Children starting at an early age how to use smartphones and ipads
Asia is the birthplace of the selfie stick and emojis, so it is no surprise they are the forerunners in increased mobile addiction and usage. For example, in Singapore smartphones have been integrated into the school curriculum and homework is sometimes issued via WhatsApp. In Japan, they have formed a subculture called keitai culture, meaning mobile phone culture. The new Instagram trends of food porn has led to this increasing new culture encouraging addiction.
They have likened smartphone usage to mental disorders and related it to drug addiction. A psychiatrist Thomas Lee has stated that “like drug addicts, smartphone addicts will also display withdrawal symptoms like restlessness, anxiety and even anger”. This is what these countries are trying to combat with their regulations and policies.
In South Korea, they released a government app to monitor usage among teenagers and imposed restrictions of using online games after midnight. A study conducted in 2015 in South Korea found that 25% of children aged between 11 and 12 where addicted to smartphones and spend on average 5.4 hours on them daily.
China has found a way to combat this addiction with a boot camp. This camp is for young Chinese people who are about to begin college and university and is for them to discipline themselves and fix their mobile habits. Challenges such as holding their phone between their teeth and psychical military exercises are some of the activities conducted at the camp.
Should Australia be following similar lines and employing tactics to control mobile usages?
Question we should be asking ourselves are:
- Is this mobile addiction getting out of hand?
- Are these methods too intense and extreme or what we need?
- Is it becoming a a mental heath disorder and an anxiety similar to drug addiction?
- Is mobile addiction just the new way of living and we should get with the times?
x BL x
Face Your FOBO 
I read a very interesting article the other day on a photographer who had taken photos of people in an everyday situation (at home, at work, out eating dinner w/friends, family) and then photo-shopped their smartphones out of the images. All he was left with was images of people staring at their hand. Now, that’s a horror story
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Wow! I’ll have a look for that article! I can imagine how weird it would look like without phones, we would all look crazy haha
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Its sad to think that technology now plays such a vital part in our society that boot camps are underway to stop our addiction. Get outside and enjoy life.
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I know! The fact we have to resort to intense boot camps is so sad. But to ensure we don’t face serious psychological issues, maybe they are the drastic measures that need to be taken
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Smartphone already made us to lack of communication with family and friends. We need to put it down and have more interactions with people we love
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Totally agree! Hopefully through creating awareness, we can all find a way to let go a bit
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Wow, this is so interesting! It’s good to see that other countries around the world have already implemented programs and policies to regulate mobile phone usage even if they seem extreme at the moment! like you mention, it’s definitely a valid problem, especially when we don’t know yet the long-term effects of mobile addiction on young kids/adolescents. I wouldn’t necessarily think I had FOBO but my phone died out of nowhere two weeks ago when I was out, and i IMMEDIATELY had to buy one the next morning because I was so worried about not being contactable/in contact. it would be interesting to see how much time young adults in Australia spend per day on their smartphone, because 5.4 hours sounds like heaps for the kids in South Korea, but we could very well be spending the same time or more!!
Thanks for keeping us informed!! 🙂
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I completely agree!! So great to see countries around the world taking charge on FOBO. Hahah I lost my phone recently too and couldnt last very long, ended up using my mums until I bought the new phone (only lasted 7 days :/). Maybe not as many hours as South Korea, as Asia is the forerunner with technology but I would say close. I guess a question is – did you comment via your phone or laptop?? haha
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this was such a good read! the forerunners of this technology are also coming up with new ways to regulate it. something definitely needs to be done – not sure if boot camps will work here though haha
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So glad you liked it! Boot camps do definitely seem more extreme haha Maybe they should start integrating it into school PD classes. As it is a serious mental health issue, more should be done to help reducing the co-dependancy on technology. But we now have so much technology in classrooms, like laptops instead of books and interactive whiteboards, it will take a lot to stop for a couple of hours.
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