Ignore the Siren Call of that Cellphone

"When you want a whole cake to yourself because you're turning 30, which is basically 50, which is basically dead."
Offensive advertising

"After a bunch of us squawked about the ad on social media, the company apologized for what it called attempted humour, and what I'd call ageism."
"[Jabs like this] constitute mere microaggressions compared to the forms ageism often takes: pervasive employment discrimination, biased health care, media caricatures or invisibility."
"When internalized by older adults themselves, ageist views can lead to poorer mental and physical health."
Paula Span, writer, professor, Columbia School of Journalism

"By chronically raising levels of cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, our phones may be threatening our health and shortening our lives [aside from causing problems such as sleep loss and lessened attention span]."
Catherine Price, science journalist

"Your cortisol levels are elevated when  your phone is in sight or nearby or when you hear it or even think you hear it."
"It's a stress response, and it feels unpleasant, and the body's natural response is to want to check the phone to make the stress go away."
David Greenfield, founder, Center for Internet and Technology Addiction

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Yes, it's irritating. The phone has a habit of ringing, demanding it be answered immediately if not sooner, or else something hugely important will pass by and you'd never know you lost an opportunity to advance your life in some immeasurable way. It's a nag, a nuisance, and a tease. When you really want it to ring and for a voice on the other end to be the one you've been waiting for, it remains obstinately silent. It can be nerve-wracking.

And it can make people stressed and depressed. A Gallup poll of over 150,000 people globally sought a response to a simple question. Those in the poll who lived in the United States scored higher than elsewhere on admission of a stress-level scale. Fully 55 percent of American responders reported being stressed throughout much of the previous day.

"We are seeing patterns that would point to a political explanation or a polarization explanation. But can we say that definitively? No", said Julie Ray from Gallup. The survey explored negative experiences and positive ones as well, finding that a low income for example was related to negative experiences; predictable enough. The World Health Organization points out "It's [ageism] an incredibly prevalent and insidious problem".




"It affects not only individuals, but how we think about policies", pointed out Alana Officer, lead of the WHO's effort to counter ageism. Researcher Becca Levy of Yale School of Public Health points to her decades'-long study of the issue, that people with a positive approach to aging are more likely to recover from disability than people who trust in negative stereotypes.

"They experience less depression and anxiety. They live longer", added Ms. Span, referring to the research. The consensus that all these professionals who study the problem of negativity and its impact on making people depressed is that regardless of age, the one step that could lower stress and anxiety is to stop personal reliance on that cellphone. Put it away. Sooner the better.

Electronic dependence has a cost. It is recognized as a cause of sleep loss as well a weakening of cellphone users' attention span. "Every chronic disease we know of is exacerbated by stress. And our phones are absolutely contributing to this", states Dr. Robert Lustig, author of The Hacking of the American Mind.

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