Should Smartphone be classified as an addiction or a drug?

Should Smartphone be classified as an addiction or a drug?
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Modern technologies have been advanced significantly in the last decade particularly
in the form of electronics device like computer and mobile phones. In addition to this
advance, Internet also evolved a significant amount in the last decade as well. Internet is a
very helpful tool among the modern generation because of the convenience it has brought to
the younger generation. It has many useful advantages like acquiring information on any
subject, able on perform electronic commerce, sharing of information instantaneously, stay
connected with friends, family and online peers as well as provision of unlimited
entrainment. On the other hand, with the help of modern technological advancements, mobile
phone has evolved in to smart phones. Smartphone has combined use of internet with mobile
phone with added benefits. With smart phone, an individual can avail all the benefits of a
computer and laptop can provide, in the palm of his/ her hand. Younger generation can use
smart phone for to express themselves, acquire information, watch videos, connect with
peoples, and play games with peers from all over the globe. As a result smart phone has
become an integral part of their life due to its multi- functional purpose (Haug et al., 2015).
Recent statistics suggests that the total number of smart phone being used in the year
2014 was 1.85 billion. In three year, the number has increased to a huge 2.32 billion. This is
trend in continuing to grow and it has been forecasted that the number will increase to a
whopping 2.87 billion by the year 2020 (Cha & Seo, 2018). Due to the smart phones
accessibility and portability, it can be used in any situation and any circumstance and there is
‘App’ available in the smart phone for every situation and activity. As a direct consequence,
younger generation are particularly inseparable from their smart phones and they are addicted
to their smart phones like drugs. A study was conducted with 2097 smart phone user from the
United States of America and this study has reported that almost 60 percent user cannot
spend one hour without checking their smart phones while 54 percent individuals have
reported that they check their smart phone while lying in the bed (Hussain, Griffiths &
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Sheffield, 2017). Additionally, 39 percent users reported that they check their smart phones
while using bathroom while 30 percent smart phone users have acknowledged that they use it
during dinner time and family gatherings (Hussain, Griffiths & Sheffield, 2017).
From the above data, it can be said that the use of smart phone is increasing rapidly
and younger generation are using it particularly in every activities of their life. Excessive
attachment and over exposure of anything will have some detrimental effect and excessive
use of smart phone is no exception of it. Therefore, it can be stated that excessive use of
smart phone can be classified as addiction or drug. The above statement will be elaborated
further in the following sections.
Discussion
Technological addiction can be defined as a sub-set of behavioural addiction which
resembles with 5 core components of addiction including changes of mood, salience,
recurrence, conflicts, withdrawal, and tolerance. Technological addiction involves interaction
between human and machine. Many studies have examined various technological addictions
and developed tools to evaluate them. These technologies includes social networking sites
dependence (Facebook in particular), problematic Internet use or Internet addiction,
online gambling and online gaming or inappropriate Internet gaming (Hawi & Samaha,
2016).
In particular, teens are among the high risk of Smartphone dependence. They are tied
to their cell phone and consider their virtual life as a second self portrayed
through Smartphone. Several mobile phone users have acknowledged the fact that they
cannot survive without a Smartphone. Adolescents are open to new technology and are much
more habituated to it than adults who are using such devices. As digital citizens, adolescents
express their thinking in an online environment, try to stay up-to-date, use a variety of
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