Almost everyone, especially the teenagers, today are addicted to their smartphones. Most of the times, their eyes remain glued to the small screens of their phones. However, it appears that gradually people are getting more cautious.
According to a recent study, not only the parents but the American teenagers too are taking measures to reduce the use of smartphones. While around 54 per cent among the teens in the survey said that they spend a lot of time with their phones, almost the similar number of teenagers, 52 per cent stated that they are trying to cut down the time that they spend on their phone's addictive apps and services.
Also, while 57 per cent of them said that they are trying to reduce the time that they spend on social media; 58 per centare trying to limit the use of video games, informed the study published by Pew Research Center.
For years, the app makers exploited a smartphone's benefits to make the users get addicted to their services. They even lured people with rewards to keep them engaged.
Not only the teens but also their parents have become victims of this addictive system.
However, the situation is now changing. Several tech companies, such as Apple and Google have incorporated built-in screen time monitoring and tools to control the usage within their mobile operating systems. Social media platforms, like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram also started adding screen time reminders and many other "time well spent" features to deal with this problem.
However, all these tools came too late for the US teens, who, by the time those features launched, had already become addicted.
According to Pew, 72 per cent of teenagers reach for their phones as soon as they wake up in the morning, 56 per cent say that if their phones are not with them they feel lonely or upset. Four in every 10 teenagers in America feel anxious without their smartphones. On the other hand, 51 per cent feel their parents are distracted during conversations because of the phones and according to 31 per cent, their phones actually distract them in classes.
The survey also shows another disturbing truth -- 45 per cent of teenagers in America are online all the time.
However, the only good news here is that the teens are actually getting to understand the problem here and trying to balance the use of their smart devices. Nine in ten of them acknowledge the fact that smartphone addiction is a problem.
Add to that, parents are also being cautious, 57 per cent of them have said that they are using screen time features to limit their teen daughter and sons from using too much smartphone.
