You’ve been phubbed!

Would your partner feel stressed or anxious if they forgot to take their phone when leaving home?

Do you often feel neglected because their phone is the first thing they check when they wake up and the last thing they check before going to sleep?

Do they use their phone at the dinner table or when they’re supposed to be spending quality time with you?

Do they take their phone with them to the bathroom?

Do they constantly check their phone for notifications that just aren’t there?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it would seem that you have been phubbed, or phone snubbed. Your partner could be in another relationship, with their smartphone no less! This is not entirely their fault and fortunately, you are not facing it alone.

Statistics show that a staggering 32% of people worldwide have experienced what you’re going through. The cause is nomophobia, or smartphone addiction.

It is a global epidemic that is becoming increasingly more serious in current times, with records from 2020 showing that more than 3.5 billion people own a smartphone. 66% of those have reported experiencing symptoms of addiction.

The addiction can affect many facets of life, causing physical or psychological harm and sometimes even death.

Apart from being linked to marital and relationship neglect and dissatisfaction, smartphone addiction has proven to be a root cause for many other issues such as depression, eating disorders, anxiety, car accidents and sleep disorders.

On the 28th of February, for just 5 hours of your time, you could help change that.

MoodOff Day is an international not-for-profit campaign that was started in 2011 and founded in Sydney, Australia.

It aims to break up the toxic relationship between a person and their phone by raising awareness, generating public discourse, and encouraging users to become present in their own life.Every year on the last Sunday of February, people all over the world are encouraged to put their phones down, whether that be by simply turning it off, leaving it behind at home or locking it somewhere safe, for just 5 hours.

“We are calling on all to think, connect first and then jump onto our devices”, says Tapas Senapati, founder of MoodOff Day.

“We want to encourage people-connection before technology, stepping back from an overwhelming techno-abusive year, emerging from lockdowns and social distancing”, he says.

Mood Off Day is fast approaching, and it’s time to get involved.

Visit www.moodoffday.org to pledge, donate, show support and share the initiative.