Cell Phones and Your Brain

Introduction

Cell phones are one of humanity’s greatest innovations, enabling us to connect and communicate with each other and the world around us like never before. They provide us with convenience and entertainment in times of boredom, loneliness, and sleeplessness. Their pervasiveness is unsurprising, with an astounding 4.68 billion users worldwide, a number that continues to grow (Statista, 2023). For many, cell phones have become as important as the people in their lives, serving as an essential item to get through the day. It is estimated that the average person uses their cell phone for approximately five to nine hours daily (Pew Research Center, 2022). Cell phone addiction is a prominent issue in today’s technology-centered society, with symptoms comparable to those of drug addiction. As the influence of cell phones and social media continues to expand rapidly, psychologists and doctors worldwide are conducting various studies to observe how and why these captivating gadgets affect not only our physical health but our mental, emotional, and social well-being as well.

Cell Phones and Your Brain

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that creates the sensation of pleasure and reward in our brains. It significantly affects reinforcement and drives us to seek out pleasurable activities (Kringelbach & Berridge, 2017). It is most activated in adolescents' brains, causing them to be naturally drawn to things that arouse their dopamine levels. The human brain craves dopamine and is designed to seek the new and unfamiliar. This craving can explain why so many of us experience a compulsive urge to constantly check our phones in hopes that something will give us a thrill of pleasure. Cell phones provide us with a constant flow of new information, generating bursts of dopamine in our minds, making it hard to put our cell phones down. The persistent notifications of likes, messages, breaking news, vibrations, and ringing from our cell phones stimulate dopamine and give us the satisfactory feeling of social approval. The pleasure we receive after using our phones encourages us to use them repeatedly. Hyper-arousing dopamine levels are directly related to the development of addiction. It creates what doctors call a “compulsion loop,” which occurs when certain activities are repeated to gain dopamine (Alter, 2017).

The use of variable reward schedules of reinforcement also affects how our brains work. A common thread among various social media apps is the time delay of approximately two to three seconds when you refresh your news feed. This delay to see the number of new notifications and posts builds anticipation, causing us to become addicted and bound to check it once again (Eyal, 2014). The unpredictability of this feature is what makes it most addicting and causes a habit to be developed. Knowing exactly what we’ll come across when we are online drives us to log back in. The new content spikes our dopamine levels and leaves us wanting more. The feeling of being left out of something important or not knowing what is going online compels us to check our phones as well. Our brains respond to this pull-to-refresh mechanism as if it were a danger, activating our fight-or-flight response and triggering symptoms of anxiety. The incessant alerts of notifications result in our brains being in a constant state of stress and fear, damaging our brain's frontal cortex, much like drugs such as cocaine and nicotine do (Carr, 2010).

Designing for Addiction

When many think about the addictive relationship between people and their phones, the blame always seems to be one-sided. What many don’t realize is that numerous applications on our cell phones are designed with the sole intention of hooking and securing our interest and time. From games like Candy Crush Saga to social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, the creators’ main concern is how much time we spend on their apps and how to keep us there. Most of these apps are available to us at no cost because they make their earnings through advertisements. The more active users online to view and click on advertisements, and the longer they view these ads, the more revenue these companies reap (Leslie, 2016). They use various persuasive psychology techniques in their designs that our brains simply can’t resist. For example, Snapchat has a distinct feature known as “streaks.” The feature tracks the number of days two people have “snapped” in a row. Many users have reported feeling anxiety at the thought of losing their “streaks,” prompting them to use Snapchat daily. The autoplay feature on YouTube and Netflix automatically plays the next episode or video instead of giving the user the choice. For the same reason, our news feeds always have the latest content, giving us a reason to continue to scroll. We are eager to know what will happen in the next episode or to watch just one more video, and we are emotionally invested in them, making it difficult not to give in.

Conclusion

The profound impact of cell phones on our daily lives is undeniable. While they offer numerous benefits, including unprecedented connectivity and access to information, their potential to affect our mental and emotional well-being cannot be overlooked. As technology continues to evolve, it is crucial to remain aware of how these devices influence our behavior and to use them mindfully to maintain a healthy balance in our lives.

References:

• Alter, A. (2017). Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. Penguin Press.
• Statista. (2023). Number of smartphone users worldwide from 2016 to 2023. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/
• Pew Research Center. (2022). Mobile fact sheet. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
• Kringelbach, M. L., & Berridge, K. C. (2017). The joyful mind. Scientific American, 297(2), 44-45.
• Eyal, N. (2014). Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Portfolio.
• Leslie, I. (2016). The scientists who make apps addictive. The Economist 1843. Retrieved from https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-scientists-who-make-apps-addictive
• Carr, N. (2010). The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. W. W. Norton & Company.