Smartphones are ruining your life
Do you remember touching your palms to the television screen as a child and feeling the static reverberate through you? Like an itch impossible to scratch. This is how my brain seems to feel almost all of the time – and I have my theories as to why.
As a child, I didn’t have technology. Or, at least, very little (Adam Rutherford makes the very good point that anything we use as an extension of ourselves is technology, so my definition here is ‘that which uses electricity to function,’ i.e. televisions, games consoles, MP3 players, etc.) We had our family television, and I remember getting our first computer, which was a hand-me-down from my tech-savvy grandfather. It was bulky and took up a large space on our infamous shared computer table. My brother and I must have been 11 or 12 when this robot appeared in our home, and all we used it for was Paint. A little later, the internet migrated in, settled, and has been a companion in my family home ever since. We would fight over who got to use MSN when, and for how long. I was 17 by the time I got my own laptop, and by then I was cocooned in my introverted self and no longer wanted to IM. When I was 19, I got my first iPhone and, with it, Instagram. And this, ladies and gents, is when my attention span started to static-ify*.
*This is most definitely not a real word, please don’t use it in any academic settings or when trying to impress your in-laws with your intelligence. It won’t work. Actually, as a general rule, don’t quote anything I write, it’s for the best.
On average, my screentime is about 3 hours a day, and my average pickups are 125. That is 125 separate times that I am reaching for my phone in a day. Although this seems bad to me, the daily average for people within my age bracket (between the ages of 25 and 35) is 4 hours and 37 minutes. This is equivalent to more than a full day every week, or around 6 days every month. Over the course of a year, this adds up to approximately 70 days dedicated to your phone. I think this has resulted in a number of things:
We no longer experience boredom.
Delayed gratification is a thing of the past.
Our dopamine recaptures are being damaged on a daily basis (this is something I would like to pick the brains of a scientist about.)
Why is boredom so important?
If you spent the beginning of the 2000s or earlier as a young person, you will have almost certainly said “I am bored” at one point or another. This sentence, although probably still said today, has a very different meaning now. Boredom has almost completely been irradicated if you have access to the internet. We no longer sit and ponder what to do, and instead scroll on our phones until the next social event, work meeting or other obligation. Children no longer ‘invent’ fun, but partake in pre-created fun at their fingertips. Although this is pretty great on one hand, on the other it could be detrimental to development – and studies have suggested as such.
Boredom, like many emotions, may have had an evolutionary purpose. When something is neither harmful nor rewarding, humans tend to lose interest and shift focus to other things. Without the ability to get bored, we would be overwhelmed by the constant stream of stimuli in life and might miss actual dangers. Although we now have very few physical threats (she says, from the safety of the western world) we do risk missing out on further development and overwhelm as a result of constant stimulation.
Boredom has been described as a beneficial mental state for creativity, insight, and problem-solving. Which begs the question: without boredom, where would we be today?
What is delayed gratification and why does it matter?
Sex (have I got your attention now?) can be a great example of delayed gratification. If we seek out a partner to sleep with, we might flirt with them, we might (consensually) take them home where foreplay starts, which might lead to (consensual) sex. This slow, sensual burner is what a lot of people find most attractive without even realising it.
Now, compare this situation to opening up your laptop to watch staged pornographic videos for ten minutes and then getting on with your day. Not quite the same thing, right?
This is because delayed gratification makes everything better – but most of us have been starved of it now for the past 10 years at least.
Although porn isn’t inherently a bad thing (despite the industry being corrupt and workers not being safe, which is a whole other matter), the ease of access to it potentially is. If we have access to something, without even the need to leave the house, why would we? If we get instant gratification, what is the point in working toward anything – things should just come right away? This is the problem, and this is why it matters: delayed gratification is resisting immediate reward, in anticipation for something better at a later date. It improves self-control, and willingness to work hard at something, to be good at something, in the long run.
Dopamine hits
Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that results in pleasure (among other things!) It has been regularly related to drug addiction, with ‘dopamine hit’ being a phrase thrown around often. Although dopamine itself isn’t addictive, the feelings you get from experiencing it may well be. So, any time you’re feeling happy, or motivated, that is dopamine – and that is what people get addicted to. But, what happens if we only experience dopamine?
Smartphones should not be addictive by nature, but the software on them is. We are in an age of psychological warfare, whereby mobile phone companies are literally hiring professionals to make software as addictive as possible. Developers try to make software that isn’t only a luxury, or a want, but a societal necessity. Take Facebook, for example. It isn’t just a social media platform anymore. It is a way for people to track their own social lives, and keep track of others too. We no longer have to remember friends birthdays, because we get a notification reminding us. Although this is handy, we’ve lost the effort it takes to actually remember things (how does smartphone usage impact memory I wonder… A note for another time.)
Our phones are arguably the most socially accepted addiction out there today. They are with us 24/7, and aren’t looking to budge any time soon. They have rooted themselves into most aspects of our lives, which means getting rid of them feels equivalent to removing a limb – so what’s the answer? Well, as with any addiction, acknowledgment and realisation is a great starting point. I’ve genuinely and honestly known about my phone addiction now for about a year, and in that time I am still using my phone a similar amount. However, I notice my usage now, and make the conscious effort to reduce it.
I’ll be honest, cutting out phone usage altogether seems impossible and I’m not really sure I want to. It is a great way to keep in contact with friends, to capture memories and it has accessible features readily available (my meditation and yoga app are on my phone, for example). I want to be much more aware and intentional when it comes to my phone use. If I’m being realistic, I would love to see my screentime below 2 hours, but I am aware that sometimes I’ll be using Maps on a hike, or video calling my Mum for an hour. One way I am combating this is by recently getting myself a Light Phone, which is a great little device without all the added distractions. I’ll go into this at a later date and let you know how I’m finding it.
My goal is to be distracted much less, and I want to experience as much of life as possible, away from the virtual world that is developing rapidly, pixel by pixel, before our eyes. I think this is possible, not everything has been totally consumed. It will take time and effort, but, it’s all worth it to be more engaged and present in this totally and terrifyingly short life we have.
