Why are Screens Addicting?

How were your digital quiz results last week? Shocking? Eye-opening? Scary?

When we actually take a second to think about the amount of time we are on our phones each day…it’s a little bit scary, right? I get that weekly screen-time report sent to me each Sunday. When my screen time happens to increase from the previous week it makes me wince. It’s a little reality check to help get me back on track.

We don’t intend to be on our phones so much, but what draws us to them and makes them so appealing you might ask.

The simple answer—it’s all about money! Each app has businesses that pay to advertise on their app. The more time you spend on the app, the higher your chances of seeing the ads, the more ads you see the more money the app makes from each business that is paying to get you to see their ad.

Let’s break it down a little better to understand how that affects us. If we think about it as a game, then there are 3 key players in the game—the game designer, the game players, and the game pieces.

·         The game designer is the app or social media platform. They created the game. They want the game players (businesses) and the game pieces (us) to play the game so they can earn money.

·         The game players are the businesses that advertise on the platforms. They want to win the game, which is getting their ad in front of the right customer so they can sell their product or service.

·         The game pieces are you and me. We are just moving however the game designer and game players choose.

The longer each game piece (we) are on the board the more money the game designer can make by selling advertisements.

So, how do these platforms keep us engaged and playing the game? They do a couple of things—all pretty sneaky.

·         They play videos instantly. Say you are scrolling through social media and instead of you having to click play on a video to watch it, the video starts playing instantly to catch your attention in hopes that you stop to watch it (and then see the ad that’s hidden in the video).

·         Platforms can also allow businesses to target ads specifically to you. They can choose to advertise to people based on their age, sex, occupation, where they live, interests, children, religion, etc. all of this information they have gathered based off what they know about you.

·         So, I’ve heard that our phones read the information we receive through our notifications and send ads to us based on that information, and I believe I experienced that very thing. My husband and I were talking about some new shorts he wanted to purchase through text messages, and the next time I got on social media I saw ads about those specific shorts. Uh…what?

·         Social media also sets up delayed notifications. For instance, if you post a picture on social media you are probably expecting likes and comments. Well, social media will send you a few notifications at a time in hopes that each time you open the notification you will scroll for a little bit. And the longer you scroll the more ads you see.

Why does this make phones addicting for us (the game pieces) though?

Phones and the apps on the phone activate dopamine release. Each time we get a notification or a feel good sensation from checking something on our phone, dopamine gets released into our brains. It makes us feel pleasure. The same thing happens when we eat a yummy brownie, win a game, receive a bonus, exercise, have sex, etc. We do that action > dopamine is released > we feel good > we want to do it again.

Eventually, our brains adjust to that dopamine release we get when we check an email or notification and it doesn’t make us feel as good as it used to. We have to stay on our phones longer to get more dopamine released into our brains and feel the same amount of pleasure we initially felt. This is the same cycle that leads to addictions like substance abuse—yikes!

But there is hope! You don’t have to be a pawn in this game. You can break the cycle and be in control of your phone again. I’ll share more soon.

Want to check out more about phones and screen time? Check out our Family Life Elevated YouTube Channel.