Really? Smartphone Addiction?

Have you wondered if people can really become addicted to their phones? Does it really matter?

I have been thinking that I don’t quite like the way I compulsively engage with my phone. My loved ones have commented on my “close relationship” with my phone and my repetitive attempts at changing my own behaviour have lead me to examine this phenomenon. The following is some useful information about how humans engage with their smartphones.

Why call it addiction? 

• Have a look around you. Notice how people are ‘plugged in’ to their constant feed of dopamine and oxytocin producing gadgets.
• Try googling the DSM5 Criteria for substance dependence. You may be surprised. While phones are not a substance, addictive behaviour patterns remain the same across many addictions.

Signs that you could be becoming addicted:

• Your friends and family complain that you are always on your phone. You think they are over reacting.
• You respond to them with ‘addict language’ which minimizes your problem such as: “I am not online the whole time! I know how to limit myself. I am not online more than my friends are. You are so old school! Get with it. It’s very important to me; I get a lot of valuable information on there. I don’t look at the ads. I am just getting information, being entertained, staying up to date with my friends.”
• You think you are in control of the checking your phone habit but when you install an App to check your habit you are absolutely surprised at how many times you unlock the screen, how much time you spend on your phone.
• You feel uneasy when you are forced to leave your phone or switch it off and can’t wait to get back to checking it.
• Your phone is the last thing you look at before you go to sleep, you look at it during the night and/or it is the first thing you look at when you wake up.
• You text while you are walking or stopped at the traffic lights. You sneak in a quick text or a click or two to change music while driving.
• You take your phone with you to the bathroom.
• You have to check your phone (just quickly) even while you are face to face with others.
• You find yourself regularly feeling frustrated by realising that you have spent an hour of wasted time looking at useless material online.
• You constantly cope with anxiety and boredom by using your phone for distraction, instead of engaging with your environment.
• You feel frustrated because you are neglecting other activities that used to be enjoyable and useful – reading, physical activity, being with friends or family, being creative, enjoying beauty in art or nature, sleeping!
• You are emotionally affected by your activity online, but cannot stop repeating the experience. For example you constantly feel that you are comparing poorly to your friends and family because of what you see them share about themselves online.
• Your relationships are suffering. Your family and friends are feeling that you are not ‘with’ them, even when you are physically present; due to your constant involvement with your smartphone.

Why do we get hooked?

Cell phones are already affecting the ways in which we interact as a society. They may eventually affect the way in which humans evolve.  Looking at this phenomenon through the lens of evolution “and we are evolving creatures, right?” the process seems to be as follows: We get a sign that another human being is responsive to, or notices us. This appears to give us a small surge of the hormone oxytocin as well as the neurotransmitter dopamine and the small ‘buzz’ that results, begins over time, to affect our behaviour.

• Oxytocin is a powerful hormone, which acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. It plays a role in social recognition and emotional and physical bonding.
• The neurotransmitter dopamine helps us feel good.
• It is as if being found worthwhile, being noticed and making an impact, make us feel connected to others and we feel good about this. We may also feel that we are not missing out on what the group is doing or experiencing and this also makes us feel connected.
• Being connected is our most basic essential need. We appear to be driven to seek it fervently.
  • With connection to others, we stand a chance of surviving, without connection; we are isolated from the tribe and will die.
    

Engaging with others via a small gadget that we carry around with us all the time is a bit like having an additional organ.  Never before have humans had such a gadget, ever present and so easy to access. It is unique in history. With our mobile phone in hand, we can believe that we are never alone, but we need to think about whether this is reality or illusion.

One small surge of ‘feel good’ and ‘we are connected’ neurotransmitters, does not last long, but with our smartphone in hand, we know where to get more, have it right there with us and can immediately look for more! This can go on for hours and hours. . . .  With the perpetual, fervent need feeding the behaviour.

• • The lure is very big and it is not a surprise that big companies have been noticing and are making money out of this!

They are invested in keeping you paying attention without you knowing that your attention is being sold. (It’s a lot like being scammed). Most sites rely heavily on tricks to get people addicted. Some of these include:

Notifications: Hey, there is a bargain available, someone is looking for me to chat, or someone has paid attention to my post about our holiday!  It is a psychological trick which tells you that there’s information you want to know, or someone is noticing you – but it requires you to click through to the site to find out more. The notification is associated with the dopamine rush of attention or social engagement. It’s compulsive and can eventually become addictive.

Algorithmic filtering: This is one of the most powerful tools that online sites and apps use to keep people hooked. It maximizes users’ engagement. The aim of these sites is to become more addictive over time, increasing how many people use them and how often. People pay attention and may become consumers of some product. The scam is – you think you are connecting with people. There are many ways in which this is achieved. You think you are getting more informed and not being left out; but you are actually being fed bait to get you hooked.

Programmers programme websites and apps in such a way that you are constantly scrolling, exposing yourself to more information. Algorithms are built in to pick up from your online activity what you like, what you are up to in your life, what your friends (the ones you want to be cool with and connect with) are up to. You are then presented  with more lures to visit more content on websites and apps, while looking at some advertisements too. If you keep seeing things you enjoy, you will be on the app or website for longer. Your time spent on an app, website or looking at an advertisement is easily tracked and used to predict what else you may like.

Algorithms that do this are not difficult to write and they feed into our brains’ pattern recognition and curiosity. This process plus an algorithm that keeps you scrolling, makes you a captive audience who will likely become a consumer. It works in a similar way to slot machines – you keep on pulling the arm of the machine, hoping that you will strike it lucky (get a dopamine hit) soon. When you get one hit, you feel good and want more. .

• • I suspect that the degree to which the features that keep you scrolling turned out to be addictive, has surprised even their designers.
    

 How to take control:

• • If you do not pay attention to what is going on, take this problem seriously and do something about it, your behaviour is unlikely to change.

 Try these steps:

• Make a decision to manage the use of your phone and decide on a plan of action and a period of time in which to achieve this.
• Different methods may appeal to different folks, but managing addiction or ensuring we don’t become addicted, is important. Some of these ideas may help. Keep trying (it doesn’t always work first time around) and keep trying different strategies.
  • Think: Change how you engage with the Internet on your little hand-held device. Re-programme your brain back into connecting with things that engage it in more healthy ways.
• Catherine Price (Author of ‘How to break up with your phone – a 30 day guide to eliminating bad phone habits.’) recommends:
• Switch to using social media on your laptop or desktop and not on your phone.
• Get an app that shows the statistics of your smartphone usage.
• Put your phone on grey-scale for most of the day. This one really works for me to remind me that I actually want to only use my phone when really necessary and not to become distracted by it the whole time.
• Pay attention to when, where, how you actually engage with your phone. One of Catherine’s clients, a columnist Kevin Roose, writes: “I became aware of how profoundly uncomfortable I am with stillness. For years, I’ve used my phone every time I’ve had a spare moment in an elevator or boring meeting. I listened to podcasts and wrote emails on the subway. I watched YouTube while folding laundry. I even used to pretend to use an app to meditate.”
• Set up mental speed bumps that force you to pay attention to your phone usage. E.g. put a rubber band around your device; change your lock screen to show three questions: “What for? Why now? What else?”
• Remove as many as possible of the apps you have not been using regularly. Some authors call this the “Marie Kondo treatment of apps. If they don’t spark a sense of joy within you, get rid of them”. Lose the distracting apps.
• Switch off as many notifications as possible. Mute groups on messaging apps. Keep only the not-distracting and most essential icons on the home page of your phone.
• Keep your phone in your pocket and use the time you wait to engage with the stillness, your own thoughts and environment. Return to people watching, really looking at the buildings, trees, staring and noticing what is going on around you.
• At home or in your office – put your phone in a “not easy to reach” place. Leave your phone in your locker, the kitchen, a locked safe. Do not take your phone into your bedroom at night (get an alarm clock).
• Engage with other meaningful activities that require focus and stimulate you. E.g. carpentry, sewing, cooking, pottery, physical activity, going for walks, gardening, board-gaming, reading, learning to play a musical instrument.
• Do a 24 hour “trial separation” – plan a period of complete separation from any electronic device. Go away for a day or a weekend, take things with you that you can engage with to keep you entertained and focussed. Books, paper maps, cards, cross-word puzzles, outdoor activities are perfect distractions to engage with.

Pay attention to the benefits you experience as you manage your old habits. Notice that you are more available to interact with others face to face, get back to your old habit of people watching, and engage with creative activities. Notice how your concentration improves and how much there is to enjoy in your immediate environment.

Keep in mind that you will always have to stay vigilant to the alluring nature of these amazing little gadgets we carry around with us. Stay aware, acknowledge the power these habits have, take charge and manage your interactions with your smartphone.

Hopefully I can look forward to have more time to spend with things that are more meaningful and truly enjoyable to me!