Addiction is Social Problem

1. What is drug/alcohol addiction - Addiction is a complex, mental illness characterized by compulsive drug use despite the harmful effects. People who are addicted (to drug abuse) focus on using certain substances, such as alcohol or drugs, to the point that they take their lives. They continue to use alcohol or drugs, even if they know it will cause problems. However, there are many treatments that work and people can recover from addiction and live a normal, productive life.
2. What is mobile addiction - Smartphone addiction, sometimes colloquially known as “nomophobia” (fear of being without a mobile phone), is often fueled by an Internet overuse problem or Internet addiction disorder. After all, it’s rarely the phone or tablet itself that creates the compulsion, but rather the games, apps, and online worlds it connects us to.

• Drug addiction, also known as substance – use disorder, refers to the dangerous and excessive intake of legal and illegal drugs. This leads to many behavioral changes in the person as well as affects brain functions.
• Drug addiction includes abusing alcohol, cocaine, heroin, opioid, painkillers, and nicotine, among others. Drugs like these help the person feel good about themselves and induce ‘dopamine’ or the happiness hormone.

• Addiction to social networking dating apps, texting, and messaging can extend to the point where virtual, online friends become more important than real-life relationships.
• We’ve all seen the couples sitting together in a restaurant ignoring each other and engaging with their smartphones instead. While the Internet can be a great place to meet new people, reconnect with old friends, or even start romantic relationships, online relationships are not a healthy substitute for real-life interactions. 
• Online friendships can be appealing as they tend to exist in a bubble, not subject to the same demands or stresses as messy, real-world relationships. Compulsive use of dating apps can change your focus to short-term relationships instead of developing long term real relationships.☺

warning signs of smartphone and internet overuse include -

Trouble completing tasks at work or home. Do you find laundry piling up and little food in the house for dinner because you’ve been busy chatting online, texting, or playing video games? Perhaps you find yourself working late more often because you can’t complete your work on time.

separation from family and friends. Is your social life suffering because of all the time you spend on your phone or other device? When you are in a meeting or chatting with friends, do you lose track of what you are saying because you are checking your phone? Have friends and family expressed concern about the time you spend on your phone? Do you feel like no one in your "real" life - even your spouse - understands you as your online friends?

Feeling of dread, anxiety, or panic if you leave your smartphone at home, the battery runs down or the operating system crashes. Or do you feel phantom vibrations—you think your phone has vibrated but when you check, there are no new messages or updates?

You feel strange when the drug wears off. You may be shaky, depressed, sick to your stomach, sweat, or have headache You may also be tired or not hungry. In severe cases. you could even be confused, have seizures, or run a fever. 

You can't stop yourself from using the drug, even if you want to. You are still using it even though it's making bad things happen in your life, like trouble with friends, family, work, or the law.

The causes and effects of drug addiction - 

1. Genetics or individual biology - people make their own choices about whether or not to use drugs or alcohol; this initial choice relates to personal responsibility.
2. Family history of addiction - genetics is not the only way in which family and background can contribute to the development of addiction. if there  is a history of drug or alcohol abuse in the family, it is more likely that other family members will develop a drug or alcohol problem.
3. Peer pressure - if the person feels pressure to use drugs or alcohol when with friends, this can be the beginning of a habit that may result in substance abuse.
4. Co-occurring mental conditions - people who struggle with other mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, may start using drugs or alcohol as a form of self medication.

The causes of cell phone addiction -

1. Those suffering from mental health illness such as anxiety and depression.
2. Children and teenagers as their brains are still forming and vulnerable to addictive processes, change and substances.
3. Those that have an addiction that a smartphone enables and supports.
4. Those that have an unstable home life or stressed work environment.

Prevention -

• Family influence - prevention of drugs and alcohol abuse can start at home. parents can talk to their children and explain the consequences of drug abuse. specifically talking to children while they are young can create a strong foundation for awareness of drug use. this helps parents positively influence their children, while teaching their children about boundaries.
• Educational tools - educating teens on the effect of drug abuse is important as is attempts an important role to control possible drug use before the age of maturity. there are presently various educational programs in place for this very reason, including:

universal

selective

indicated

Universal programs function to teach social, personal and drug resistance techniques on a weekly basis.

Selective programs are interventions for teens who may be more at risk and have unstable home lives.

indicated educational programs are geared to teens showing problematic behavior.

• Keep yourself on a schedule - The most basic step for weaning yourself off your phone is literally setting alarms specifying how often you can check it. Start with every 15 minutes, then move to every half hour, every 45 minutes, or every hour. When your alarm sounds, spend one minute going through any and all notifications and then reset the timer. To reduce response-anxiety and hold yourself accountable, telling close friends or family that you may not be responding to their messages as quickly as you used to.
• Turn off as many push notifications as possible - You don't have to be interrupted by every "like" that your latest Instagram picture receives or with the message that your favorite podcast just released a new episode. An incredibly simple way to cut down on distractions is to turn off push notifications for as many apps as you can. Just head to Settings > Notifications to control your preferences. Personally, I only left notifications on for email, chat app messages, my calendars, and utility apps such as Lyft or Get Around, which only activate when I'm using them.

• Take distracting apps off your home screen - Keep the apps that you want to encourage yourself to use — like those for reading or learning a new language — front and center, but banish anything that you want to limit your time with to folders on your second page of apps (or if you have an Android phone, off the screen entirely).

Conclusion -

Drug abuse is a complex problem thought to result from a combination of psychological, and environmental factors. Infants and abusers may suffer from neglect or the effect of parental drug use. As they grow into childhood, they may demonstrate antisocial behavior, and signs of malnutrition, poor self-esteem, depression, or attention deficit disorder. 

Every good thing when when abused can be harmful, so is mobile phone. Consider when to use it, how to use it and what to use it for and just make sure you benefit fully from the mobile phone you are having because it is the next biggest technological device ever to hit the globe.