Did you know that March 19th is Phone Free Day?
Phone Free Day was started by Taino Bendz, an engineer based in New Zealand with 10 years experience in the tech sector. He’d had enough of how adults were using their phones in front of the kids and decided to take a stand. For the last year and a half, Taino has been running workshops and presentations around social media and smartphone usage, and empowering people to make a change.
Phone Free Day is now run by a diverse team of motivated volunteers from a range of ages and backgrounds. The one thing that they have in common is that they all believe we can improve our lives and society by becoming more mindful of when our phones are helping us, and when they are distracting us.
A recent article in the medical journal Directions in Psychiatry further documented the dangers and harm of deep immersion in technology. The article titled “The Association Between Excessive Use of Smartphones, Cognition, Emotion, and the Brain” includes Dr. Aviv Weinstein’s observation that “excessive smartphone use correlates strongly with internet addiction.”
Whether to focus at work or studies, enjoy undistracted time with family and friends, or just have some time fully disengaged time from the never ending world of emails, texts and notifications, create a challenge that works for you on Phone Free Day on March 19th.
About Directions in Psychiatry
For more than 40 years, Directions in Psychiatry is the pre-eminent continuing medical education journal for psychiatrists world-wide. It is published by The Hatherleigh Company Ltd. Concise, essential, authoritative and timely, Directions in Psychiatry has delivered on the promise of insightful and useful information that psychiatrists world-wide need to stay current and earn CME requirements. For more information, visit www.directionsinpsychiatry.com.
