Digital Addiction Increases Loneliness, Anxiety and Depression
How to Outsmart Digital Isolation and Addiction, According to San Francisco State University
Smartphones are a permanent fixture in most people’s lives, a constant source of notification and quasi-connection. The downside of that convenience is that many of us are also addicted to the constant pings, chimes, vibrations and other alerts from our devices, unable to ignore new emails, texts and images. We are addicted to “logging in.”
In a new study published in NeuroRegulation, San Francisco State University Professor of Health Education Erik Peper and Associate Professor of Health Education Richard Harvey argue that overuse of smart phones is just like any other type of substance abuse.
“The behavioral addiction of smartphone use begins forming neurological connections in the brain in ways similar to how opioid addiction is experienced by people taking Oxycontin for pain relief — gradually,” Peper explained.
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On top of that, addiction to social media technology may actually have a negative effect on social connection. In a survey of 135 San Francisco State students, Peper and Harvey found that students who used their phones the most reported higher levels of feeling isolated, lonely, depressed and anxious. They believe the loneliness is partly a consequence of replacing face-to-face interaction with a form of communication where body language and other signals cannot be interpreted.
They also found that those same students almost constantly multitasked while studying, watching other media, eating or attending class. This constant activity allows little time for bodies and minds to relax and regenerate, says Peper, and also results in “semi-tasking,” where people do two or more tasks at the same time — but half as well as they would have if focused on one task at a time.
Peper and Harvey note that digital addiction is not our fault but a result of the tech industry’s desire to increase corporate profits.
“More eyeballs, more clicks, more money,” said Peper.
Push notifications, vibrations and other alerts on our phones and computers make us feel compelled to look at them by triggering the same neural pathways in our brains that once alerted us to imminent danger, such as an attack by a tiger or other large predator.
“But now we are hijacked by those same mechanisms that once protected us and allowed us to survive — for the most trivial pieces of information,” he said.
But just as we can train ourselves to eat less sugar, for example, we can take charge and train ourselves to be less addicted to our phones and computers. The first step is recognizing that tech companies are manipulating our innate biological responses to danger.
Stop the Notifications
Peper suggests turning off push notifications, only responding to email and social media at specific times and scheduling periods with no interruptions to focus on important tasks.
Two of Peper’s students say they have taken proactive measures to change their patterns of technology use. Recreation, Parks and Tourism major Khari McKendell closed all of his social media accounts about six months ago because he wanted to make stronger face-to-face connections with people.
“I still call and text people but I want to make sure that a majority of the time I’m talking to my friends in person,” he said.
Senior Sierra Hinkle, a Holistic Health minor, says she has stopped using headphones while out walking in order to be more aware of her surroundings. When she’s out with friends, they all put their phones in the center of the table, and the first one to touch theirs buys the drinks.
“We have to become creative and approach technology in a different way that still incorporates the skills we need but doesn’t take away from real-life experience,” said Hinkle.
Natural Blaze note: Readers – what do you think?
Is our smart phone, virtual relationship, over-notified world causing a wedge between us and intimacy?
Maybe it’s called a screen because it blocks us from love and awareness.
Digital screens serve as a smoke screen among relationships, perhaps. It’s interesting that the Biblical description of hell is one where no one can recognize anyone else while they each suffer individually…
Resources:
- The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
- Breaking the Trance: A Practical Guide for Parenting the Screen-Dependent Child
- Reset Your Child’s Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time
- Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids – and How to Break the Trance
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This article (Digital Addiction Increases Loneliness, Anxiety and Depression) appeared first at Natural Blaze. It can be reshared with attribution but MUST include link to homepage, bio, intact links and this message. Image credit: San Francisco State University, modified by editor
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