The development and integration of the digital world with our daily lives has begun to show some concerning long-term effects, especially in the most recent decade as our lives have become ever more intertwined with having a smart device in our pocket. One of many concerns that should be taken seriously is that of “digital addiction.” To put it simply, digital addiction is something anyone can develop, and it is more likely to develop when a constant connection to the internet is maintained. This is something which businesses prey upon. They use human psychology to better understand how to stimulate dopamine hits. Preying on the vulnerability of stimulating dopamine so that they can pull people into their online product. The constant supply of short-term dopamine hits maintain people in their online product for as long as possible. All in the pursuit of more money.
The most effective way of maintaining attention and usage of an online product is to create fear. If the user is scared of missing a notification from their favorite app, a message on Facebook, an alert of an online sale, then you develop this tether to the user where they’ll always be connected to your product on some level. Using this fear-developed tether, they reward you with dopamine hits when you finally get that notification.
For me personally, I previously had an issue with social media, it sucked me in with a constant loop of dopamine hits, always pulling me back to the online world. It eventually turned me into someone who was always trying to post the perfect picture on Instagram, constantly refreshing and waiting for a new message, or endlessly scrolling and watching videos. It had created an artificial feeling of being connected to someone or something. Over the years it worsened my mental health. I’d constantly compare myself to others, I’d create unreasonable goals that I couldn’t achieve, and it had continually chipped away at any positive thoughts I had about myself.
Over time I’ve slowly disconnected from apps and social media, and it has drastically improved my mental health. I think smart devices can too easily suck people into the digital world. To counter this issue, I think the appealing aspects that pull people into apps should be countered. Either a built-in feature or an app which would turn your phone into a minimalistic device.
This app/feature would have a simple color scheme to avoid pulling people in with “fun” and “interesting” looking icons. Notifications would be off by default and every type of notification can be turned off or on, rather than all or nothing. Lastly, apps would have to be more than a click away to access with the exclusion of seven “important” apps which could be set to the home screen if desired by the user.
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