751 — that’s how many times I’ve picked my phone up this week — over 100 times per day. 🙈 📱
Did you know that our technology is being designed in a way that makes us more likely to become addicted to the device or the app?
Building on the work of Psychologist BF Skinner from the 1930’s, the Variable Reward systems used by Instagram, FB and other Social Media sites hook us into always coming back to check — did we get a new “like”, comment or message? The red notification gives us the impulse to click.
When we receive a like, comment or message we get a dopamine hit, making us feel good…conditioning us to repeat the behavior. The conditioning is even stronger when the reward (presence of a like, comment, message) is unpredictable, or variable.
There are some who argue that the tech industry has gone too far and is essentially controlling what we pay attention to.
Welcome to the Attention Economy🤓!
More and more of the *designers* of this technology are putting safety controls into place to limit their own use — like hiring a SM manager so they don't have to go on their own FB page, or having their assistant put a parental control so they can't download any apps — and even going so far as to turning off their internet every day at a specific time.
How do you feel about your relationship with technology? Do you feel like you spend too much, too little or just the right amount of time on your phone, tablet, or computer?
Sending you so much love + a big hug from South Florida ☀️.