Why You Can’t Stop Looking at Your Smartphone. According to Neuroscience
Smartphone Addiction Has Nothing to do with Bad Manners
Whoever thought there might be a day when kicking your smartphone addiction would be just as hard as giving up smoking?
According to neuroscience, that day has arrived.
The addiction is so real that people are going to rehab to break their smartphone addiction.
Of course, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. According to a public opinion poll, 8 out of 10 Americans believe that cell phones are addictive. The other 2 out of 10 still believe that Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was a hoax.
But staying glued to one’s smartphone goes much deeper than simple social rudeness and immaturity. If you oversimplify this problem, you will do so to your own detriment.
Knowing the real reason that we can’t stop looking at our phone gives us a fighting chance of stopping its encroachment and recapturing some of the social value, solitude, and focused thought that we’ve given up in recent years.
This article in The Atlantic explores the neuroscience behind why we just can’t stop checking that screen. From this article, I curated the top three reasons why we’re so addicted to our smartphones.
Three Reasons for Smartphone Addiction
1. Dopamine
The release of dopamine forms the basis for nicotine, cocaine, and gambling addictions. The inhalation of nicotine triggers a small dopamine release, and a smoker quickly becomes addicted. Cocaine and heroin deliver bigger dopamine jolts and are even more destructive. (The Atlantic)
It’s probably not a shock to you that every time a notification, new text, or email pops-up, your body generates a shot of dopamine.
This is to say nothing of the compulsion loop that is created when you advance to a new level on a game
2. Smartphone Addiction is Good for Business
Many Internet companies are learning what the tobacco industry has long known — addiction is good for business. There is little doubt that by applying current neuroscience techniques we will be able to create ever-more-compelling obsessions in the virtual world. (The Atlantic)
In other words, every day the smartest business people on the planet are studying strategies that will most effectively exploit your dopamine cravings in order to keep your eyes glued to the screen and your fingers clicking their link.
3. Absence of Physical Barriers from Your Smartphone
In the past, society has been able to put physical barriers in place to make it more difficult to satisfy unhealthy obsessions. For example, gambling casinos were primarily segregated in Nevada. Things are very different today. In the first place, there is no physical barrier between people and the obsession in question. Smartphones and portable electronic devices travel with us in our pockets. (The Atlantic)
If you want to make some headway on your smartphone addiction, this is the first area on which to focus.
Put physical distance between you and your smartphone.
Try leaving your smartphone in your bedroom at dinner time. I’ve heard of people putting their smartphones in the trunk of their vehicles when they drive. I know someone who leaves his phone in his vehicle when he goes to church.
How Much Does Your Smartphone Addiction Cost?
People who give up smoking are those that have decided they are no longer willing to pay what their addiction is costing them. Perhaps the threat of lung cancer is something they can longer live with. Maybe they’re tired of being short of breath and always stealing away to have a smoke. Quite possibly they just don’t want to let this thing wield its control over them any longer.
The same type of mindset is necessary to curb your smartphone addiction. If you want to become more present with your social environment and less distracted by your smartphone, perhaps you should take a similar inventory.
What is your smartphone addiction costing you?
According to The Atlantic, the cost of smartphone addiction can be exorbitant, “…its use is undermining their social relationships, their family life and marriage, and their effectiveness at work.” (The Atlantic)
In this season of self-evaluation, is it possible that your smartphone needs its very own New Year’s resolution?