The purpose of this article is to call attention to what I believe may be an invisible addiction that's sweeping the country.
The reason it's covert is that, like others, I, too, was addicted for the longest time. It was until I realized what addiction looked like that I was able to work on limiting and - to an extent - overcoming that addiction.
This article aims to inform those reading about what an addiction is, how information can act as a drug, and ultimately, what an addiction to information looks like.
What is an addiction?
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of addiction is the following:
A compulsive, chronic, physiological, or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity that has harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causes well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors, or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence
Our article will focus on the following elements of addiction: compulsive, chronic, and psychological need for a substance with social effects and well-defined symptoms. Regarding information - and it can be information from anywhere - do we seek it with a chronic and compulsive nature?
Must we check it when we wake up? Must we look at it whenever we get a free second? If we don't get that hit of information, do we experience those well-defined symptoms such as anxiety or irritation? Chances are yes, and we'll explain further below, but now, let's answer the question: can information be a drug?
Information as a Drug
One of the definitions of a drug is:
a substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body
The disconnect that we may have by placing "information" as a drug is that we view drugs as substances, and the definition of substance is a physical material from which something is made or which has discrete existence. So essentially, a drug must be something physical.
This concept is where our disconnect lies.
We need to realize that not only do physical things affect the structure or function of the body, but also non-physical things. Our thoughts can affect the structure or function of our bodies, and things that influence those thoughts can be seen as affecting the structure or function of the body.
An example of this is meditation. Meditating is the act of engaging in a mental exercise - the total opposite of physical. This mental exercise is so effective at altering the structure and function of the body that it can be billed as a medical procedure1. Your doctor can "prescribe meditation" and get paid for that.
So we can change our thought process about drugs being something physical to now see that a drug can be a substance (physical or mental) intended to affect the structure or function of the body. Anything that affects your body - physical or mental - can be seen as a drug.
An Addiction To Information?
There are so many definitions of the word information that we'll provide a high-level description. Information is:
communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence
Information is how we built our world. Information is how you and I can communicate back and forth, transmitting knowledge and intelligence back and forth with each other. I don't know what you've experienced, but when you provide me with the information, I now have somewhat knowledge or intelligence about that particular event. And this is a good thing.
From a primal perspective, our hindbrain, also known as our lizard brain, has evolved and has had the function of keeping us alive. Fight, freeze, or flight is from our lizard brain. So when we get new information that may keep us alive, this is good for us to have. Also, staying with our primal perspective, we have our midbrain.
Our midbrain is responsible for our emotions, so if we get information that can produce within us an emotional response, this also is a good thing. We may not have to experience that thing, but the information about that event produces emotions in us - activating that part of our brain - as if we experienced that event ourselves. Quite convenient.
And therein lies the potential problem. Whenever we learn something new, dopamine is released. More specifically:
Novel experiences give you a rush of the reward chemical dopamine.
Dopamine, which is responsible for pleasure sensation, is released every time we intake any new piece of information. Information here about something that could keep you alive, bam, the hindbrain is activated, and dopamine is released. Information about something emotional, boom, our midbrain is activated, and a hit of dopamine is released.
By consistently taking specific hits of information that appeal to our survival or emotional instincts, we're activating the most extensive parts of our brains repeatedly with hits of dopamine.
This consistent activation is how we, chemically, get addicted to information.
Sources of Addiction
There are many sources of random information hits, but I want to focus on the most significant culprit: social media apps.
My definition of social media apps is anything that:
Delivers constant new information
Connects you to other users
Whether it be apps like Instagram that does both of these, or ESPN that only does one of these, these are what we can consider social media applications. These applications aren't inherently wrong; information is how we have advanced as a society. But how the information gets distributed herein lies the problem. For this, we need to look at psychology and understand Pavlovian psychology.
Pavlov's experiments showed that dogs could be made to expect food once a bell was rung. He would ring a bell, then feed the dogs, and over time, the dogs associated the bell with food. This "ding" from the bell activated the dog's midbrain (emotional response from food) and the hindbrain (food needed for survival).
Our social media apps have this very same "ding" feature built into them in the sense of notifications. Ding: you have a new comment! Ding: someone like your post. These "dings" serve as stimuli, aka the bell - and your brain is now expecting to receive a new piece of information.
Not only social media apps but also work-related apps as well. One main culprit is Outlook and "ding," there's an email or "ding," and there's an IM that you may have information for you.
Again, it's important to stress that information alone isn't inherently wrong, but how our brains receive it. Receiving that information in short bursts begins to shape and mold our brain to receive and perceive the world in short spurts.
From the Academy of Ideas2, we read the following:
In the 1960s, the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan made the claim that "the medium is the message". McLuhan argued that with any new technology which distributes mass information, it is not merely the particular content we absorb that influences and changes us, but rather it is the way in which the technology distributes information that has the greatest effect on our mind.
So, instead of saying applications, like social media or work-related apps, are sources of addiction, we can go even broader and say that technology itself can be very addicting. This revelation is a reality in our modern era, and we must come to terms with it.
What can we do about it?
The first step to any problem is to define what the problem is.
Do you have a chronic, compulsive habit that requires you to check your device for any source of information?
Would you experience agitation or anxiety if you tried to resist checking out that information source?
If the answer to these questions is "yes," then our brain may already be wired to these quick dopamine hits that come from the information devices we use.
So once we realize the problem, we can come up with solutions. Since information itself isn't bad, how can we access it and still be in control? Thankfully the answer is simple, and it simply requires us to be in control over technology.
What that means is when we decide to use these technologies or applications, we need to ask ourselves: what is our intention for using them? Suppose we're using these technologies because we're bored. In that case, we're using the technology to escape boredom, which technically is no different than an addict abusing drugs to escape "the perils of life."
However, if we are explicitly using these applications because there's a specific piece of information we're looking for, we're now in the driver's seat. This determination, active or passive use, is where we discuss an essential part of the brain, the forebrain3.
The forebrain is the smallest part of the brain, and this part is what makes us human. No other species has a forebrain, and this forebrain allows us to apply reason and logic to life. The best analogy I've heard regarding all three brains (hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain) is that your hindbrain and midbrain are like a stallion. A gigantic stallion that can fight, flight, or flee when terrified, and also love and show anger when feeling emotion. However, when controlled by a rider, these stallions have helped humanity explore the world. Our forebrain is that rider; ultimately, we must take control of the stallion.
This understanding means being aware of the dangers of technology. Pavlov's psychology isn't just in the art of notifications, which serve as stimuli for the brain to activate; overall, behavioral psychology is everywhere. The 2018 article Here's How Fortnite' Hooked' Millions4 shows how the psychology of BF Skinner (the SRC model) became an integral part of the game: if you provide a Stimulus, the consumer will have a Reaction to the stimulus, which will then lead to a Consequence, which is them playing the game longer.
Also, from the Academy of Ideas5, we read the following:
"These [social media] services aren't necessarily, as advertised, the lifeblood of our modern connected world. They are just products, developed by private companies, funded lavishly, marketed carefully, and designed ultimately to capture then sell your personal information and attention to advertisers. They can be fun, but in the scheme of your life and what you want to accomplish, they are a lightweight whimsy, one unimportant distraction among many threatening to derail you from something deeper. Or maybe social media tools are at the core of your existence. You won't know either way until you sample life without them.”
Conclusion
By being aware of the dopamine hits that come with the random bits of the information solicited, we can learn to monitor our actions. Now that we know that these information blurbs are starting to change our brains, we can then take steps to change our brains back.
For example, in moments of boredom, instead of grabbing our phones and scrolling, we can take that time to self-reflect. Boredom is a healthy part of growth; it's the brain processing all the information it's taken in. It feels good when constantly bombarding our brain with information, but the brain can't process any of that.
To help the brain, we can put the phone down during periods of boredom and relax, daydream, and reflect. If we need social interaction, we can use these times to develop close interpersonal relationships with people close to us. Technology can help us here, but only if it's strengthening our relationships. Intensifying our relationships comes from time spent (in-person, conversational) - not randomly liking multiple posts.
As we live in the information age, we will only get bombarded with more information from many stimuli in many walks of our lives. This realization is our reality. But hopefully, this article has shown how all that stimuli can result in an invisible addiction. By being mindful of this risk, we can become more conscious of our actions. We can then be in control of technology versus it controlling us.
We can then ultimately ride our stallion.
https://icd10coded.com/pcs/8E0ZXY5/
https://academyofideas.com/2019/05/deep-work-vs-internet-how-the-internet-is-changing-our-brain/
https://personalmba.com/onion-brain/
https://www.nirandfar.com/fortnite-hooked-millions/
https://academyofideas.com/2017/03/focus-distraction-dangers-modern-technology/
Good work. Looking forward to reading more of your writing in the future.