New Delhi: Are you a smartphone addict? Do you start your day with your smartphone, checking facebook messages, emails, or the day’s weather forecast before you even climb out of bed?

Moodoff Day Nonprofit Encourages People to Spend a Morning without Technology

Do you start your day with your smartphone, checking facebook messages, emails, or the day’s weather forecast before you even climb out of bed? At work, school, or even on holidays – do you feel lost without your iPhone or Blackberry by your side?

If so, you’re not alone. According to recent research by Ofcom, 37% of adults and 60% of teens admit to being ‘highly addicted’ to their smartphones, with users checking their smartphones on average, 34 times a day. Additionally, 51% of adults and 65% of teens use their smartphones while socializing with others, and 22% and 47% respectively, confess to answering their smartphones even while on the toilet.

As these statistics clearly show, incessant smartphone usage has now become an integrated and even socially acceptable part of our daily lives, although some would argue, at the expense of our personal relationships and other activities.

Senior Account Manager, Kathleen Aoki of Smart Solutions PR, said “While smartphones have certainly made life easier and even more productive for business, they also have the power to interrupt, distract and reduce productivity”.

Avid smartphone user Michael D. Russo, author and TV host of ‘Why Bankruptcy Rocks’, said “I habitually turn my phone off when in meetings. Nothing is worse than to go to meet someone and they are busy taking calls when we are supposed to connect and exchange information with each other”.

In response to this growing trend of ‘smartphone addiction’, self-confessed smartphone addict Tapas Senapati and a group of others have said “Enough!”, and created ‘Mood Off Day’, a campaign to bring awareness to peoples’ over-dependence on smartphone technology.

‘Mood Off Day’ on February 26th asks smartphone and mobile device addicts (and those that don’t yet consider themselves such) to spend a morning without their beloved devices.

On this day, from 5am – 10am we are asked to ignore our smartphone devices and simply be present with our family members, friends and colleagues. That means no early-morning texting, emailing, web surfing or getting facebook and twitter updates.

Meanwhile, activities such as spending time with the family, reading the paper, or going for a walk and meeting your neighbours are encouraged as healthy alternatives.

Amanda Cox, best known as the Mad Cow of Bad Mothering and author of famed blog www.RealMums.com.au, was one of the first to embrace the concept, pledging to be smartphone-free on ‘Mood Off Day’.

“Having 406 of your ‘friends’ giving you a virtual hug may make you feel special, but nothing does more for you than just one real pair of arms, squeezing you tight; whether it’s a partner, lover, friend or child. It’s real and does wonders for you physiologically.

“I realized I had a problem when I responded to a joke my husband told me with ‘LOL’ instead of laughing. How good is a real, genuine, belly laugh complete with nasal snort? Mood Off and try it!” she said.

The campaign is already receiving support from people in over a dozen countries including the UK, Europe, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore and the US.

With more and more people around the country acknowledging the impact their ‘smartphone addiction’ has on their interactions with others, ‘Mood Off Day’ will remind us to actually be present with others, in the here and now, rather than escape into our virtual realities.
If you feel you could benefit from a morning without smartphones and mobile devices and want to encourage others to follow suit, go to http://www.MoodOffDay.org and pledge your support. You can even post your personal experiences of smartphone addiction or upload funny images showing smartphone addicts in action at http://www.facebook.com/MoodOffDay.

“We all love our smartphones and we love our social media, but we also have to stay present in our lives outside of these super gadgets”, said Tapas Senapati, founder of ‘Mood Off Day’.

To get involved and spread the word about ‘Mood Off Day’ on 26th February from 5am – 10am, log onto http://www.MoodOffDay.org.