Is too much screen time affecting relationships with our moms?

MANILA, Philippines — Smartphones and other similar gadgets today have granted us a myriad of conveniences that anyone living from decades ago would not have thought possible.

But just like all good things, they come with a price.

Statistics says it all

Handy and lightweight, our mobile devices keep us connected whenever and wherever we are.

According to social media management platform Hootsuite, 5.11 billion people now have mobile phones, and out of this, 3.26 billion use theirs to access social media. That’s almost half the world’s population.

In the Philippines, 67 million people out of the 107 million population are internet users who are online for as much as 10 hours and two minutes a day.

READ MORE: Filipinos are world’s heaviest internet users in 2018, report says

In a 200-page Digital 2019 report published by social media firms Hootsuite and We Are Social, in the 230 countries surveyed, ours was revealed to have the heaviest social media users in 2018. Facebook was the most visited, followed by search engine website Google and video streaming website YouTube.

No wonder we’re still the world’s social media capital. 

Too much of a good thing

Needless to say, a large portion of our waking hours are spent looking at our screens, especially young people. At best, it gives them that instant gratification and a distraction from the mundane.

In recent studies carried out by Pew Research Center and the Journal of Child Development, teens are the ones online almost constantly. Worse, they tend to misconstrue social media engagement with “real” social connections in the outside world.

Even at home, being glued to handheld gadgets takes away time that could be spent with family, like moms.

What can be done?

Technology is not the problem, but the way it’s being used. Moms’ relationships with their children shouldn’t suffer.

An option is to limit smartphone usage either by communicating the perils of mobile addiction.

Another is to subvert excessive use with same technology that’s causing the addiction. Whether on Android or iOS, there are methods of limiting usage through settings, particularly on the App Limits section in iOS, or by setting time limits using apps on Google Play, such as Offtime or BreakFree.

Apart from these is an up-and-coming movement that sure to connect less with machine, and more with our moms.

Reconnecting by disconnecting

Introduced by Andok’s, “Hour Mama” is a movement that encourages everyone to put away their gadgets and spend quality time with moms. It calls on everyone to spend at least one hour—or more!— with the most special women in our lives.  

On May 12, Andok’s is inviting everyone and the moms in their lives at Makati Avenue to avail of the Hour Mama Meal Bundles.

It’s not strictly everyone’s moms—it can also be their wives, daughters, sisters, and mother figures who have sacrificed so much of themselves to look out for us and support our best interests.

It doesn’t have to be grand, too, it just has to be offline. The most meaningful moments can be time spent in quiet. It can also be spent watching shows that have caught your mutual interest, or simply having simple conversations over a meal.

Andok’s believes that nothing is more rewarding than “going offline and going bonding with nanay.” So adopt Hour Mama for you and your mom from here on out.

For more information visit the Andok’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/andokslitsonmanok.