Problems of the new world

It is a very common sight today to see children and adults alike immersed into their smart phone even when surrounded by people; heads down and fingers busy, thats become like a way of life. They do not see life live but only through their smart phones. Yes, the digital addiction, a new age disease has reached alarming proportions.

And thus it comes as no surprise to see that just like our traditional doctors, we have specialists who now help people get over tech addiction. This kind of addiction is akin to drugs where it can lead to a complete disruption of life.

Opened in Bangalore, known as  SHUT (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) Clinic, it is located at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), which helps people deal with technology-based addictions. The most afflicted are teenagers, addicted to gaming and there is a name for this problem - gaming disorder.

World Health Organization recognised gaming as a disorder in June gaming over other activities and continuing with it despite the negative consequences it could bring. Beyond gaming, even social media usage is being recognised as highly addictive, prompting Facebook and Instagram to introduce a new dashboard that will show users how much time they spend on their smart phones.

In the four years since it was opened, the SHUT Clinic has seen a steady increase in the number of patients showing signs of addiction to the internet, social media, gaming and pornography.

At the root of the problem is recognising the fact that you have a problem - when you cannot recognise at all that you are an addict, then how will you ever get help. Surely, the years to come, we are going to see more and more such centers like SHUT coming up all over India. This is the flip side of living in a digitised world.