Singapore psychiatrist proposes to list mobile addiction as mental illness

As early as 2013, a report by Nielsen, a media watchdog, noted that mobile phone penetration rates in Singapore and Hong Kong were the top of the Asia Pacific region. Nearly 87% of Singapore's 5.4 million people have smartphones with internet and photo-taking capabilities. A study by Experian, a global information services company, points out that Singaporeans are twice times more likely to visit Facebook each time they are 38 minutes than Americans.

In Singapore, the obsession with online gaming was the main manifestation of internet addiction, and now the mainstream is addicted to social media and video sites. On the other hand, Internet addiction is not included in the latest issue of mental Illness Handbook, but a mental disorder project in the appendix of income, which needs further study. Aidrian Wang, a psychiatrist at the Eagle Court Medical Center in Singapore (Gleneagles Jude Pew), points out that mobile addiction should be classified as a mental disorder.

Tan Kian Hian, a doctor at the Central hospital in Singapore, said the advent of smartphones makes the "head race" abound. Teenagers are playing mobile phones while walking, lining up and even crossing the road.

Trisa Lin, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has a definition of mobile addiction: Users are constantly looking at their phones, or users are anxious about digital devices when they are unable to use them, causing them to learn and work less efficiently. Lin also points out that parents are not allowed to play smartphones or tablet computers to appease their crying children.

Last year a group of undergraduates at Nanyang Polytechnic University launched a campaign called "Move mobile phone to friend mode" to encourage students to put their phones down when they are with friends or lovers. Singapore plans to launch a "cyber-health" education for pre-school parents in the middle of this year, instructing parents not to expose their children to digital devices prematurely.