Addiction is evidently not only reserved for drugs, alcohol and cigarette, but also for modern gadgets. If you look around the city, be it in the offices, restaurants, malls, trains, buses, or parks; you will see more and more people glued to their smartphones, iPad, iPhones or gaming devices.
It's almost as if, without them, they would all cease to exist. Without access to the internet, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, their world gonna turned upside down. Instead of being the masters, people seem to get enslaved by technology.
There’s something terribly wrong with this. Worse, children are not spared from this contagious plague. Their parents give access to such gadgets while they don’t actually in dire need of one. My friend once complained on how her six-year-old son wasted too much time to chat with his Facebook friends. He also got addicted to his gaming devices most of the time, developing an obsession with it and would ask for it constantly. She said when she took away the gadgets; her young son experienced tantrum, increased agitation and withdrawal symptoms. Eventually, she was forced to give them back, only now she strictly kept an eye on his online activities, setting some rules and directives.
Lovely, I thought. Since when children at such young age have the need to connect with their friends through social media? Aren’t they supposed to actively interact with their friends in a real time environment instead of building a wall of virtual world around them? Don’t parents realize that such condition might prevent children from forming normal social relationships, leaving them drained by the constant interaction?
It’s really disheartening to see more young children, teenagers and even adults showing signs of becoming “addicted” to such gadgets. When I look at people around me whenever I am boarding on my commuter train, I see every time their gadgets ping them with incoming messages, they get a little squirt of highly addictive and pleasurable dopamine.
Their hands seem have a mind of their own, dancing continuously on the keypads as if trying to create little masterpieces from the frantic move. Gee, don’t those little fingers ever get tired or perhaps strained?
Well, I was an addict too once. I loved to interact with my virtual friends. Oh yes, my fingers were experts in dancing around the keypad. I suffered insomnia and problems of concentrating. My work became a drag as I got too immersed to build the virtual wall. The addiction started to peel off my emotions away. That’s when I realized I had to stop.
I managed to break free from the bad habit. I once again took books as my refuge. Books are full of wonders and imagination, taking you to places in various eras. They challenge your creative thinking, stopping you to dallying around. Now, whenever I travel or board on any public transports, I take a book or newspaper with me. Instead of purchasing new high-tech gadgets, I save my money to buy some novels I love. Reading books I love is indeed my savior.
My dad is right when he said “My dear, books will keep you safe. So, love and treat them with respect.”
Well, off course it doesn’t mean that I completely stop using the gadgets. Only now, I try to use them wisely based on their functionality and needs. Technology is an awesome tool if it is used well where you are the master.
Technology should be liberating rather than enslaving; technology should enhance your creativity. I was lucky I was infected when I was already an adult so it’s easier for me to shake my butt free of it. If I suffered the symptoms at young age, it would be definitely a different story.
I was also so fortunate to have a dad who loved to read and introduced the habit while I was a kid. Though, we have different taste for books, his are religious books and mine is any forms of literature; we have shared the same respect for books. In so doing, I strongly believe that parents should nurture the reading habit in their children.
Instead of taking them regularly to the fancy restaurants or shopping centers, they should also introduce them to bookstores to instill a love of reading. Instead of wasting money for unnecessary gadgets for the children, parents should give children books they love to read to nurture, support, and cultivate their creative mind.
After all, any parents want their kids to reach their full intellectual and creative potential, to love learning, to enjoy reading. Therefore, it is compulsory for them to instill the love of reading starting from young age. Reading can be as fun as playing games or chatting. It’s one way also to stop gadgets addiction among children.
Book is the savior. Knowledge will safeguard your children. Knowledge will teach them how to become masters of technology, instead of being enslaved.
There’s something terribly wrong with this. Worse, children are not spared from this contagious plague. Their parents give access to such gadgets while they don’t actually in dire need of one. My friend once complained on how her six-year-old son wasted too much time to chat with his Facebook friends. He also got addicted to his gaming devices most of the time, developing an obsession with it and would ask for it constantly. She said when she took away the gadgets; her young son experienced tantrum, increased agitation and withdrawal symptoms. Eventually, she was forced to give them back, only now she strictly kept an eye on his online activities, setting some rules and directives.
Lovely, I thought. Since when children at such young age have the need to connect with their friends through social media? Aren’t they supposed to actively interact with their friends in a real time environment instead of building a wall of virtual world around them? Don’t parents realize that such condition might prevent children from forming normal social relationships, leaving them drained by the constant interaction?
It’s really disheartening to see more young children, teenagers and even adults showing signs of becoming “addicted” to such gadgets. When I look at people around me whenever I am boarding on my commuter train, I see every time their gadgets ping them with incoming messages, they get a little squirt of highly addictive and pleasurable dopamine.
Their hands seem have a mind of their own, dancing continuously on the keypads as if trying to create little masterpieces from the frantic move. Gee, don’t those little fingers ever get tired or perhaps strained?
Well, I was an addict too once. I loved to interact with my virtual friends. Oh yes, my fingers were experts in dancing around the keypad. I suffered insomnia and problems of concentrating. My work became a drag as I got too immersed to build the virtual wall. The addiction started to peel off my emotions away. That’s when I realized I had to stop.
I managed to break free from the bad habit. I once again took books as my refuge. Books are full of wonders and imagination, taking you to places in various eras. They challenge your creative thinking, stopping you to dallying around. Now, whenever I travel or board on any public transports, I take a book or newspaper with me. Instead of purchasing new high-tech gadgets, I save my money to buy some novels I love. Reading books I love is indeed my savior.
My dad is right when he said “My dear, books will keep you safe. So, love and treat them with respect.”
Well, off course it doesn’t mean that I completely stop using the gadgets. Only now, I try to use them wisely based on their functionality and needs. Technology is an awesome tool if it is used well where you are the master.
Technology should be liberating rather than enslaving; technology should enhance your creativity. I was lucky I was infected when I was already an adult so it’s easier for me to shake my butt free of it. If I suffered the symptoms at young age, it would be definitely a different story.
I was also so fortunate to have a dad who loved to read and introduced the habit while I was a kid. Though, we have different taste for books, his are religious books and mine is any forms of literature; we have shared the same respect for books. In so doing, I strongly believe that parents should nurture the reading habit in their children.
Instead of taking them regularly to the fancy restaurants or shopping centers, they should also introduce them to bookstores to instill a love of reading. Instead of wasting money for unnecessary gadgets for the children, parents should give children books they love to read to nurture, support, and cultivate their creative mind.
After all, any parents want their kids to reach their full intellectual and creative potential, to love learning, to enjoy reading. Therefore, it is compulsory for them to instill the love of reading starting from young age. Reading can be as fun as playing games or chatting. It’s one way also to stop gadgets addiction among children.
Book is the savior. Knowledge will safeguard your children. Knowledge will teach them how to become masters of technology, instead of being enslaved.
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