Look Up More Often!

Dear Readers,

The threat and spread of ‘Internet Addiction’ is more real than most of us are willing to acknowledge. We live in an era that witnesses a pathological over-use of the internet, where liking a Facebook post or retweeting a tweet takes precedence over real life people and experiences, where children learn to swipe before they learn to speak. Life is passing us in all its splendour, and we don’t even know we’re missing out on some REAL experiences because of our digital obsession. Take for example, the fabulous celestial display that the universe put out for us a couple of days ago – the rare ‘Super Blue Blood Moon’ Total Lunar Eclipse, on the 31st of January, as it crossed the sky. All you had to do was step out and look up into the sky. But most preferred to be glued to our gizmos, unaware and worse, un-bothered about the fact that such an event occurs once in thirty-six years! It’s scary to see the perturbing combination of a lack of interest in real life events coupled with the preference to stay blissfully ensconced in the virtual world, on the rise.

Over-indulgence in anything is harmful. Did you know that this internet/social media addiction is now an official mental disorder and you could go to rehab for it! As useful as the internet has proven to be, its abuse has resulted in Internet Addiction Disorder or IAD – a psychosocial disorder, the features of which include lack of patience, isolation, emotional disorders, social awkwardness, weakening of all relationships, poor physical health and low self-esteem. Addicts end up having no careers, no personal lives and veer towards mental issues including depression, anxiety, ADHD, learning differences, stress, family/relationship issues, etc.

The alluring illusion of ‘virtual companionship’ is ironic – we virtually ‘connect’ with people globally, at the cost of ignoring those right in front of us in person! This is happening all around us – within our friend circles and families and we need to arrest this sad social and psychological malady. Of course the intent is not to completely obliterate social media. The goal is to be selective and allow ourselves short windows through the day to participate with the virtual world, and try our best to keep to those time-boundaries we have set. There’s no cutting out social media from our lives – it’s an essential component of our personal and professional lives. But we need to take back control and moderate the use of our time spent on these platforms – reduce the unnecessary virtual clutter to gift yourself peace and more time in the real world… to ‘look up more often’, to keep it real, to keep it healthy and to keep it sane.

 Have a good weekend!

– Anahita

(anahita@parsi-times.com)