Time exchanges

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Have you ever felt your phone vibrate in your pocket, when in fact, your pockets are empty? The dependence on phones and screens, is felt the most in their absence. I discussed many aspects of screens before. Their impact on society, our identity, the future. Admittedly the most driving motive behind this topic has been self interest. Personally I want some of the time back that I have spent looking at screens. It has an eerily similar emotional context to time spent drinking alcohol. It has its temporary flush of fun and excitement, without the quality of a memory that is spent having fun with friends/family/ a partner.

Studies show that the way a phone delivers dopamine is similar to cocaine, in very small and more frequent doses. This is likely not a shocking fact to most people. The fundamentally distressing feature of this effect is the self-reinforcing nature of it. Over time this stimuli changes our associations and motivations in the world. Eventually it not only psychologically directs us to increased usage of screens in our lives, it biologically changes our brains.

The dopamine reward system is set up to increase its effectiveness when we receive a reward unexpectedly from an activity. Essentially, the more unpredictably a stimulus rewards us the more enticing it is. The outline presented by my rudimentary neurological research seemed simple enough. However when stepping back and applying it as a measuring guide to anything screen-related it starts to become eerily similar to everything I do.

For instance, imagine if everything you posted got the same amount of likes/views. Or if when you played a video game you got the same prize (“loot”) regardless of the amount of attempts to find something else. These unpredictable reward mechanisms are effective and ubiquitous in apps and games. That one key element of the design of how reward systems work is difficult to not observe after learning it. Its every other phone app that exists in some form.

There are many beautiful things about the technology we have available today. Just as there are many corrupted aspects to it. The most invisible of costs seems to be time, due to how innocent it feels to contribute a mere “ten minutes more” to see if that reward will suddenly appear this time.

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones-battle-time/

Can we slow down?

(source: sale products @ ebay.com)

A self reporting 60% of college students admit that they may be addicted to their cell phones. Spending an average two hours a day on them. Its odd to think that the very individuals that would benefit the future integration of our technology, in a healthy way, may themselves be addicted. Not only this, but the method in which you conduct research, and are informed about how phones/screens are changing our lives, are on screens.

There are many established benefits that you can potentially quantify for time spent on screens. It feels that they have plateaued compared to the insidious future of how this technology will grow. In other words, there may be equal pros and cons now, but what about the future?

If our most enlightened and informed researchers rely on the technology they are attempting to be impartial to, to do the research, is there really an alternative? If so, what could an alternative look like?

Perhaps it’s the physical format. As in, the nature of the screen, or the functionality. I think that, as unlikely as it is, or strange as it is, our devices should work more slowly. Maybe not literally slower but, some sort of format that browses at a more comfortable pace. To support my argument with anecdotal evidence, I can prove my own tech habits. I have both a Roku and a Playstation. I notice that when I use the roku to watch tv/movies, I sometimes get frustrated at the pace it takes to navigate the interface. Overall the process is quiet, and slow, with even a soothing screensaver when the menu is left idle. On the other hand my playstation makes a sound with every movement of my cursor through the menus, that respond instantly. Maneuvering towards what you want to watch is so quick that it starts to feel like a game in itself and to me, can be less mindful and more tense.

If marketed and developed properly, perhaps devices could be less dopamine inducing, and addicting. Although what company would want to invest in that?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4291831/ The invisible addiction: Cell-phone activities and addiction among male and female college students JAMES A. ROBERTS,1 LUC HONORE PETNJI YAYA,2 and CHRIS MANOLIS3