Limiting your life to the four corners of your smartphone seems to be all the rage. But it's getting annoying.

For a long time, modern men and women used a simple cell phone, or simply a cell phone. They are now called smartphones and many a primary school pupil is already in possession of one of these technical marvels, which are no longer just designed for making phone calls. Smartphones are becoming increasingly sophisticated in terms of functionality and features. But they have to be, because the various manufacturers are regularly flooding the market with new devices that will continue to sell like hot cakes. The smartphone was established by the manufacturer Apple. The iPhone 1.0, released in 2007, combined functionality, usability and design in a pocket calculator - and hit the nerve of the times. However, many consumers will ask themselves whether the end of the line has been reached. After all, you probably won't be able to fly to the moon with a smartphone any time soon.

The smartphone as a leisure and career killer

Using our own smartphone takes up more time every day than we might think or want to admit. We often find ourselves checking our emails just before going to bed. For the employer, this basically means wonderful times, as 88 percent of employees are available for their superiors even after work - and even on vacation. But what is a blessing for employers in the evening can be a curse for them during the day. Namely, when employees are constantly distracted by their smartphones. More and more companies are therefore banning cell phones at work, with corresponding sanctions for those caught using them.

Is the smartphone a modern addictive substance?

There are around 113 million cell phones in Germany. More than half of people under the age of 30 own a smartphone. Time and again, we observe these scenes or become part of them ourselves: In a café or on the subway, engrossed young people sit opposite each other, scrolling through their Facebook messages without looking at each other or taking any notice of the people around them. And in the restaurant, the smartphone lies on the table next to the fork and knife as a matter of course. For many consumers, life without a smartphone is almost unimaginable. It is already too firmly integrated into the everyday lives of modern people.

One US sociologist even goes so far as to describe smartphones as part of the body, turning people into machines. It is certainly the case that humans have submitted to technology. On the one hand, it makes us mature and independent and, on the other, it leads us into slavery. However, everyone has the free choice to simply put down their smartphone and consciously perceive the here and now. You will be amazed at what there is to discover in reality.

Utopia or reality - giving up smartphones

The constant distraction and accessibility that a smartphone brings with it is certainly a double-edged sword. It is both a curse and a blessing to be able to be reachable anywhere in the world at any time, or to be able to google everything immediately. More and more people are suffering from burnout symptoms these days; what is particularly striking here is that the number of young patients among them is increasing.

Of course, there is no evidence that smartphones can be the cause of this modern widespread illness; however, it stands to reason that a person will burn out at some point if they want to be informed, involved and up-to-date everywhere at all times. This makes it increasingly difficult to set boundaries. What is particularly paradoxical here is that personal contact with other people decreases through the use of smartphones (via text or WhatsApp messages), while the constant exchange with other smartphone owners increases the level of stress. It is therefore not surprising that more and more people want to distance themselves from the smartphone generation. The motto for these people is "Just switch off".