I wrote this post for Pulse Nigeria so I decided to share it here.


Our smartphones have turned to our ultimate companions. These little battery powered machines can disconnect us from reality with just the touch of a button.


It’s either you get carried away watching a movie, scrolling through your Facebook news feed, sending savage tweet replies and of course trolling once in a while. If doctors could check our heartbeat the moment we feel our pockets and our smartphones are not there, I’m pretty sure they’ll discover a new set of electronic impulses.

I’ll be honest, my smartphone is my very good companion and unfortunately it actually turned me into an unapologetic introvert .

I’m sure there are a lot of people out there like me that find it easier to text rather than have a normal decent conversation. We all suffer from a common psychological disease – ‘’Nomophobia’’ – the fear of not being with our smartphones.

Most times I try to ask myself a few questions and take some time to picture it in my mind. I think you ought to try it out. Ask yourself these 2 questions

What If Everything I See Today Is Just A Dream?

What If Life Is Just a Script and I will wake up to a totally different reality?


Imagine you dropped your phone on the table and woke up the next morning and you see a vintage telephone instead of your smartphone and the calendar in your room shows you the year 1975. You walk out of your room and your mum tells you that you were in a coma for so long. I’m sure you would wonder if you were in an apocalypse for years.

Slowly it dawns on you that your beloved smartphone won’t be anywhere around you because at the year you woke up it doesn’t exist. You would certainly question the reason for your existence. I’m cocksure you won’t find it easy to adapt to a lifestyle without a smartphone.

Instead of using Google you would need to use a library, instead of taking selfies you would pose for a normal black/white photo, instead of reading online gossip on LindaIkejisBlog you would read newspapers. Life would seem so boring without your smartphone when in fact life is actually fun without it at times

We have gotten so addicted to these smartphones and most of us cannot live without it. I’ve noticed an interesting trend lately when someone brings up something they recently did. “I just got bought a new Car,” they say. If I say, “Yeah, I saw it on Facebook,” then that topic is done. They think 40 characters or a photo is worth a thousand words. But if I say, “You did? That’s awesome!”, then the other person actually tells me about their experience. And the story is better than the status every single time.

I’ve gone to events where people who haven’t seen in each other in years sat around a table and simply looked at their phones. I’ve had evenings ruined because people are looking for the next cooler thing online instead of making their own nights better. I’ve had my view at a concert blocked by a cell phone as someone recorded it instead of lived it. Who even watches those dark, tinny-sounding videos anyway?

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to say smartphones are bad. All I’m asking you is not to allow it ruin beautiful moments.

I’d say life without smartphones is actually liberating. I gave myself some time off last month. I dropped my smartphone and exchanged it for a smaller one and I discovered one amazing thing. I could sleep early, not miss important appointments, engage in longer conversations, make new friends and of course focus more on my own life.

I had to switch back to my smartphone after a week because I’m a blogger and I can’t totally disconnect from the internet for a month but ever since then I always take breaks. I may take 2-3 days off and I still have 4-5 more days to work online.

All that constant scrolling on Facebook and Instagram would get you depressed. You’ll keep wondering why your friend’s life seems so much better than yours and you start feeling insecure, jealous and depressed forgetting that people share only the best parts of their lives on social media.

Take some time off to disconnect. Enjoy life to the fullest . Live, Laugh, Smile and Love.

Can you cope without having to use your smartphone?

Source - www.pulse.ng/communities/bloggers/technology-life-without-smartphones-can-you-survive-it-id7663413.html

Cul

thinking about life without my smart phone sends shudders through my vains



Like, how am I suppose to live without my number 1 source of information & entertainment?.
Funny enough, the fear of losing my phone kept me out of doing any thing that might lead me to jail

Good morning.

Isza bad habit.

I only stay glued to my phone mostly when I'm alone in the house, my case is better.

Aside from ruining out conversations and lifestyle, this study shows that it may also affect our Thinking Skills

Seconded

yes, I can but NwaAmaikpe cannot cope without his smart phone.

Gun doesn't kill anybody; someone kills somebody.

Smartphones don't ruin our relationships and conversations; We do

Smartphone has ruined my life... Sometimes I tend not to know there is anybody else in the house until my phone dies.... smh

Ok

tirigbosa:
yes, I can but NwaAmaikpe cannot cope without his smart phone.

I wonder o

Yea u right.

I'll try to drop my phone next week

You be talking to someone and they would be chatting with another person. I go just end the conversation and get out. Life is too short

Smartphone has ruined my life... Sometimes I tend not to know there is anybody else in the house until my phone dies.... smh

Op, Coman take my phone away na....sebi I'm reading your post in a newspaper?!




Truth be told, my ex would always say she can't compete with my phone because my phone is my first love

Majesticniyi:
Op, Coman take my phone away na....sebi I'm reading your post in a newspaper?!




Truth be told, my ex would always say she can't compete with my phone because my phone is my first love

LOL.. I didn't say you should dump it completely

MrMicholo:
Smartphone has ruined my life... Sometimes I tend not to know there is anybody else in the house until my phone dies.... smh

lol.... Don't get too carried away o before they'll kidnap you while you're pressing your phone

my phone my bae my companion my first love.

Op, I am sorry

I can't read all that this morning but all I know is that Igbo amaka

God bless your Exgirlfriend

Ok

This is enlightening

Its all about perspectives and self control. The cup is either half full or otherwise.
For me, my smartphone can't be smarter than I am, as i have learnt thr art of self control.
Smartphones have helped improve the English of many persons with auto-correction features.
For me, I cant but stay informed 24/7 as i cconstantly scavenge the BBC , Newspaper sites and other news blogs for info. No doubt it has made me well rounded , knowledgeable and diverse in info.
And as per social media, I don't do them. Asides NL, I don't maintain accounts in any other outlet(ofcus except WhatsApp). Who has time for busybody twitter and make belief Facebook?

BornAgainMay:
Op, I am sorry

I can't read all that this morning but all I know is that Igbo amaka

God bless your Exgirlfriend

And it had to be the Ex Girlfriend ..Lol

I'm always on my phone. I think I'll try going without a smart phone for some time. Let me see if I'll survive.

Nice post, hard facts. When my phone got bad and the funds to buy the one I wanted wasn't forth coming, I became depressed and easily irritated, I would lash out at the slightest provocation. But you can't really blame people, hyper reality can sometimes be so comforting, you are assured that you will always get the attention you seek, someone will always be online to reply, even when in reality they may never give you that same attention.

So many things going wrong in Nigeria.... We survive by consoling ourselves. One of the best way to console is by using the phone.... Nomophobia or Nophonephobia has come to stay. We cannot come and go and die of Nigeria's troubles.

EsotericMonk:
Its all about perspectives and self control. The cup is either half full or otherwise.
For me, my ssmartphone can't be smarter than I am, as i have learnt thr art of self control

Truth be told. Everything now revolves around our smartphone. It's our clock, calculator, camera, mailbox, source of entertainment, etc... I feel awful when my phone's battery is down. It's only then I remember an unfinished novel, a friend to visit etc.

Bifrost:
I'm always on my phone. I think I'll try going without a smart phone for some time. Let me see if I'll survive.

What is life without a smartphone

NaijaTechGuy:
I wrote this post for Pulse Nigeria so I decided to share it here.

Nice write up, but I don't think Nigerians use their smart phones enough. You need to visit South Korea to see smart phone addiction. In fact, It is crazy over there.