Smartphones Archives

India had 502.2 million smartphone users as of 2020. Nearly 77% of our population uses smartphones. Smartphones have made so many of our tasks simple in our life. With smartphones, the bulk of Indian population are now able to use the internet . It has become an indispensable part in our modern life. We are all attached to our smartphones. It is no wonder, we look at our smartphones right when we get up and it’s the last thing we look at before going to bed.

Despite the negative stigma associated with smartphones, it’s important we do not ignore smartphones’ obvious impact in making our life comfortable. Smartphones have aided us in different tasks in our life thereby reducing significant amount of time. In this post, we shall look at a few areas in our life, where smartphones have brought about a huge change.

Impacts of Smartphones

1. Banking

Some decades back, banking means standing in long queues, filling up chalans for depositing and withdrawing. Smartphones completely changed the banking industry. Every bank has a dedicated mobile app for the customers for their banking operations. With just a few taps, you can now transfer funds, check account balance, and apply for a loan, or a credit card. Now that banking representatives are coming to our offices and living spaces, you don’t have to step into the branch after opening an account. Every task can be performed with a banking app.

2. Connections

Smartphones make it easy to connect with your family and friends. With our busy schedule, we do not have much times to meet them in person. However, through facilities like texting, video calling, or through social media applications like Facebook, we can reach out to people wherever they are. Maintaining relationship has become simple. You can even make new friends through various social apps.
For a professional, he/she can constantly keep tab on the job market, economy, and updates regarding their profession through apps such as LinkedIn.

3. Entertainment

Smartphones have complete changed the way people consume entertainment. No longer would you need to set alarms on your clock or reminders to watch your favorite show on Television. Every type of media content can be viewed online through smartphones. Music, Movies, dramas, sports, or concert, you name it, it is available in smartphones. There are umpteen number of OTT platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hot star) streaming video content all over the world. Anytime you feel like needing a break on a busy day, you can immerse yourself into the labyrinth of video contents available.

4. Gaming

Just like the entertainment industry, much of the gaming activity happens online. No longer do people have the time to indulge in their favorite games with their busy and hectic schedule. For example in the previous era, a game like Indian rummy could only be played gathering at least four members to join you. With the advent of smartphones, you can just enjoy your favorite card game in a few taps by simply downloading a mobile app. Moreover, several rummy sites like Deccan Rummy have special rewards for the customers who play with their mobile rummy app.

5. Ticket Booking and Travel

Imagine standing in a packed queue braving heat and pungent body odors to buy tickets for your favorite movie. Those days have passed by, isn’t it? We have all gone through it and were never happy with it. Now with so many ticketing apps available, you can spare yourself from the agony of buying tickets that way. You can book the seat of your choice and even order the food combos from your living rooms before entering the theater.
Similarly, the travel industry has seen a big bloom, thanks to the countless number of travel apps which made your travel process hassle free. You can book your bus/train/flight tickets with a few taps from your smartphones. You have plenty of choices to book your accommodation. In short, you can pre-plan your trips effectively with just a few clicks.

6. Ordering Food Online

Eating out has become so passe. From getting started from your homes to taking other aspects into consideration like travelling and seat availability in your favorite restaurant, everything is an ordeal. With the advent of food delivery apps, you can now order your favorite food from your favorite restaurant with a few clicks, and it will be delivered to you in a much shorter time interval. Additionally, the users get access to lots of special offers and discounts from these food delivery apps.

Conclusion

When used in right moderation, smartphones can actually make a person’s life extremely comfortable. A flurry of activities can be performed easily with the assistance of smartphones. However, the caveat is here is to not allow smartphones take control of your lives rather than you having control over it.

Mobile Phone usage has become ubiquitous these times. Your mobile phone can be a great ally for you. Whether you are trying to purchase goods online or trying to book your tickets online or even trying to catch up with the news and updates, smartphones have indispensable part of our lives. For gamers, the smartphone has been a boon. Gone are the days, where they would need a PC or a gaming console and a television inorder to access the games.

These days, games across all genres are available in Mobile apps giving you access in less than a minute. The proliferation of smartphone and the widespread availability of the internet with the reduced package have brought lots of people into the sphere of the internet. However, this has a flip side too that many people aren’t aware of or rather dismiss it as a minor threat.

Let’s face the fact, smartphones can be harmful too – especially to your health. All-day, we are inundated with information overflow via smartphones. Whether it’s buzzing emails and messages and WhatsApp chats or notifications from Social media or assistants chiming in their voices, they constantly jolt us.

In colloquial terms, smartphone addiction is referred to as nomophobia. Consider the following scenarios

Do you feel compelled to look at the notifications?
Are you dissatisfied by activities that don’t involve smartphones?
Can’t put the phone down without playing the game you like the most?
Are you constantly checking your social media accounts?
Do you experience anxiety when you don’t get access to smartphones?

If your answer is yes for more than 2 questions posted above, you are in grave danger of smartphone addiction. Despite it being a crucial role in our functioning part of the day, over usage can cause irreversible damage, to your brain and emotional wellbeing. A lot of youngsters suffer from problems such as insomnia, high blood pressure, stress, obesity, and disorders like OCD. The ubiquity of smartphones means that we cannot ignore it completely. However, it’s also important to keep the health issues that could be triggered by excessive smartphone usage and seek ways to mitigate them.

Be choosy in your usage

As mentioned above, complete disowning of smartphones aren’t really possible these days. However, we can choose to be intentional on what we decide to consume. If you are someone who scrolls the smartphone with your morning coffee instead of reading a newspaper, then switch to the latter. Draft a schedule and restrict Check the notifications only twice

Rather than going to bed with smartphones, leave it in your tables and go with a book.

Turn the notifications off

One of the main triggers of smartphone abuse is keeping the notifications on. In case of emergency, wouldn’t your friend or acquaintance rather make a call? Isn’t being interactive the best way in communication? Turn the notifications off and switch back to the old-school way of communication. You can see the difference in the time that you’ve saved.

Take an off day

Don’t we all take a day off at times to recharge ourselves? How good we feel once we return after a break? Apply the same logic here. Take a day off from smartphones completely. No matter whether you are in a winning stage of the online game that you love the most, it’s important to make a few sacrifices for a few personal gains. A lot of professional gamers do take a few days from their busy schedule so as to recharge themselves.

Conclusion

For most people, getting control over their smartphone and the Internet isn’t as easy as it appears. It’s important to deal with it as if we are going into a diet. Just as you are not going to avoid diet completely, and are trying to switch to a more healthy