Digital devices are indispensable in the daily life of modern people. This series was planned to ‘log out’ from various diseases caused by digital devices and media. We deliver fruitful information to keep you healthy in a daily life obsessed with digital devices.

Shortly following the advent of the smartphone, our daily lives changed rapidly. If I had to pinpoint one field that had changed the most, it would be ‘communication’. In the past, when I met a friend, most of the time we talked face-to-face. But now, even when you meet friends, it’s not uncommon for them all to talk on their smartphones or just stare at their smartphones without talking at all. Although the body is in the same place, it seems as if each person is in a different space. Some even say, “No matter how close and comfortable you are, it’s uncomfortable to have a face-to-face conversation.” This is the so-called “digital isolation syndrome”.

Digital Isolation Syndrome is caused by smartphone overuseㅣSource: Getty Imagebank

Digital Isolation Syndrome, disconnected from society
Digital isolation syndrome (Digital isolated syndrome) is a representative phenomenon that appears when smartphone addiction or smartphone overdependence is present. To explain the symptoms, people get used to communicating with other people conveniently through their smartphones, so meeting people in person becomes uncomfortable and neglecting real human relationships. In the end, they isolate themselves from the real world, and following that, they have difficulties in human relationships and social life that directly communicate with others.

Since the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the digital isolation syndrome of domestic smartphone users has worsened. According to the 2021 Korea University Anam Hospital Endocrinology Professor Bae Jae-hyun’s ‘Digital Media Overuse and Health Forum’ announced ‘Digital Media Overuse’, according to the domestic smartphone overuse (more than 4 hours on average) before and following the COVID-19 pandemic It was revealed that it increased significantly from 38% to 63.6%. Considering that digital isolation syndrome is the first symptom of smartphone overuse or overdependence, it is also interpreted to mean that the number of people suffering from digital isolation syndrome is increasing during Corona 19.

In fact, according to the survey results announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT in 2022, 24% of domestic smartphone users are at risk of smartphone overdependence. The risk group for smartphone overdependence is the sum of the potential risk group and the high-risk group. The potential risk group is the stage where problems occur in daily life due to weakened control over smartphone use. indicates each step in which a serious problem occurs. In the case of digital isolation syndrome, it belongs to the potential risk group for smartphone overdependence.

Excessive smartphone dependence…causing loneliness and depression
Digital Isolation Syndrome also adversely affects mental health. According to a study published in 2019 by researchers at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA, the more dependent on the world in the smartphone and the more distant from the real world, the greater the risk of experiencing ‘severe loneliness and depression’. Research shows that excessive use of smartphones leads to dependence and develops into addiction. This causes depression and loneliness, and these negative emotions cause difficulties in human relationships and make us dependent on smartphones once more. It is a series of vicious cycles.

Also, in 2018, researchers at the University of San Francisco in the US argued that smartphone addiction has the same adverse effects as other types of addiction, such as gambling and shopping. According to the research team’s explanation, smartphone addiction shows the same neurological findings as addiction to oxytocin, a narcotic analgesic.

This is especially true for social media addiction. One of the typical symptoms of social media addiction, according to the researchers, is that ‘not being able to access social media causes anxiety, affects interpersonal relationships, and makes people feel more comfortable in online relationships than in real relationships’. This is the same as the symptoms of digital isolation syndrome caused by smartphone addiction. The researchers said, “People who show the above social media addiction symptoms complain more of loneliness, isolation, and depression than people who don’t.”

In order to prevent Digital Isolation Syndrome, it is important to first figure out your addiction status. The following is the Korean Internet addiction scale distributed by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the National Information Society Agency.

Korean Internet Addiction Scale (K-scale) for adults (20-59 years old)

Korean Internet Addiction Scale (K-scale) for adults (20-59 years old)

38 points or less: general users

39 to 41 points: potentially risky users

42 points or more: high-risk users

If you get more than 42 points, you need to keep away from digital media from today and make an effort to see it only when absolutely necessary.

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