Modern technology and addiction - Are our brains being negatively affected?

mikey_boson

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First off, this isn't a thread with me bad mouthing modern technology, not at all. I've tried to write it as objectively as possible. And I'm perfectly aware that discussions like this have gone on many times before and will be had again. However, I felt compelled to write something following a story that I had read on the BBC website regarding technology addiction.

I know many people will say that you can't be addicted to technology; maybe they're right but I genuinely think that a lot of modern day technology causes quasi-addiction symptoms (for want of a better term). Actually, let me rephrase that, I think that the super high speed internet that we have access to 24/7 nowadays almost certainly causes addiction-like symptoms. Addiction is quite a personal topic for me due to suffering an actual addiction myself and I, personally, see a lot of similar addictive tendencies when taking into account modern technology. Therefore I am aware of what an actual addiction is and the behaviours, habits, symptoms and consequences that come with them. And it's not of this bull$hit like when people say, "Oh God, I'm addicted to Breaking Bad, chocolate, chicken nuggets etc". This is addiction with regards to dopamine hits, desensitization, sensitization, irrational cravings and urges, withdrawal symptoms and the illogical need to consume a particular medium / substance.

[By the way, as a quick side note I suggest that everyone read into addiction and what happens within your brain. It's actually a fascinating subject. It allowed me to understand my behaviour, it explained why I couldn't stop doing a certain something and it helped me to sympathise with others who are trying to give up smoking / drinking (for example) and are finding it very difficult].

It was just over a year ago that I finally bought a smartphone and the main reason behind this was that it would probably be a useful tool whilst I was at university and I do think it has made many things simpler (like checking timetable changes, checking computer availability, keeping in contact within group work via group chats etc.) However, I am certainly not a slave to my phone like so many others I see. I don't carry it around with me at home, only when I go out, and when I'm out and about I rarely use it as anything other than a phone. But on the bus, on the train, walking down the street I see so many people glued to their phones, swipe-swipe-swipe, text-text-text. Unfortunately, I sometimes find myself falling into these habits too and I try to stop myself as soon as possible - not that it works all the time though! But surely this is not normal behaviour, checking your messages briefly, yes that's fine, but mindlessly staring and swiping day in, day out...? I can safely say that a lot of this behaviour is much closer to addiction than just plain habit.

When I'm on my laptop, I can't say that I really pay attention to what I read on web pages. I see a story, open it up, briefly scan it and then move on. Half the time I'll have 20+ tabs open in my web-browser and will spend a few seconds (if that) looking at each. I'm continually flicking and clicking from one thing to another, furiously searching but never actually taking anything in. I click my mouse wheel vastly more than I ever used to to open up ever more tabs. Ironically, the one web-based activity that does actually focus my attention is writing forum threads (like this one).

One thing that I have noticed about myself over the past 5 years or so is that my memory has got worse (I'm only in my mid 20s), my attention span is quite poor and my ability to focus is terrible at times. To top this all off, I'm actually a pretty clever person so this inability to focus, remember or recall information is quite scary. The information is still there, I haven't forgotten it, just that it's much harder to access. I used to read books quite a lot but this is something I don't really do anymore because I cannot focus - my mind wanders, I start thinking about other things or I just start staring elsewhere. This is really annoying because I do like reading but linking this back to addiction, I don't think my brain finds reading a book anywhere near as stimulating as scrolling through web pages on line.

Physically, I get very fidgety, especially when I'm say at a computer. I should be looking at what I'm reading but I'm consistently getting up and sitting back down, looking in the mirror, looking outside, cracking my fingers... the list goes on. I am certain that a major contributing factor to all this is the time that I spend continuously swiping and clicking.

Some may argue that technology isn't the problem because I grew up playing computer games. Technically, yes I did but these were games on the Amiga 500, the Megadrive and the Playstation. For the most part, these games weren't the online speed machines we play on today (like CoD, RTSs, MMORPGs), they were games set at a steadier pace. When CoD4 came out on the PS3, I began playing that and looking back, I know I had a real problem (probably addiction) with regards to that game. The gameplay was so fast and emotion-inducing and I must have spent a few thousand hours playing this game online, it was crazy. Everyday after work and for most of the weekend I'd play CoD. I played so much that the joints in the back of my hands (the ones you can feel moving when you wiggle your fingers) became dead painful. But even then, I didn't stop playing, I didn't want to stop even though my hands were screaming for me stop - is this rational bahaviour...? I pretty much stopped playing video games around 5 years ago although I did play on CoD MW3 for a bit when it came out. However, I limited my time playing this to only short bursts (1 hour max) as I didn't want to end up back in the cycle of losing most of my life to playing a game.

Just to taking this gaming angle a little further, just look at places like South Korea. I was genuinely shocked (in a bad way) when I saw the professional gamers playing things like StarCraft in a competitive environment and the training that they go through to be the best. The speed with which they are typing in commands with their left hand whilst using the mouse with their right is quite scary. No matter what argument you throw at me, this is not healthy behaviour in any shape or form. I would bet all the money I have on these kids (predominantly) being addicted to these games and I'm certain a brain scan / medical exam would show their levels of dopamine rapidly spiking whilst playing.

Overall, I am actually very glad that I can SEE that I do have a bit of a problem when it comes to excessively perusing the internet on my phone or being on my laptop many hours a day. I almost feel sorry for the masses of people I see who get on the bus (for example) and do nothing but stare at their phones - clearly they are not aware that their behaviour isn't entirely normal; it's borderline addition.

Anyway, not that I'm a medical professional or anything like that but I would say that if you think you may have a problem (and even if you think you don't), ask yourself the following questions:

Do I constantly swipe / scroll on my phone to get to the next web page without really focussing on what I'm reading?
Do I constantly flick from one tab to another, scroll up and down very quickly and then move on to something new when on my laptop?
Do I mindlessly search through the internet and not actually achieve anything at all and continue even when I know there's nothing to look at?
Do I spend loads of time playing fast-paced action games like CoD / StarCraft battles and struggle to put the game down?
Do I feel that my ability to focus / remember / recall has really fallen away in the last few years or so whilst my phone / laptop usage have increased?

This is not scientific in any way, just me taking me experiences with addiction and applying them to modern technology.

To conclude, I don't think modern technology is bad, not at all, instead that the evolution of our primitive brains (in the biological sense, not the pejorative sense) hasn't really caught up with the pace of our technological evolution. If nothing else, I think we all should try to stay aware of our interactions with technology to make sure that we don't become slaves to swiping, scrolling and clicking! I have seen myself the impact of an addiction on one's brain and wouldn't like to think that the vast majority of people aren't aware of the impact that modern technology (i.e. high speed, 24/7 internet access) may be doing to their brain, that's all.

p.s. If anyone wants to know about the chemistry behind addiction, I can point you to a few websites which really helped me which contained videos and tons of excellent articles to read.
 
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