The last couple of years have underlined an incredible development of internet games and mobile devices, a process that managed to capture people’s attention to a greater extent than ever before. The World Health Organization has come to a startling conclusion; the once considered ‘innocent’ passion has turned lately into an obsession for a greater and greater number of people.

We’ve all seen it: people walking and talking on their cell phone or walking and texting. Chances are, we’ve done it too. We’re attached to our phones for most of the day, so using our phones while we walk is just commonplace. The danger is: total distraction and not paying attention to your surroundings. 

Internet addiction has become a very real epidemic, especially overseas in countries like China. While video games or online gaming oftentimes start out as a fun way to kill time or to enhance education, for some people, gaming can take over all parts of their life. It becomes an all-consuming force that they simply cannot stop thinking about. Relationships begin to be neglected, work performance suffers, grades drop, and soon there is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. 

Virtual reality headsets are becoming more popular and recent research has shown that they can act as a pain killer. In fact, they can even help women manage labor pains. Erin Martucci, a patient at Orange Regional Medical Center in New York recently used a virtual reality headset to help her pain management during labor. 

A new study has confirmed that action-based video games can help children improve their vision. After 8 hours of brain-training, kid-friendly video games, kids saw a significant improvement in their peripheral vision. 

For many of us, our smartphones are in our hands within moments of waking up in the morning.  Recent surveys have shown average Americans will check their phone about 150 times a day and some research shows that it could be even higher, up to 300 times a day. In addition, a recent Forbes article reported that 53% of young adults ages 15 to 30 would rather lose their sense of smell than lose their smartphone. 

But is there a link to smartphone addiction and specific personalities? 

We’re connected to our phones all day and for many people, when they’re driving it is difficult to disconnect for the phone. Whether it’s checking email, chatting on Facebook, or using the Snapchat messaging app, or catching the next Pokémon, motorists are simply not putting their phones down when they drive.  In fact, distracted driving is at an all-time high because of cell phone addiction. A recent report out of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that in the first months of 2016, highway fatalities jumped a whopping 10.4% than the previous time frame a year ago. In October of this year, a recent crash in Florida showed that the passenger in one car was recording a Snapchat video as she traveled 115 mph before the car crashed. The collision killed five people. Another accident in Atlanta last year showed that the driver was using Snapchat before it crashed and seriously injured the other driver. (1) 

Do you check your cell phone after you’ve gone to bed? If so, you’re not alone. A new poll in the United Kingdom found that 45% of young people, ages 11 to 18 check their phone at night and one in 10 of them check it at least 10 times a night.  About 94% of those were on social media, 75% of them were listening to music, and 57% were watching films. About 42% of them keep their phone next to their bed all night. The survey went even further to investigate how mobile use at night is affecting their daytime activities and the results were eye-opening. About 25% of them say they feel tired during the day because of their cell phone overuse at night and 68% say that it affects how they do in school. (1) 

A furry puppy or a soft kitten: can pet therapy help combat the modern day effects of technology addiction? The tech culture has completely permeated how we live life today and it’s integrated in how our children learn and process information. Our kids are being exposed to technology at young ages and if overused, their concentration, memory, and thought processing can be negatively affected. For some kids, they exhibit signs of addiction and withdrawal, cannot interact well socially with their peers, and they can even show signs of being numb to what’s going on around them. 

Back in the day, kids would play outside for hours at a time. Riding bikes, playing make believe, and playing catch were commonplace after school or on the weekends. Today, that type of play is becoming more and more rare, simply because there is usually a screen everywhere a child turns that’s calling them to sit down and zone out. If you feel like your child is spending more and more time in front of a screen rather than getting outside, you are not the only one. New data released by Exstreamist shows that kids ages 2 to 7 are watching about 1.7 hours of streaming videos per day and young people ages 8 to 18 spend up to 3 hours a day watching TV through online streaming. That equals about 650 hours of streaming movies and TV every year. The National Wildlife Foundation reports that today the average kid in America only plays outside with unstructured play for about a half hour each day. This did not include sports activities. (1) (2)