News
Here is how to battle your Smart Phone Addiction.
Can you see a smartphone right now? Is it yours or someone else’s? Where is your smartphone? In your bag? In your hand? You probably lost it!
If reading that paragraph just made you a little anxious, then congratulations, you are a human alive today. And if reading those questions made you palpitate and sweat like a perp in a lineup, then don’t worry, you’re not alone. And you’re probably not very old, either.
There is the bad news and there is the good news
In a series of polls related to smartphone use released last week, Gallup found that about half of smartphone users check their phones several times an hour or more frequently; 81% of people said they keep their phones near them “almost all the time during waking hours” and 63% do so even when they’re sleeping. The condition is especially severe among the young, one-in-five of whom cop to “checking their phone every few minutes.”
Meanwhile, a May poll from Common Sense Media found that 50% of teens say they’re “addicted to their smartphones. (It should be noted that a teenager saying they’re “addicted” to something does not necessarily mean they are addicted in the medical sense.) Nearly three-quarters of teens “feel the need to immediately respond to texts, social-networking messages, and other notifications,” per Common Sense’s survey.
That might elicit a “tsk, tsk” from family members appalled by such behavior — Common Sense says 66% of parents think their children spend too much time on their phones. But all this checking doesn’t just come at the cost of neglecting the world around us. Researchers have been building a body of disheartening-but-fascinating research about the mess of mutual dependence that is our relationship with our smartphones. They’ve connected it to anxiety and stress and our increasing state of distraction.
There is, however, a way we might break the cycle of addiction, even if we all have to go through our own withdrawal montage.
But first, the disturbing news. In a 2015 study conducted at the University of Missouri, media researcher Russell Clayton found evidence that some people feel their phones are part of them—kind of like a leg or an arm. In a clever ruse involving word search puzzles and a blatant lie about signal interference, Clayton was able to get a snapshot of about 40 college students’ physiological states when their iPhones started ringing across the room but they were unable to answer them.
“They reported feeling a loss of identity,” he says. “When objects become possessions, when we use them a lot, they’re potentially capable of becoming an extension of ourselves.” When digital natives born today grow up to be toddlers who are crying because a parent takes their iPad away, Clayton says that could leave us with interesting questions: “Are they upset because they can’t play their game? Or are upset because they don’t have the iPad, the object, the possession?”
The good news is that Rosen does have a plan: weaning off devices bit by bit and making a public statement that you’re going to do so. This second part is key. Only if you’ve warned your parents and friends that they shouldn’t take it personally when you don’t text them back or like their picture right away, he says, will you be able to actually relax, no longer in fear of offending anyone who expects you to be on all the time. Meanwhile, you must wage an internal battle against your own FOMO.
“You announce to the world that you’re only going to check your phone once a half hour,” he says, “and then you allow yourself a minute or two every half hour to check in, return a call, text back, and then turn it off and put it away.” Then perhaps get bold and go up to an hour. Then perhaps two hours, in an attempt to eventually make the phone less like the limb it has become and more like the really cool toaster it could be.
“A lot of it,” Rosen says, “is self-induced anxiety.”
The supreme court has nullified the enforcement of provisions of the National Lottery Act 2005 in the 36 states of the federation.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday, the seven-member panel held that the national assembly lacks the powers to legislate on issues pertaining to lottery and gaming.
In March 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo signed the national lottery bill into law.
The legislation provides the framework for the operation of the national lottery and the establishment of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission.
The commission is charged with regulating the business of lottery in Nigeria as well as establishing the national lottery trust fund.
In 2008, the Lagos state government filed a suit against the federal government on whether the control and regulation of gaming and lottery businesses in each state is under the exclusive list.
In October 2020, the Ekiti government joined Lagos as co-plaintiff in the suit.
In November 2022, the supreme court joined 33 state governments as co-defendants in the suit.
In the judgment, the apex court ruled that only state assemblies have the powers to legislate on lottery and gaming businesses.
The supreme court ruled that legislation cannot be enforced in all states, except the federal capital territory (FCT), since the national assembly is empowered to make laws for the country’s capital.
The Senate has concurred with the recommendation of the House of Representatives to commute the death sentence penalty for persons found guilty of storing, moving or concealing hard drugs and other illicit substances to life imprisonment.
The alignment of the Senate with the House of Representatives yesterday was a sequel to the amendment effected on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act.
The amendment was considered at the plenary, presided over by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, APC! Kano North, after majority of senators supported the harmonisation of the conference committee of the two chambers of the National Assembly on Section 11 of the NDLEA Act.
Recall that recently, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the NDLEA law to prescribe life imprisonment for drug traffickers but the Senate version of the amendment prescribed death penalty for the offenders.
In order to address the differences, both the Senate and the House of Representatives needed to hold a conference committee on the amendment where they will conclude on a final amendment to the section.
The then Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Tahir Monguno, had told his colleagues that the Senate would adopt the amendment of the House prescribing life imprisonment for drug traffickers.
Monguno, who is the chairman of the conference committee, explained that if the National Assembly adopted the death sentence, it meant over 900 accused persons behind bar on drug related cases would be executed.
He, therefore, urged his colleagues to support the resolution in order to reduce the effect of drug consumption and trading in the country.
After the presentation, the Deputy Senate President put the resolution to a vote and majority of the senators supported it.
Senator Barau, thereafter, approved the amendments to include life imprisonment for drug traffickers.
With the amendment, the section now reads: “Anybody who is unlawfully involved in the storage, custody, movement, carriage or concealment of dangerous drugs or controlled substances and who, while so involved is armed with any offensive weapon or is disguised in anyway, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act, and liable on conviction to be sentenced to life imprisonment.”
The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says Simon Ekpa, the controversial Biafra agitator, was never a member of the group.
IPOB said Ekpa was not a registered member of the group’s chapter in Finland and cannot be the leader of the group.
On Thursday, Ekpa, a Finland-based secessionist, was arrested by law enforcement agents in the northern European nation.
He was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.
Ekpa was said to have committed the crime in 2021 in Lahti municipality.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.
In a statement on Friday, Emma Powerful, IPOB’s spokesperson, said Ekpa was a “destructive agent” paid to “infiltrate and destroy” the “peaceful movement” of IPOB.
Powerful accused the Nigerian and Finnish governments of shielding Ekpa from arrest.
“Simon Ekpa was never and is not an IPOB member, let alone being a leader in IPOB. IPOB has some family units in Finland, and Simon Ekpa is not a registered member of any IPOB unit in Finland or any other IPOB unit globally,” the statement reads.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu established IPOB as a peaceful movement to seek Biafra Independence via a supervised UN referendum.
“IPOB is a peaceful global movement that has never taken to violence or arms struggle in two decades of our self-determination struggle.
“It was unfortunate that some innocent Biafrans, being passionate for the restoration of the stolen sovereignty of the Biafran Nation, thought that Simon Ekpa was genuinely sympathetic to the Biafra cause.
“Sadly, they had to learn the hard way that he was a destructive agent paid to infiltrate and destroy the IPOB peaceful movement for Biafra self-determination. He recruited violent criminals to destabilize the South East Region in 2021.
“The Simon Ekpa-led group has no alliance, affiliation or relationship with IPOB family worldwide. He recruited his criminal gangs who have been terrorising the Biafran territory since 2021.
“The Nigerian government and politicians that contracted Simon Ekpa have been making strenuous efforts to tag the violent crimes of their agent on IPOB just to blackmail and demonise the genuine and peaceful Biafra self-determination struggle of the Biafran people led by the IPOB.
“On the purported arrest of Simon Ekpa, all IPOB members, Biafrans and lovers of Biafra freedom should remain calm and focused on our core objective which is the restoration of the sovereign state of Biafra.”
Supreme court nullifies enforcement of National Lottery Act in 36 states
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NASS amends NDLEA Act, okays life imprisonment for drug traffickers
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‘He was never our member’ — IPOB disowns Simon Ekpa
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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.
She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others
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