CYBER PSYCHOLOGY: Need of the hour
CYBER PSYCHOLOGY: Need of the hour
Superfi cially it has connected us but in real sense it has led to detachment. Relationships have gone for a toss
BY: BISMA FAROOQ SHEIKH
sheikhbismafarooq@gmail.com
We live in a world of liberation, independence & empowerment!
This is but our biggest delusion. We are the worst ever victims of enslavement. We are slaves of something that we never leave alone and that is our mobile phone.
Sweet seem its taste but our time does
waste. Lovely it looks in our lap but this is the biggest trap.
This is what breaks the psychological principle of No two individuals
are alike. Fortunately, or unfor-tunately, we all are in this trap; only degree and intensity of our addiction differ. Internet Addic-tion, in particular and mobile
phone addiction, is a disorder and we all have this to some extent ;however exceptions are
always there. Disorder is any-thing that affects a person’s social ,educational or occupa-
tional life. Doesn’t our mobile phone fall in that category. Doesn’t it affect our social life.
Doesn’t it connect us with a person who is miles apart but disconnect us from person sit-
ting next to us; Doesn’t it affect our personal and occupational life. Superfi cially it has connect-
ed us but in real sense it has led to detachment. Relationships have gone for a toss.Internet has revolutionised
education, business and medi-cal care. None can deny this
fact. Everything is at our fi nger tips. With a single click we can download books, we can book
tickets, we can order things, we can assess any information we need; we can get news updates
from every corner of globe; but above all it has added to our mental burden. We all are
having a minor form of OCD (obsessive compulsive disor-
der). Our mind always remains obsessed with thoughts that on
my fb /whatsApp account some-one may have texted me, some-one may have uploaded some-thing, somebody may have liked
or commented on my post; this
creates FOMO (fear of missing
out) and to reduce these obses-
sions we are bound towards
compulsions (repetitive actions
to reduce obsessions). We check
our phones frequently, every
ten minutes.
School and college going
students are worst hit by this
menace. It has put their social,
moral and academic career at
stake; There are many students
who are not able to focus on lec-
tures just because their mind
is preoccupied. some resist the
temptation while some start chit
chatting during lecture.
Some young buds have devel-
oped features of narcissism
(unrealistic self love); they keep
on capturing selfi es and upload
it on social media to get appreci-
ation for their beauty and looks.
Many develop depressive
features just because people
don’t like the pic/post they
upload or they don’t get
ample likes or their friend
list isn’t that much lengthy as their peers. Some have become
addicted to watch-ing filthy items
on internet as it’s freely accessible and
nobody is there to stop them. It has
taken a heavy toll on their moral
development. It has affected their
social life. They prefer isolation.
Even if they sit with family, they
don’t know what’s going on around them; what
they are eating. They don’t interact with family members.
Their lifestyle has become sed-entary. Healthy hobbies like
book reading, gardening, play-ing games have gone.Not only this, mobile phone
has ruined many lives. Many
teenager boys and girls fall in this trap. Some unknown person
sends them friend request, start chit chatting and then show
them castles in air and they are
gone. They use 8 letter password
I Love you to rob their hearts for ever. They then lament and
repent and unfortunately they can’t share this to anyone.
There are many girls who sent their pics to unknown
boys, so called fb friends, and they then misused them. Who
is to be held responsible? There
are some genuine people. Every-one isn’t going to dupe us but we
can’t trust everyone. It’s high time for parents to keep check
on their children. What they surf, with whom they chat, how
much time they use internet.Widespread use and easy
accessibility of internet has led to inter-
net addiction, online gaming
disorder, infomania, increase in cyber crimes, cyber bul-
lying, cyber pornography & other psychological issues like
sleep deprivation, depression, impulsivity, anxiety especially
among youngsters thereby it is high time that cyber psychology
should be started as a course in colleges and universities &
more and more researches be conducted on cyber behaviours
so as to help people in curtailing
the time spent online and sensi-tize them about netiquettes, and cyber security
“Life is too precious to be
wasted in being hooked to social networks like Facebook, insta-
gram, snapchat. Let’s use inter-net for infotainment but not let it
lead to derailment. Spent leisure
time in healthy hobbies like read-
ing, exercise, art and prayers.
Above all don’t forget to spend
time with family. Let’s try to cur-
tail our virtual time from today
and feel the difference. ”
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