Giant Sand Sculpture to Raise Awareness of Phone Addiction

Giant Sand Sculpture to Raise Awareness of Mobile Phone Addiction

Set in Sand International Smart Phone Awareness Campaign Moodoff Day

A massive sand sculpture has been created by well-known sand sculptor Manas Sahoo depicting a number of world-renowned landmarks and a mobile phone in support of global Moodoff Day held on February 24th.

The growing trend of smart phone addiction is affecting more and more people around the world, with global initiative Moodoff Day asking smart phone users to ‘switch off’ for five hours this Sunday. The not-for-profit initiative has been covered by media in many countries including Sky News’ Tech Report.

The campaign raises awareness of how smart phones impact our lives whether at work, with our colleagues, friends and family or worse by texting while driving. The Australian born campaign has inspired a group of sand castle designers in Puri Beach, India to create a giant sand sculpture in support of the cause.

“We wanted to create something to make people aware of how much smart phones really impact our lives,” said sand sculptor Manas Sahoo.

Founder of the global campaign Tapas Senapati said, “We are pleased to see that our campaign has reached people in over 40 countries now, with this sand sculpture showing just how much and far smart phone addiction has been recognised.”

The Moodoff Day initiative was launched only last year with over a dozen countries partaking and thousands of people committing to giving it a break and switching their phones off for five hours.

“This year’s campaign promises to be much bigger,” said Senapati.

Many thousands of smart phone users in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the US, Germany, France, Singapore, the UK and many other countries have already pledged to do without on Sunday 24th February and to find out whether they are actually addicted to their beloved devices.

While many participants in last year’s event were successful, many also could not bear to be without their phones, Senapati said.

“Being without their smart phones for only a few hours proved a big challenge for participants and going by the feedback we have received, many will try to curb their dangerous and addictive smart phone habits,” said Senapati.

With over 1.2 billion smart phone users globally, the impact on quality of live and especially when used while driving is becoming a growing concern. Last year 6 000 fatalities and half a million accidents were recorded that involved mobile phones in the USA alone, driving the seriousness of phone addiction home to users everywhere.

Smart phone users globally are encouraged to log onto www.moodoffday.org or ‘like’ www.facebook.com/moodoffday to pledge their support and to take a holiday from their phones and spend five ‘Smart Hours for Smart People without Smart Phones’ on February 24th.

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