The Blue Screen Addiction
(Written in the style of Huck Magazine)
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The world has become addicts and technology is our drug.
Rewind to the early 2000’s when dial up internet was the norm and owning a flip phone which dubiously opened at the press of the button made you the most tech savvy kid on the street. Back then, the technological advances we’ve now reached would have seemed so otherworldly and something that we could only dream of but would never experience – oh how naive we were. Fast-forward to 2017 and technology is advancing at a rapid rate and although our past selves would jump for joy at this news, what we didn’t know then is that like with most pleasurable things in life, the more we have the more addicted we become.
On average a person spends 9.5 hours a day looking at a screen and switching between different media channels a survey by eMarket found and I doubt those numbers will decrease any time soon. This is due to the fact that technology is made specifically to lure us in and hold our attention in a hypnotic way, the type where you decide to have a quick ten-minute scroll through Facebook and the next thing you know it’s been two hours and you’re four years deep in your ex’s best friend’s Aunty Sue’s holidays pictures. Or when you post an Instagram picture and you just have to refresh the page every five minutes to check the ‘likes to time’ ratio. This is due to the fact that similar to the way in which shooting heroin gives the user a dopamine rush, every time we receive a ‘like’ on social media fulfilling that instinctive need for social approval or finally reach the near unachievable next level of a game our dopamine levels rise. It’s when we start to rely on this dopamine high to make us feel good that the addiction starts and that’s exactly what the tech companies rely on and capitalise on.
As if that wasn’t enough, sites and apps such as YouTube, Netflix, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn are made to work in such a way to coax us into using them round the clock. Netflix and YouTube do this by auto-playing the next episode or video, Snapchat does it with their ‘snapstreaks’ feature in which if you don’t snap someone within 24 hours every single day you lose your streak with them, Instagram encourages you to constantly try to figure out the formula to get a record number of likes on your selfie whilst LinkedIn and Facebook entice you to broaden your network of friends or acquaintances. Now, look yourself in the mirror and consider the fact that you, an adult human being, genuinely cares about how high your snapstreak is with your old school mate Brian who you haven’t even seen in two years. Yes, these apps might be made in a way to make you care but they don’t control the way you think – not yet anyway. So, whilst you still have the choice of freewill please use it to end those snapstreaks, press cancel on the auto play button and make that first giant leap for mankind to take back your independence.
What else can we do to break this cycle of tech addiction. How do we stop this gang mentality of lingering outside McDonalds looking for a fix? And I’m not talking about heroin or even a highly addictive Big Mac meal, but the fix of McDonalds free Wi-Fi because the lure of it is just too hard to resist. Fear not, it’s as easy as following these three steps. As outlandish and unthinkable as it seems, step number one would be to put down your phone, turn off the TV and unplug your Xbox. Yes, that might seem like asking the impossible as the blue screen drug might create the guise of making you feel happy, but in reality, for most people it does the exact opposite. A 2017 study by the International Society for Affective Disorders found that the more time 18 to 22year olds spent on social media a day “the greater the association with anxiety symptoms and the greater likelihood of an anxiety disorder” whilst the same study found that Instagram “prompts a person to compare him or herself negatively against a friend”. A study on gaming also showed that “children who spent excessive amounts of time playing violent video games showed a greater propensity towards aggressive behaviour in their daily lives.”. These facts and figures are beyond scary, they’re terrifying. Why is it if we saw a child hooked to a screen in a restaurant or your friend told you they’d been staring at a screen all day long you wouldn’t be shocked, but if you saw that child snorting a line of coke or your friend had gone on a 24hour alcohol binge you’d get them professional help. Granted the latter two examples are extreme but they have the same effects of anxiety, depression, feelings of worthlessness or inciting violence as staring at a screen does just in a slightly less severe way, so why is it allowed and accepted?
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After that shocking realisation, I assume you want to move onto step number two – make a to-do list. One in ten smartphone users confessed to reaching for their phone as soon as they woke up – whilst a third grabbed their phones within five minutes of waking. Instead of reaching for your phone every morning, reach for a pen and paper and make a list of all the things you need or would like to do with your day, whether that be doing work you’ve been putting off, tidying the cave you call your room, cooking a meal from scratch, making an effort to meet up with friends, finally getting the motivation to go to the gym three months after joining - the list is endless. Once you get into any of those things, they can all become addictive and in a far more positive and rewarding way. If it’s children or your young siblings that you’re worried about rather than yourself you can get them involved in your to-do list as well, get them to help you cook a meal, take some time out of your day to do some arts and crafts with them or get them involved in a club and when they’re done allow them an allotted amount of screen time as everything’s ok in moderation, including that beer or glass of wine you’ll probably have to reward yourself for getting through step two.
Imagine if you paid £80 for a concert ticket to see your favourite artist but then at the door security told you that although the artist will be there performing live, you’re only allowed to watch them perform on your phone screen. You’d think it was ludicrous. Why then is it not ludicrous for people to go to a concert but instead of watching the act live they watch it through their phone screen whilst recording it to show everyone what a ‘fabulous time’ they’re having, yet in doing so they’re not taking any of it in. In a poll of 1500 people conducted by Intrepid Travel, 41% said they go to events or choose places to visit based on how the photographs they take there will “enhance their social media profile” and 38% said they’ve missed out on important moments in life because they were too busy looking at their phone. That brings us to step number three - to take a step back. Next time you’re about to rage over your bad internet connection or would genuinely consider unplugging someone’s life support to charge your phone, take a step back. Take a step back and realise that if you spend all your life with your head down in a hope of getting that addictive rush of fulfilment through a few likes or reaching the next level in your game, you’ll end up missing out on the truly fulfilling things happening right in front of you. We spend an average of two hours a day on our phones a survey by Statista found. That’s thirty days a year. Imagine the fun you could have, the things you could achieve and the memories you could make with that extra month. So put down your phone, turn off that TV screen and make the most of every moment.
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