Behavioral Addiction: This is Your Brain Online

In his book “Memoirs of an Addicted Brain” author and neuroscientist Marc Lewis¹ looks back at his life as an addict while breaking down the components of every drug he ever ingested (starting with alcohol).

How they work, why they work, and what makes them so appealing.

He touches briefly on the “whys” of all addictions in his introduction:

“But why should this be so? Why are we desperate for what we don’t have, or can’t have, often at great cost to what we do have, thereby risking our peace and contentment, our safety, and even our lives? Why are we so moved by our addictions, either succumbing to them or spending our energy fighting them?”

When starting a dialogue on digital behavior and behavioral addiction it is wise to start with the work of neuroscientists and psychologists and then examine the work of programmers, developers, or tech founders.

Addictive Tendencies and Behavioral Techsploitation

We first introduced the work of Marc Lewis in our article on habit formation. The summary of his work on addictive tendencies is key to understanding the nature of behavioral addiction.

Addictive tendencies are an unintended consequence of what the brain is supposed to do, seek pleasure and relief. While our brains are designed to restructure themselves with normal learning and development, this process is accelerated in addiction when highly attractive rewards are repeatedly pursued.

In his book, “Irresistible” associate professor of marketing and bestselling author Adam Alter² introduces obsession and compulsion as the close relatives of addiction.

The difference is motivation. Addictions bring the promise of immediate reward or positive reinforcement where an obsession or compulsion is intensely unpleasant not to pursue.

Digital ethicist Tristan Harris has expressed concern about the way tech companies vying for our attention exploit human tendencies towards compulsion loops. Harris’ language on this has become sharper in recent years. He now refers to it as “human downgrading”³.

We are All Addicts

It is crucial when critically examining how companies hold our attention that we do not think ourselves immune from addiction. In referring to Lewis as an addict in my opening paragraph I was “othering” him. But app, game, or social platform designers attempting to make their products “sticky” know we are all prone to behavioral addiction.

We crave Dopamine. This neurotransmitter is an important part of our evolutionary development. It enables us to see rewards and take action to move towards them.

Unfortunately, it also plays a part in addiction. It contributes to the feelings of pleasure and satisfaction that make-up the rewards system. Most social media sites create irregularly timed rewards, a technique that has been used for years by the makers of slot machines.⁴

The label “addict” is a way to separate ourselves for addiction.
But Adam Alter sums the facts up well,

“In truth, addiction is produced largely by environment and circumstance.”

Adam Alter

Time Online

App developer Kevin Holesh⁵ created the Moment app to track screen time out of concern over his own usage. The average time for users was just under three hours. These were people aware of, and concerned about, usage.

Millions of smartphone users are oblivious, and likely spending even more time looking at their phones.

Moment users estimates of their screen time versus the reality were also surprising, “I asked people to guess what their daily usage was and they were almost always 50 percent too low”.

How fast the rise in the amount of time spent online occurred, and by how much, should make us all weary.

In 2008 adults spent an average of 18 minutes on their phones per day; in 2015, they were spending 2 hours and 48 minutes per day on their phones.

Essential Elements of Control

Many of the moves made by tech companies to implement less harmful practices have been performative at best. As such, public awareness and information regarding how we can take care of our mental health and control our time and attention is critical.

Much of the information Alter shares regarding recovering from online addiction relates back to our work on habit formation. Mainly the importance of replacing addictive behaviors with something else.

One meaningful point Alter makes is linguistic, “Suppose you were trying to avoid using Facebook. Each time you’re tempted, you can either tell yourself ‘I can’t use Facebook’ or you can tell yourself ‘I don’t use Facebook’. I can’t wrests control from you and gives it to an unnamed outside agent. It’s disempowering. I don’t is an empowering declaration that this isn’t something you do.”

Digital Minimalism

The work of associate professor and writer Cal Newport⁶ regarding the practice of “digital minimalism” should be studied as a way to exercise control over online activity.

Digital Minimalism is an empowering practice requiring self-reflection, organization, discipline, and love. Self-reflection is evident in the practice’s stress on the importance of solitude. This includes behaviors such as walking and writing letters to yourself. Organization is present in such practical tips as “practice consolidated texting”. Discipline is required in a digital detox and recommendations such as “don’t click ‘like’”. And finally love, in making a point to see and speak to others.

Moving Forward

As anxiety disorders rise and empathy decreases we as individuals must work to be our healthiest, happiest, and most productive. The trick is to fully understand what we are up against in the battle for our attention. With study, work, self-reflection, and demands for more ethical development, we can use technology to improve our quality of life.

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Sources and Further Readings

1. Memoirs of an Addicted Brain by Marc Lewis
2. Irresistible by Adam Alter
3. Human downgrading by Tristan Harris
4. Has dopamine got us hooked on Tech?
5. Moment App by Kevin Holesh
6. Digital minimalism by Cal Newport
7. Featured image by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay