Phonomaladritis; All players have the symptoms.
We complain about it and see it every day in others and we have become immune to how much, we ourselves, have fallen prey to the disease. We justify the ailment as a part of the modern world and brush it off as to the busy times we live in. I present to you Phonomaladritis, the lingering social and medical sickness of extended phone dependency.
Our mobile phones are the best and worst part of each day. We justify our addiction by the need to be connected with our loved ones and the office. If we had the discipline to use our phone for just those reasons, we would all be healthier and happier. However, we don't. The chemical dependency (the dopamine drips as we scroll social media) and emotional pressure to keep up with our pseudo- friends on social media is why Phonomaladritis has become an epidemic in today's world. Make no mistake about it, this is a disease both adults and children battle daily. Let's review the symptoms:
1. Inability to amuse or entertain yourself in the real world.
2. Bored within 5 minutes without a screen or text message alert.
3. Poor Posture and minimal eye contact with other human beings.
4. Constant concern with other People's opinion on social media.. and in life.
5. Belief system and sources of knowledge all premised on YouTube and Google.
6. Daily need to share insignificant news and activities with the world.
7. Fear of sitting quietly in public or outside without immersed in a screen.
8. Thinking that the world cares about your daily life.
9. Conversation skills that fall way below average someone your age.
10. Slight panic attacks when you misplace your phone or the battery dies.
11. Doubling homework assignments or work project time because of constant phone breaks.
No one is saying to ditch your phone but slight changes in habits may go a long way in
reconnecting with yourself and others:
Realize you will have vision problems in life due to the slammed, crammed and jammed visual habits of excessive screen time. Go out and play or read a real book.
Learn to eat again without the scrolling part of the meal and engage in real time conversation with your eating group.
Commit to learn more about life by being IN life and interacting in real time with others.
Call your loved ones before it's too late to even text them.
Believe half of what you read and watch on social media is accurate.
The only opinion that matters in your life is your own. Eliminate the need to glorify and show others how great your life is through posts and following.
You want to sit on certainpitches and hunt fastballs and predict where breaking balls will end up? News flash. Your brain loves real space and your eyes long for to be outside in Open Focus mode.
If you are going to improve controlling the runway (the space between the mound and home plate), your eyes need to be outside and your space neurons need practice firing in true 3-D space. Decreasing the strained viewing time on your phone can only help. The great ones play in the present. Exposing your visual system (the brain is part of our visual processing) to real space during practice is the best way memory and coding of past stimuli get retained. The great eyes in all sports focus on the space around the ball and surrounding areas more than the ball or fixed objects itself.
Get crazy and see if you can go a half day or a few hours of being unplugged from your phone. We all have 1440 minutes a day to work, play, learn and cherish the world.
Don't let Phonomaladritis hold you back from being your best version of you.
If you are going to control space and time in games, get in it more often during the day.
