John Ndlovu
Information and Technology Reporter
The addiction to electronic devices by people due to dopamine tends to have long term effects such as crippling the human mind and forcing people to be disconnected from the society.
The advent of technology and social media has drastically changed societal dynamics at the expense of being a ”media aid”.
Due to excess technology people’s things and access to most documents tend to be electronized for example, even Christian worshipers who use the Bible for their faith have dumped the hard copy and are using the electronic application slowly overthrowing traditional print Bible.
Dopamine is a chemical produced by human being’s brain that plays a starring role in motivation. It pushes someone to always actively use a certain thing such as being addicted to electronic devices such as cellphones and video games.
Zim GBC News spoke the general populace and medical specialists on the issue.
DR. Nemache Mawere a qualified medical psychiatrist stated that technological addiction is one of the subjects which has long term negative impacts on people which has been ignored as it has different stages.
“Technological addiction is one of the societal threats which has been ignored by people despite its long term effects, it has five stages namely initiation stage whereby one is turned on towards a certain technology device or activity such as Whats App a chemical called dopamine that is released from the brain and activated to push a person to have interest towards that activity, then a person encounters the experimental stage whereby they constantly engage with that activity probably because of boredom, stress and other factors. The last stage is the most dangerous one as a person will be dependable on that device or technology activity such as playing games and even gambling so it would be difficult for them to get out of that situation.”He said
Dr. Mawere also stated that addiction to technology devices also breeds introverts and antisocial people hence it has a bearing in breaking up relationships and also distracts students from performing well in their school work or even performing badly at their tasks at workplaces.
“Serious addicts to technology gadgets in the long run become anti-social, so it also breaks relationships as one would prefer to be glued on their phones and staying away from their family and even friends. Constant addiction to social media accounts such as Facebook and Whats App also affects learners’ performance and even distracts from important activities such as work and church as for example someone will be constantly using their phone while at church and school.”He added
He also told this reporter that in the long run dopamine is also harmful to one’s body as for example if one spends their whole night on their phone or playing video games they might have back-ache and even have insomnia and someone might be affected by anxiety as if one addicted to their gadgets will feel like they have lost a part of their body.
This reporter also spoke to a game addict who identified himself as Wisdom who stated that he is seriously into games as he cannot even spend more that two days without playing FIFA which he said he can even spend the whole night playing.
“I am into gaming, I cannot spend more than two days without playing games, I can also spend the whole night playing it especially the career mode. I would rather spend the whole day in my room playing FIFA to avoid drama from mixing with people.I started gaming ten years ago at the age of twelve when I used to play with my big brother where we would spend our days at game shops. ”Wisdom said
Another anonymous local phone addict also told this reporter that her phone is her best friend and stated that she becomes anxious when she loses it as she can spend the whole day on Tik Tok, Instagram and on Whats App.
“I love my phone more than anything such that the first thing I check when I wake up in the morning is my phone, I prefer spending my day on Tik-Tok, Instagram and on Whats App as it kills the boredom, every time when my phone is off I become bored and anxiety grips in.”She said
Over usage of electronic devices has it’s own demerits such as distraction from important activities such as work, school and even at church as people will be constantly glued on their smartphones therefore dividing attention.
High dopamine symptoms include anxiety, excessive energy, insomnia and hallucinations, whereas low dopamine levels include brain fog mood swings and muscle spams.
Due to dopamine one can even find people scrolling through their devices even during important meetings, congregation proceedings and others which draws their attention away from the latter.