Addiction or the New Normal?
Addiction doesn’t just come from drugs. Addiction is derived from human behavior and 21st Century human behavior has created a new addiction. It comes in the form of the internet and smart devices. Before acknowledging if and is there an addiction, ask yourself this: name a time in the day when you’re not facing an artificially lit screen? Also, sleeping doesn’t count.
It has come to an age where avoiding smartphones is near impossible. As a society, most of us have and use smartphones and computers. In fact 81% of U.S. residents have a smartphone (PewResearch, 2018).
What was once deemed as a technological advancement in the phone industry with the release of the first iPhone on June 29, 2007, has now quelled into a standard, everyday product. Approximately only 1.39 million people purchased the first iPhone during its release, but recently in 2018, nearly 150 times that amount of people are purchasing iPhones. This drastic increase in sales not only indicate the staple of a smart phone, but it shows the crippling dependency people have.
People just can’t stay away from their smartphones and the internet. In a study conducted by eMarketer, it clearly shows the increased dependency on mobile devices. Overtime, the hours spent on mobile devices have increased exponentially. Furthermore, the graph shown below only tracks people who are 18+, not taking into account children and young teens. However, just based on the trend of mobile devices, it can be inferred that children and teens have also spent more time on these devices.
What makes these smart devices so popular among this generation? It is nothing more than just a screen filled with colors and words and information when turned on. When powered off, it is blank just like any other inanimate object. The dichotomy of color vs black/white or information vs nothingness makes smart phones (or even today’s technology) comparable to drugs. A drug in the form of a pill may seem harmless, small, and even invisible when dissolved in liquid, but its effects can be drastic and addictive. This is similar to how a smartphone may seem harmless and small, but when used in excess, it can be addicting and even harmful to our health.
Perhaps it isn’t too farfetched to say that smart devices are the new addictive drug. Although we’re not physically taking a drug that alters our mind, hormones, or neurotransmitters, smart devices still alter our perceptions. When we’re consuming content on the internet, whether it be reading, writing, playing, or watching, some type of reaction is happening in our brains. If the reaction caused us discomfort or displeasure, we would discontinue that activity. Quite frankly, smart phones don’t seem to cause us much discomfort as shown by the data and charts provided above. Therefore, it can be stated that through consumption of smart devices and the internet, it evokes pleasure which results in a release of dopamine and serotonin in our brains.
Dopamine plays a role in our motivation as it controls which rewards are best suited for motivating us. In terms of the internet and smart phone addiction, individuals feel rewarded as they browse the internet in search of content that pleases them or satisfies a craving. As people continue to consume the content from their smart devices the brain reinforces the idea that spending time on the internet is something rewarding. This is why that even if people spend numerous hours facing a digital screen at work, they always find time after work to face their personal digital screens. This motivational reward is one the key reasons why internet consumption has increased exponentially over the years. If the internet were not such an addicting or rewarding factor, the usage of smart devices would not nearly be as high as it is today.
Serotonin also aids in our addiction to smartphones. This neurotransmitter regulates numerous activities such as sleep, memory appetite, and most importantly, mood. In a recent article by Trevor Haynes, a research technician in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, he states that nearly 73% of people experience some type of anxiety when their smartphones are misplaced (2018). This is no surprise because teens and adults spend nearly 3.5 hours on their smartphone each day. Based on this stat alone, it shows that most of teens and adults have become so connected and attached with their phones that it has become a necessity to have access to it at all times.
This attachment and bond we have with phones fuels and creates the addiction. Whether it’s waking up to texts, messages, and emails or reaching for the phone during a lunch break, these are all habits we have grown accustomed to in our lives. Although it may be difficult to live without any smart devices, perhaps using it sparingly when work doesn’t call for it may be beneficial to our mental and physical health.
Sources:
https://www.emarketer.com/content/average-us-time-spent-with-mobile-in-2019-has-increased
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones-battle-time/
