Causes of Check-in Addiction - Coursework Example

Causes of check- in addiction Introduction Check -in addiction is the addiction of people to their phones or computers whereby they keep checking for the new and unread mails and text messages. Those who suffer from this addiction usually find themselves checking their phones and computers even when there are actually no new messages. They experience a difficulty of controlling the urge to use their phones and computers. Addiction to these devices has negative effects however especially to adolescents. Firstly, one of the negative effects is involved with health problem whereby they increase the risk of brain tumors due to excessive exposure to electromagnetic waves, headaches, pains in eardrums and dizziness (Kim 393). Another negative effect is the problem of changes and destruction of language (Kim 393). This is whereby the adolescents excessively use shortened language to facilitate faster typing of text messages which end up changing and destroying the normal language. Check in addiction therefore is significant to people of different ages but more significant in adolescents where it results to high levels of schizophrenia and where the addicted adolescents tend to show high levels depression and impulsive symptoms (Kim 394). Check -in addiction thus, has emerged to be a current social phenomenon. Causes of check-in addiction Various aspects and behaviors lead to check –in addiction whereby individuals get to a situation where they usually feel the urge to check their cell phones and computer for new messages and mails even at times when there are no messages. The main cause of check –in addiction is the fulfillment and achievement of emotional goals. People are usually compelled to fulfill different emotions including thrill, irrational behavior, anxiety and panic (Kim 392). Out of these emotions people find themselves getting addicted to a tendency of checking their devices regularly. In addition to fulfillment of emotions, check –in addiction may as well be caused by a number of interrelated factors which include using the cell phones and computers as a form of communication and using them without having an actual intention (Kim 392). Availability of extensive options in these devices and the fear of missing out as well may lead to check in addiction. Check –in addiction may be caused by using cell phones and computers as communication medium. When a person is for instance expecting to get certain information from another person in form of a text message or email, the person keeps checking their phones to see whether they receive any messages concerning the message. Continuous use of these devices as a means of communication leads to addiction whereby a person keeps checking their phones even when they do not expect new messages. The availability of a variety of options, applications and programs in cell phones and computers as well is another cause for check –in addiction. It is however slightly connected to use of these devices as a communication medium. The availability of these many applications increases the consistency at which people use the devices and at many instances when people use these other applications they end up checking their emails and text messages. For instance a person may log in to twitter, Facebook and other social cites and on exiting decides to check the inbox. This continued checking leads to check –in addiction. Staring at cell phones and computers as well without actual intention is another cause for check –in addiction. Some people find themselves staring or scrolling their devices without an intended purpose. They normally find themselves scrolling through applications but not actually intending to use any of the applications. This normally drives them to checking for emails and text messages even when there is no probability for new messages. Doing this over time later leads them to getting addicted to checking their inbox which results to check –in addiction (Kim 391). The fear of missing out also causes check in addiction. This is also related to the afore mentioned causes but is more attributed to connections in the social media such as Facebook and twitter whereby people usually feel the urge to know what is trending or even what other people’s statuses are. People usually feel as if they are missing out on something better that is happening and therefore find themselves checking regularly into the social media and many times check their inbox for mails and new text messages after exiting the social media. They find themselves doing this over time and this tendency later result to them getting addicted to checking –in for new and unread messages. Satisfaction or fulfillment of certain emotions is the major cause of check –in addiction. Thrill as one of these emotions is a situation whereby a person feels the urge to multitask or a general urge of checking an incoming message even in a public or in a social setting. For instance a person may be compelled by a strong urge to check a new message that comes in a middle of a business meeting. In this situation, the person’s attention is driven away by this urge until the moment that they actually check the message. Others may seem to so much focus their attention to a cell phone during a social function for instance with friends. Others still may prefer dividing their attention between the participation in a meeting and checking the device. All the three cases therefore are forms of thrill whereby a person keeps their attention to the device even when there is in real sense no new message coming in. The thrill emotion therefore is a cause of check –in addiction since it starts slowly and with time a person finds that they can no longer control the urge to use the device and thereby have to keep checking (Kim 392). Finally, panic and anxiety are also emotions that are attributable causes of check –in addiction. A person might be compelled by fear to keep on checking into their devices as such computers and cell phones as a form of reassurance that they are still in procession of these devices. This is usually to clear the fear of losing these devices. In this case, a person may take their cell phones and start scrolling their inbox without even the intention of reading the messages. This emotional behavior starts slowly and grows with time, whereby the person is more and more pushed by those fear to check their devices. As this fear grows it leads to check –in addiction as the person increases the consistency of checking their devices. Anxiety on the other hand is the feeling of discomfort that arises when one has not checked their cell phones or computers for new and unread messages. It may as well result to check –in addiction in the sense that a person may for instance be driven by the desire of wanting to know about others and thus will keep checking for their messages in the devices (Kim 391). Conclusion In conclusion, check -in addiction which is the addiction to checking new and unread text messages and emails in cell phones and computers is currently a social phenomenon affecting people at different ages. It is however caused by various aspects which include fulfillment or achievement of emotional goals, using cell phones and computers as communication medium, availability of many options such as applications and programs in the devices, staring and scrolling through various applications with no actual intention and fear of missing out. Check -in addiction may therefore result to negative effects especially to adolescents whereby it leads to mentally related health problems. It is therefore a current social phenomenon since it is currently observed in individuals of different ages in the current society though largely affecting the adolescents. Works cited Kim, Tai-hoon. Grid and Distributed Computing: International Conference, Gdc 2011, Held As Part of the Future Generation Information Technology Conference, Fgit 2011, Jeju Island, Korea, December 8-10, 2011, Proceedings. Berlin: Springer, 2011. Print. Read More