Addiction to technology, including smartphones, the internet, and gaming, is a growing problem in the modern world. Unlike simple substance addiction, the main cause of this addiction is the breakdown of human relationships and social isolation. In order to overcome addiction, we need to work on both personal and social levels to restore relationships.

Introduction

Not long ago, the news was full of stories about computer addiction, gaming addiction, and other serious addictions. This phenomenon, especially among adolescents and children, has caused great concern among parents and education officials. The problem of addiction is very serious because it doesn’t just end with poor academic performance, but can also affect physical and mental health. Recently, smartphone addiction has emerged as a new social problem. Smartphones have become a necessity in the modern world, but with that comes a growing risk of dependence and addiction, which is why the word “addiction” is gaining attention and being recognized as a significant risk factor in the modern world.
Smartphones are convenient tools in their own right, but their convenience can easily lead to dependence. They allow us to search for information anytime, anywhere, easily connect with friends and family via social media, and have a wide variety of games and entertainment at our fingertips. For these reasons, many people become addicted to their smartphones, and as a result, addiction often occurs. In this context, it’s worth taking a deeper look at the phenomenon of ‘addiction’ and why it’s a growing problem in recent years.

The basics

Addiction, or ‘addiction’, is used interchangeably with dependence or obsession, and refers to a type of habitual addiction. In general, addiction is the phenomenon of developing a strong psychological and physical dependence on a substance or behavior. When you’re addicted, you want that substance or behavior over and over again, and if you can’t control it, it can lead to serious mental and physical problems. These addictions can be behavioral as well as substance dependencies, such as internet addiction, gaming addiction, and smartphone addiction.
If you look at the history of addiction, it most likely started as early as humans encountered drugs. There are records of narcotics being used in religious rituals and for therapeutic purposes as far back as 10,000 years ago, and cannabis (marijuana) seeds have been found in Neanderthal cemeteries. Opium has also been cultivated since BC and was used as a painkiller and medicine in Egypt. These narcotics were used for a long time without fully understanding their harmful effects, and many people became dependent on them, especially because of their addictive properties. Over time, as the harmful effects of these substances were realized, addictive substances began to be controlled, and the concept of “drugs” was born.
However, as we entered the modern world, new addiction problems began to emerge. The development of computers and the internet led to a boom in the gaming industry, and shortly afterward, a device called the smartphone was invented and rapidly spread around the world. This has led to the emergence of new forms of addiction, such as internet addiction, gaming addiction, and smartphone addiction. Smartphones, in particular, have become an integral part of our daily lives due to their accessibility to information. Many people find it hard to go a day without their smartphone, and they spend more and more time on it.
This begs the question. Substances like drugs and alcohol are addictive in their own right, but do games, the internet, and smartphones have a dependency that makes people addicted to them? In reality, many people play games or use the internet, but after a certain period of time, they naturally stop and return to their daily routine. So why do some people become addicted to them?
The answer has a lot to do with the addictive nature of the substance, but also with the structural problems of modern society. In particular, as modern human relationships are shrinking and disconnected, many people feel lonely and isolated, and they turn to games, the internet, and smartphones to relieve these feelings. For example, smartphone addiction makes it easy to pass the time by playing games or using social media on your smartphone without interacting with others. This is especially true for teenagers, who are more likely to become dependent on their smartphones if their parents are working or there is less family interaction.
An interesting experiment in this regard is the “Rat Park Experiment” by Bruce Alexander, a professor of psychology at the University of Vancouver in Canada. Alexander compared isolated rats to rats living in socialized groups. The isolated rats drank a diluted morphine solution very frequently, while the socialized rats did not. Furthermore, when the isolated, drug-addicted rats were placed in a social environment called a “rat park,” the rate at which they took the drug decreased significantly. This demonstrates that relationship disconnection has a strong influence on addiction.
The problem with modern society is that relationships are shrinking due to individualism and competitive social structures. People don’t have many ways to relieve stress and anxiety in their daily lives, so they turn to games and smartphones for easy entertainment. While gaming allows us to interact with people in a virtual world, it’s clearly not the same as real-world relationships. Rather than engaging in interpersonal relationships, addicted people tend to escape reality by immersing themselves in the internet, games, and smartphones.

Conclusion

So, what can we do to solve the problem of addiction? The most important thing is to restore human connections and encourage communication and exchange between people. This will help people break out of isolation and give them the opportunity to live healthier lives. At the individual level, we need to spend time with other people, find activities to do together, and communication between parents and children is essential. At the societal level, there are a variety of policy efforts to address addiction.
Schools should strengthen lifestyle education to prevent students from becoming overly engrossed in the internet or gaming, and parents should be given proper guidance on how to educate their children. Governments also need to organize addiction prevention campaigns to educate people about the dangers of addiction and encourage healthy leisure activities. Addiction is more than an individual problem, it’s a social and national issue that needs to be addressed. If we all work together to tackle addiction, we can create a healthier and happier society.