Perils of smartphone addiction

A man buried in his smartphone while walking across a railway crossing in Nanjing had a close shave recently. He was so engrossed in his smartphone that he did not see the train coming until it brushed past him, throwing him to the ground. This should serve as a warning to smartphone addicts that they should be aware of their surroundings, especially while crossing roads, says an article on gmw.cn. Excerpts:

The man survived a brush with death, but the incident forced the driver to stop the train. The 18-minute delay that the incident caused led to the disruption in the running of other trains. As a result, the arrival and departure schedules of a number of trains on the route were deferred.

Smartphone addiction has spread like a contagious disease. Take the subway or a bus and observe your fellow passengers and you can see how deep smartphone or tablet addiction runs in Chinese society. If people don't reduce their dependence on mobile phones, they could soon fall in trouble.

Some of the harms, such as distraction from study or work, smartphone addition can cause are already evident. Worse, some addicts become apathetic to relatives and friends.

In a tragic case, a 17-year-old girl, playing on her phone while walking on a street, failed to see an open manhole and fell into it and lost her life.

Some people would blame the smartphone for the tragedy, when in fact people's weakening self-control and self-discipline are to blame for it. We should let all smartphone users and would-be users know that addiction is something we could all do without.

(China Daily 10/29/2013 page9)