THE “CONSTANT-CHECKER”.

Undoubtedly, technology and the media has served an “improving” role in the lives of people generally. This age has witnessed sophisticated advancement and amazing technological inventions that has served to make life easy for us. To this we are ever thankful, but alongside these technological developments have come many setbacks that the human race is struggling with.

It is both amazing and worrisome how the Internet and social media has become so available to us that it has become so integrated into our lives and in turn has become a source of problem.

For the past decade, the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America™ survey has examined how stress affects American adults’ health and well-being (1). In 2017, the survey took a closer look at how technology and the media is affecting the lives of people in America and the findings are quite interesting and disturbing at the same time. Now, even though this research was carried out in the United States of America, it has implications of generalisations. Just think of the possible outcome of such statistics when applied to the African or Nigerian context.

The survey revealed that nearly all adults, about 99% own at least an electronic device; 86% own a computer and 74% own and Internet-connected smart. That’s a good thing right? Perhaps these figures might not apply to Nigeria, but follow me.

In addition, the research shows that among young adults ages 18 to 29, 90% are reported to use social media in 2015, compared to 12 percent in 2005. Adoption rates among all groups of new and emerging technologies and social media have climbed to enormous proportions, with Facebook and Instagram boasting more than 2 billion combined monthly users. This indicates that the rate of the younger generation who own and use an Internet-connected device is alarming.

Now here is the heart of the problem; the research shows that with the emergence of the social media including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp, etc, over the years, there has been the “constant-checker” effect. We have not been compelled to be constant checkers. Always checking notifications on our devices whether from email, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc. This attachment to devices and the constant use of technology is associated with higher stress levels. The Survey findings suggest that more than eight in 10 Americans are attached to their gadgets on a typical day (86 percent say they constantly or often check their emails, texts and social media accounts). It was revealed that those who constantly check report more stress levels than those who are not preoccupied with their mobile devices.

Smart phones and mobile devices are designed to be quite interactive and this unique feature has become the pitfall and point of attachment for us today. There has been this tendency for us to be drawn to our devices; sucked into them that we are not even conscious of our immediate environment. We have grown to be closer and affectionate to our phones than the nearby human. They (our smart phones) have become so dear to us that at the sound of any notification, we respond with immediate alacrity and utter seriousness as though it is an emergency.

The constant-checker syndrome builds up with each response to each notification from your phone. When you respond to the first, you are likely to respond to the second and to the third and so on. People rarely allow notifications to go by without checking what it is about. The continuous and constant checking becomes a habit which in turn becomes stressful and breed an unhealthy lifestyle.

From the fear of having a low battery (not necessarily because you are expecting a call), to the fear of not holding your phone (nomophobia), to the fear of being away from your phone- just constantly feeling it. This unhealthy attachment is breeding an unhealthy lifestyle not just among the younger generations, even the adults too. The constant-check profile keeps you bound to your devices and leading to unhealthy bonding and thus stressful lifestyle.

I hope we will soon have phone/device free zones. I mean places where you have to put away any kind of device in other to enjoy real and uninterrupted human interaction. Beyond that I hope in our families, homes, organizations and places of meetings we will have instituted times that are strictly for face-to-face human interactions, away from phones and any kind of devices.

I hope, you will make a deliberate decision to find time, daily, to be away from the Internet, social media or smart phone, in order to enjoy real healthy human relationship. Only then can we live a healthy lifestyle.

We all have the "constant-checker" tendency. Fight it!

Reference

(1)     American Psychological Association (2017). Stress in America: Coping with Change. Stress in America™ Survey.