ask someone. But I looked many times during the day. I couldn’t help myself.
Not one of my students wears a watch any longer to tell the time. Wrist watches have been replaced by ubiquitous mini-computers known as smartphones. Well, almost ubiquitous—I still own a traditional cell phone. Cell phones, though, come equipped with a digital clock, which I can read at the press of a button. Now I can tell the time when I need to by taking out the phone from my pocket and pressing a button.
I keep the phone out to start the class on time, and then put it away. Once in a while, I take it out to make sure we don’t run overtime. Until recently, when students saw me looking at the phone, they snickered—in the way that only young people can, to express their condescension of an old person’s antique ways.
I explained that I didn’t own a smartphone, found no reason to have one, and was glad that I didn’t have the urge to look at a screen every spare moment. They found this amusing.
Each semester, more of my students’ laughter at my simple cellphone has turned to understanding. While most students still sit staring at their little screens before class begins, there now seems to be some acceptance on their part about the downside of being tethered to their phones. Smartphones have been associated with neck strain, arthritic symptoms, sleep problems, driving accidents, and the disruption of medical devices.