One of the most well known experiments in Psychology is the ‘Classical Conditioning’ of Ivan Pavlov. He knew that a dog salivates at the sight of food but he wanted to condition the dog to salivate at his command. How he did this was simple- each time he gave the dog food, he would sound a bell. After a few trials, the dog made the relation between the sound of the bell and food. So eventually, the dog would salivate only with the sound of the bell, even if no food was in sight.
Let’s change the experiment a little bit- in today’s day and age we’ve made the relation that a notification means a text, an email or even a general update. What do we do with this relation? We open our phone with every ‘ting’, every vibration. Now let’s move to the next stage-How many times do we check our phone even if we didn’t hear any notifications? We have associated checking our phone not only with notifications but with basic human connections.
We may not ‘salivate’ with each alert but our brain is responding.
Obviously, this didn’t happen in one day. One of the first principles of Pavlov’s experiment is ‘Acquisition.’ This means that it takes multiple trials and of course a rather long duration to make the connection. When smartphones first entered our world, we weren’t as addicted to them as we are right now. But slowly, their importance increased. Here’s what happened: When you got your first smartphone, you probably did some things that made you feel good. Think: reconnecting with a childhood buddy, reading a nice text message from a friend, or getting a notification. All of these activities caused the release of dopamine which made you feel good. Our brains are designed to release dopamine when we do something that meets a survival need.
Countless studies have shown that phone activity causes the release of dopamine in our brains, making us feel aroused, motivated, and happy. So just like how the dog was happy getting its food, we got happy checking our phones.
There’s many reasons why we have a constant need to check our phones. One of them is called the ‘Phantom Vibration.’ We've all been there. You're carrying out your day as you normally would and suddenly you hear, or feel a rogue vibration. You check your phone, but there's nothing there. False alarm. "Phantom vibrations are this unusual curiosity that speaks to our connection with our phones,” (David Laramie). Laramie suggests that it's a generational thing. In other words, he believes that those who grew up with cellphones may experience it more frequently, as the anticipation for receiving a call or message has almost become second nature.
I can’t write an article about how technology is affecting us psychologically without including ‘FOMO.’ We’ve all been there. A few scrolls, a few taps and we see impressive exciting things people around us are doing. your restlessness continues to build and build.
The emotions are hard to describe, but it feels like a weird combination of exclusion, self-loathing, and envy. It’s a strange and utterly empty feeling. With the rise in social media, the ‘fear of missing out’ takes a heavy toll on our mental health. There is a strong relation between FOMO and our phone addictions. The extensive smartphone and social media use are directly connected to lower self-esteem and greater emotional instability. It’s because it arises from feelings of social exclusion, isolation, or anxiety and can be so intense that people will abandon what they're doing to join or consume a fleeting moment on social media. Yeah, I felt just as exposed when i read it for the first time.
However there is another take on the ‘basic human connections.’ Many psychologists believe that the addiction isn’t as negative as we make it seem. A new study of dysfunctional use of smart technology finds that the most addictive smartphone functions all share a common theme: they tap into the human desire to connect with other people. The findings, published in Frontiers in Psychology, suggest that smartphone addiction could be hyper-social, not anti-social. Our desire for human interaction is addictive and our smartphones promote that. Professor Veissière, a cognitive anthropologist who studies the evolution of cognition and culture, explains that the desire to watch and monitor others but also to be seen and monitored by others — runs deep in our evolutionary past. Humans evolved to be a uniquely social species and require constant input from others to seek a guide for culturally appropriate behavior. This is also a way for them to find meaning, goals, and a sense of identity.
I’ve checked my phone four times already while writing this article. Two out of the four were just to see if I got any texts. Human connections or plain addiction, the amount of time we spend in front of our screens is way more than it should be. Whether it’s work, catching up with a friend, reading the news or watching a video-the fact that we can get it all in one device is both a boon and a curse. Now obviously we can’t just shut off from the outside world, especially right now but the best way to help deal with this problem is simple- breaks. Take a five, fifteen, an hour or a day break. Don’t take your phone when you go outside for fresh air, don’t think about your phone when you’ve switched it off.
We’ve stopped living. We’re just existing through a screen. We’ve become Pavlov’s dogs, But the only difference is, if you sound them bell and present the food when he’s not hungry, he won’t salivate but we? we’re always hungry for notifications, always ready for an update. Palvov’s dog can stop himself. We are still yet to learn.
References-
Blog.frontiersin.org
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