Studies have revealed that excessive use of mobile phones has limited human memory. It has reduced the necessity of remembering so many things as it has ample storage space and loads of information can be fed into it and retrieved when required at the press of a button, writes Farooq Qureshi
Mobile phones have revolutionised communication. Besides providing instant connectivity between places thousands of miles apart, the device offers services that are dirt cheap. The device itself is low-cost and easily available and almost everyone with means have it.
But then as is wont to happen, technology has a flip side and this device too is not entirely without its share of negatives. The problem here is excessive use. Reasonable use is okay, but if this is stretched to far or used excessively, it might not earn just accolades, but opprobrium as well. So, a dividing line is to be drawn between use and excessive use.
Studies have revealed that excessive use of mobile phones has limited human memory. It has reduced the necessity of remembering so many things as it has ample storage space and loads of information can be fed into it and retrieved when required at the press of a button. Although studies have not been carried out on the extent of damage the device causes to human faculty, it is by no means miniscule.
Psychiatrist Dr Akhil Patil said that apart from affecting the memory, the device lessens the ability of the user to make simple calculations as mobiles can do this within no time. In this sense mobiles are like men who have strong legs but have lost the ability to walk just because they were made to walk on crutches for a long period of time.
The best way to get anything ingrained in one's mind is to write down the piece of information which is to be learnt and then going through that piece over and over again. Since the mobile cuts this process altogether, learning is adversely affected. It can be argued, however, that during the olden times, requirements were limited and hence, the need for technology or gadgets too were unnecessary. But with changing lifestyle, all functions cannot be carried out by human faculties alone and use of newer gadgets, especially hand-held, is an absolute must.
Varun Verma, working for a consultancy firm, opined that use of gadgets had increased manifold. Users have become slaves to these devices and cannot imagine normal life without at least the mobile phones. Earlier people used to write diary and jot down phone numbers, important events and occasions. These days the diary has been replaced by memory cards in mobile phones and tabs.
Mayank Jain, a B.Com second year student, said diaries are no longer in vogue and saving information in the multitasking smart phones is the latest way to keep the records updated. The trend has changed and other important documents can be saved in the smart phone.
Earlier numbers were remembered or written and users used to remember the numbers, but with the use of mobile phones with large memory spaces, the users have stopped using their memory and have started using the mechanical memory space, said Sunil Mathur, a teacher at Ideal Higher Secondary School.
Mathur said that while jotting down information around 20-30 per cent of information used to be absorbed and stored in the memory, but now since this process is no longer in practice, the memory has been adversely hit. Virtually every mobile phone number, including numbers of friends, relatives, colleagues and family members is stored in the mobile phone.
A technician with a private telecom company, Assad Khan said since the mobile phones are touching the ears when working, it also affects the brain, eyes and skin. Many people have claimed that brain tumors, skin cancers and mental problems have resulted from excessive use of cell phones.
In a research done on young people to find out the ill effects of the mobile phone, it was found that out of the total population surveyed around 83 per cent were having very little knowledge about the adverse effects of using mobile phones.
An interesting fact emerged during the research. Usually people keep two mobile phones - one for their personal use and the other for professional use. The final findings claimed that around 77 per cent carry one mobile and 23 per cent carry more than one mobile phone. However, with the introduction of the dual SIM mobile phones, the percentage of the latter has considerably reduced.
There were other interesting aspects of the study. A major portion, around 56 per cent use their mobile phones for more than 30 minutes and around 5 per cent use them for more than 90 minutes. What was alarming, however, was that a majority of persons surveyed were found to be suffering from memory disturbances and sleeplessness.
Of course, the study was conducted on a sample group and cannot be generalized. Still, they are pointers to a larger danger that are lurking in the very near future. So, it is mandatory that mobiles are used sparingly and only when actually required.