Smartphones aren’t much more than a decade old, yet they have changed the way that we work, play, and interact with one another. The average user checks their phone 150 times a day, which is double what most people think they do. All this time will add up to seven years on our phones over the course of and average lifetime (Andrew-Gee, 2018).
Figure 1: In 1906, this cartoon was published in a British magazine in response to the invention of the telegraph. The text below the drawing reads “These two figures are not communicating with each other. The lady is receiving and amatory message, and the gentleman some racing results” (Andrew-Gee, 2018). While it was considered a joke at the time, it now depicts a common scene; perfectly illustrating the shift that has occurred in how we interact with one another.
John Ratey, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard School of Medicine, says that people who frequently use a smartphone have the same symptoms of those with diagnosed ADD (Andrew-Gee, 2018). This has lead to the terms nomophobia (no mobile phobia), textiety, and most importantly, the idea of a cellphone addiction. In general, an addiction can be described as use without control, alterations in mood, tolerance, abstinence, personal harm or environmental conflicts, and a tendency to relapse. By this, cellphone addiction can be described as a behavioural addiction, much like gambling (Andrew-Gee, 2018). Some studies estimate that 22.1% of adolescents and 27.9% of young people could be considered cellphone addicts (De-Sola Gutiérrez, Rodríguez de Fonseca and Rubio, 2016).
Cellphone addiction is most commonly seen in the age group of adolescents, as they have less self control than adults. Cellphone use can also relate to the need for social approval and be associated with low self-esteem, both of which are also issues of this age (De-Sola Gutiérrez, Rodríguez de Fonseca and Rubio, 2016). That being said, none of these issues have occurred by accident – smartphones, as well as social media and other applications, have all been designed in a way to hook the user and draw them in. Chis Marcellino, who helped design push notifications at Apple, says that “smartphones hook people the same way as gambling or gaming.” Our brains are wired to make new things stand out, and a smartphone is full of new things (Andrew-Gee, 2018).
The dopamine loop is responsible for seeking behaviour – dopamine causes us to look for things, and the opioid system causes us to feel good when we find them. When a reward is unpredictable, such as endlessly scrolling through social media feeds or only seeing the first half of a notification, the effects of the opioid system are increased (Grant et al., 2010). The dopamine system is stronger than the opioid one, which is what causes us to search for hours on the internet, long after we have found what we were initially looking for. Cellphones provide easy access to information seeking and reward (Weinschenk, 2012).
On top of this, cell phones provide a sense of belonging and connectedness. People, especially youth, have a need for love, belonging, and a shared identity. Social media and the access that smartphones give us can help provide this sense of belonging as well as a way to increase one’s self-esteem, which in turn, can add to the addictiveness of cellphones (Sonterblum, 2018).
All of this being said, smartphones can still be a powerful tool and provide much enjoyment. The question we must ask ourselves then, is whether this is worth the addiction?
Works Cited
Andrew-Gee, E., 2018. Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. So why can’t you put it down? The Globe and Mail. [online] 6 Jan. Available at: <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/your-smartphone-is-making-you-stupid/article37511900/> [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018].
De-Sola Gutiérrez, J., Rodríguez de Fonseca, F. and Rubio, G., 2016. Cell-Phone Addiction: A Review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, [online] 7. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5076301/> [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018].
Grant, J.E., Potenza, M.N., Weinstein, A. and Gorelick, D.A., 2010. Introduction to Behavioral Addictions. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 36(5), pp.233–241.
Sonterblum, L., 2018. Gang Involvement as a Means to Satisfy Basic Needs – Applied Psychology OPUS – NYU Steinhardt. [online] NYU Steinhardt. Available at: <https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/opus/issues/2016/spring/sonterblum> [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018].
Weinschenk, S., 2012. Why We’re All Addicted to Texts, Twitter and Google. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201209/why-were-all-addicted-texts-twitter-and-google> [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018].