Are smartphone apps tools or drugs? A proper tool is passive, and it waits for us to use it, much like a hammer sits and waits in our toolbox. The hammer doesn’t actively seek anything from us, and it doesn’t use psychological tactics to take hold of our attention.
On the other hand, many social media apps are designed to be used as drugs, especially the free ones. They want to hold our attention because it means advertising revenue, and they live off the money from 3rd party advertisers.
Jarod Lanier, a computer scientist and outspoken Silicon Valley figure, said these apps are a sneaky form of addiction because we think we’re in control of our behavior when we aren’t. It’s like hypnotism, and he likened it to gambling addiction (source). We may tell ourselves we won’t spend a lot of time scrolling on Facebook, but we do it anyway. I tell myself I won’t binge YouTube, but I’m still on the couch hours later.
That’s crafty behavior manipulation on the app-developers part. We have the impulse to put down the phone, but we don’t.
The infinite scroll and slot machine refresh
One of the most potent ways they addict us is by using the infinite scroll and the “slot machine refresh.” An infinite scroll is what we see on the Facebook homepage. We can scroll for hours, and the content will never end.
The “slot machine refresh” is when we can refresh a news feed and receive a new set of content. It’s a massive, pleasurable dopamine hit for our brains. YouTube does this well, generating a unique, customized collection of videos every time we pull on the slot machine lever. Is it any wonder app use can be likened to gambling addiction?
Be aware of what apps are trying to do to us
Unfortunately, most apps are a mix of these two concepts: tool + drug. Facebook helps us connect with people, and YouTube has valuable and informative videos in its mix. But I believe the drug side of the equation outweighs the tool side of the equation. So it’s important to ask ourselves often, am I using this app as a genuine utility, or only as a drug?
Break up with your phone!!! I couldn’t agree more with all these ideas. I recently walked into our YMCA and everywhere I looked were parents scrolling or texting on their phones while their kids were rambling around nearby or worse while during swim lessons, never once looking up to see what their kid was doing. It breaks my heart and makes me sick to my stomach. I am trying to really make a conscious effort to break up with my phone. I’m trying to be in the moment more to give my son a nod and a thumbs up so he knows I’m ‘there’.
It is a shame when parents pay zero attention to those moments. We can’t put 100% of the blame on ourselves. It’s not all our fault because the apps take advantage of our brains. Instead, we need to find a way to snap out of the hypnosis!