Introduction
Technology has helped us in this generation. It's certain that the rate at which we've improved with the help of technology is high. Looking back into the history of the generation of computer, there has been a rapid success so far.
Human-like Bots are being coupled. Airplane carry hundreds of people with a series of heavy Luggage. We build Houses on oceans with heavy metals without sinking. Ships carry heavy materials on the sea without capsizing. There has been a drastic improvement in many areas.
Mobile communication is not an exception. Interaction is made easy. We can get internet facilities at the tips of our finger. Workload has reduced with the help of sophisticated machines. All these have made life easier than before.
That said, there are adverse impact of these improvements on our lives. It is something that needs attention.
smart phones' usage have gradually increased and they might cause many negative results by affecting interpersonal relations, physical and mental health and general functionality while facilitating our daily life (Demirci, Akgönül, Akpınar, 2015).
The use of mobile phones is globally trending. Mobile phones especially the smart ones are a life companion. When you connect online, you are everywhere. You can chat with friends far away. You can also do your assignments, watch movies, play games and so on. We all find using our smart phones interesting. That is why so many people are glued to their device like a male and female Dog having fun.
What is a smart phone
A smart phone is a device with advanced features. Manufacturers build them with stronger hardware, and a good operating system. Virtually everything a PC does can be done on smart phones. More than placing, and receiving calls, a smart phone has many features. You can use them for video calls, voice calls, check weather, Email, and web browsing. Also, it can do online streaming, play music, games, watch movies. Plus GPS navigation, app store search, Video recording, etc.
There are different brands of phone in the market today. Many companies are coming up with different products. We have Samsung, I phones, Apple phones, Blackberries, Nokia, etc.
With the availability of many products, it has become easy for anyone to own a smartphone. The use of these smart phones is what led to phone addiction. That is my reason for creating this article.
To introduce an app (get off your phone) that would help to control this menace among everyone.
What is get off your phone?
According to the PO.
This is an offline open source application that controls excessive app usage with an app blocker.
You can block any selected mobile app on the device depending on the selected time.
The app is built to allow users to end procrastination with simple app lockdown for a particular period of time.
Why people get addicted to their phones
To many of us, our mobile device(smartphones) is like our eye. Without the Eyes, We cannot go anywhere or do anything than to sit on a spot idle. Not having our phones with us most times makes us feel something very important is missing in our system. I can say that more than 85% of smartphone users wouldn't be comfortable without their device for a day. Phone addiction is one thing that has now become rampant among many phone users. The drastic improvement of tech has increased the functionality of cell phones which has become part of our daily lives.
The interesting things we do on our smart devices has made many of us an addict. They refer to this as dependency syndrome. which is classified under behavioral and substance addiction. Playing games, checking status and updates on social media platforms. Plus chatting and other interesting functionalities on smart devices are what drive us addicted to our devices.
Are you an addict?
Part of the functions of a smart phone are receiving calls, playing games, chatting with friends and so on. The time spent on doing these things is what determines our addiction. What some people will check first thing in the morning is their phone. In fact, some people wake in the middle of the night to check their phone. It's not that they would call back or reply to messages at that time of the night. But because it has become a behavioral attitude, they couldn't control themselves.
Taking your phone with you wherever you go has not made you an addict. The moment its engagement begins to take your time than expected, you are likely to be an addict.
Some months back, I travelled to see a friend where I spent a week with him and his family. He complained about me pressing my phone every second. He was right. What I'm trying to point out here is this. If people start complaining about you being stock to your device, you are likely to be a victim. Smart phone usage is nice but, it isn't cool when it takes our time than necessary. Using a smart phone to the point of addiction is non-ethical.
Adverse effect of phone addiction
Phone addiction in some cases makes us unproductive.
Instead of doing something more important, you get busy with the phone. Time is money, and procrastination is the thief of time. Addiction causes a distraction. It pulls your mind away from your work, and it becomes difficult to focus and get back on the track.
Accident
Can phone addiction cause an accident? It doesn't seem so, but the answer is a capital YES. Many people had lost their lives to this mobile device stupidity. Some people walk and operate their phones on the road. For God sake, we don't have Eyes all over our body. We can only focus on one thing at a time. Some have fallen a victim from checking their phone while driving. All these reckless behaviours have caused more harm than good. You don't need to wait until you learn a big lesson. Control yourself now.
Poor sleep
There is no doubt that anyone addicted to mobile phone sleeps late and hardly take a siesta. The phone alone is enough to make them stay awake when others are far asleep. There are some set of people I often see on line on Face book each time I manage to sleep late. I took my time to study them. They are the one to sleep late and the first to post on the status the next morning. This kind of life would lead to health issues.
It is not something that happens immediately. It piles up. 8 - 10 hours of sleep daily makes you feel good. During this process, your body heals and restore its chemical balance. The long term effect of poor sleep isn't good. It drains your mental ability bit by bit. It is better to control the habit of phone addictiveness and have a good time to rest and settle your Brain.
Control phone addiction with Keep off your phone app
We've been talking about phone addiction since, but there is one part that I've not clarified. If we delete all mobile apps on our phones, what happens? We are left with empty phones I guess. This means there would be nothing like a phone addict. It's now clear that what causes phone addiction are the apps installed. Like Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Pes games, Chess, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, Discord, Skype. and so on. We cannot delete these apps because we want to control addiction. They are very important as well. That is why we have an application like "get off your phone". You can use it to restrict the usage of these apps.
you can lock any app that takes most of your time for a particular period. During this time, you would not be able to use the app until the lock time elapses. You can also lock your mobile data, and WiFi if you wish. You can use the app to get off your mobile device as the name implies. Select the apps you are addicted to and lock them up. This will allow you to have time for other things. It is a very easy way to regulate your time in dealing with addiction. I've been using this app for the past Four months, and it has helped in regulating the time I spend using some apps. No doubt, it is a good way to reduce phone addiction.
Recent update ( New version released and Bug fixes)
One thing about Alikaraki (the PO) is that he takes his project with all seriousness. There are bugs in the app, but he fixes it immediately it is reported and replicated. On January 2019, some bugs were fixed. This resulted in the release of a new version ( V 6.1r)
Fixed bugs
Midnight timer increases to 20+ hours by itself.
Fixed notification selected time text from 2min/hours to hours only or minutes only.
Some unused strings were also cleared.
Chinese and Spanish translation was also added. And there was an update on dependencies, and libraries supporting Android pie SDK 28.
He released another version ( V7.0r) in February 2019 which is the most recent version.
- Setting screen.
- Light theme.
- Ability to enable/disable timer notification.
- Block all phone notifications with lockdown (DND) Side drawer.
- Donate Button All these have added to the uniqueness of the app.
I'm sure that some other features would be added in the next version.
Conclusion
I don't know what the world would become without the use of smart phones. It wouldn't be easy to go back to those days when tech was nowhere to be found. As we keep enjoying the advancements, let's take precautions. Let's use our device accordingly with the help of get off your phone app if need be. If you detect any bug in the app, you can create an issue on github.
Also, if you think you have an idea that could improve the app, you can submit it on github as well. I submitted some Idea to the PO 3 months ago, and he appreciated the effort. You can go through the idea submitted to utopian here. However, the next episode of this article would be the review of the app. I will explain the features and how you can use the application.
Working together to improve open source project is key. Let's keep having fun as we adjust our mobile phone addiction with get off your phone application.
Thanks for reading.
See you in the next episode.
Resources
- All sources are cited and other images are the screen shot from my phone.
Series back link
- First post in this series