The new addiction.

Byline: IMTIAZ ALI MIRANI - SHIKARPUR, SINDH

As smartphones are now integrated into every hour, if not minute, of many people's daily lives, their use is becoming more and more intrusive.

Smartphones have become so addictive in the modern era that we cannot even think of how life would be without them in our hands. It is as if we are glued to this gadget. And which to a great extent is true. We literally are glued to these glowing plastic screens. Go to the gym and you will see people taking more pictures than actually exercising which is the main purpose for why they are there. Hence, it is no doubt that smartphones are deviating us to focus on the task that we are supposed to do.

Take another instance of people using smartphones inside while the movie is playing on. Why not enjoy the movie? After all it is what we at cinemas go for, instead of trying hard to record short movie clips.

Smartphones are paving their way into our daily life routine and we do not even notice it and that is because undoubtedly, these glowing screens have become an addiction. If you think about it, our attention is the only thing we truly own in our lives. Our possessions can go away. Our bodies can be compromised. Our relationships can fall apart. Even our memories and intellectual capacity fade away. But, the simple ability to choose what to focus on - that will always be ours.

Unfortunately, with today's technology, our attention is being pulled in more directions than ever before, which makes this optioning of our own attention more difficult and more important than ever before. I believe that smartphones are causing attention pollution, in other words. Its attention pollution when somebody else's inability to focus or control themselves then interferes with the attention and focus of those around them.

Hence, it is why we get annoyed at dinner when...