David N. Greenfield - Overcoming Internet Addiction For Dummies

The Internet is a unique form of technology; it’s not just a communication or information tool, but it’s also a place to go in and of itself, as you discover in this section. Early in its history, we assumed that the Internet was like many earlier communication modalities such as the telephone, radio, movies, and television, and that the Internet would simply be another tool to connect and entertain. Although e-commerce was seen early on as a possible use for the Internet, no one could have imagined how quickly it would morph into not just a means to connect, but a destination to connect to as well.

What do I mean by a destination? The Internet is a place to virtually hang out, not just on chat sites, but to shop, trade stocks, game, gamble, or hang out on a social media site like TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook. The Internet is not simply a means to an end, but it has become an end to itself. It was a new place to go, and it has only increased in this capacity to entertain and captivate. In fact, there is such a small boundary between real-time and virtual these days that many of us don’t differentiate between the time we are online and the time we are off-line (even though essentially, we are never off-line anymore with our smartphones always in our pockets).

Unlike when the Internet made its debut and we had to dial up to get online (kind of like getting in the car to go somewhere), the Internet connection is now always live with high-speed DSL, cable, satellite, fiber-optic, and fast smartphone connections. Even a slower DSL connection is always on, and a seamless highway is always open on your desktop, laptop, smartphone, or TV. This connected factor is in part what makes the Internet so powerful — and there is something intoxicating about having the world’s information and people at your fingertips.

One of things we discovered early on with the Internet was broadcast intoxication . This is essentially a recognition that it is stimulating to broadcast to others (as well as receive broadcasts) through various platforms, but especially on social media. In Chapter 5, I discuss in detail how social media creates an intoxicating experience when you broadcast your status, updates, posts, photos, videos, or virtually anything. Likely, this intoxication is in part caused by the anticipation of a like, comment, follow, or DM (direct message) to your post. The response by other people creates a social validation loop whereby there is a dopamine elevation from the social validation. Part of the reason for our intoxication from this validation is that we are all hardwired for social connection and social approval. The Internet, and especially social media, may capitalize on a very basic human quality: the desire to be liked and appreciated.

All forms of communication and media have boundaries. A book, TV show, newspaper, magazine, movie, and even a text or phone conversation all have boundaries. They all have a beginning, middle, and end, and there are markers that tell you where you are in the entertainment, information, and communication process.

The Internet, however, is an entirely different matter. Whenever you go online to do anything, there are no markers for where you are and how long you might be there. In fact, there is a purposeful attempt to eliminate such markers, just as a casino removes clocks or windows to obscure time passage. There are a myriad of cross links, back links, hypertexts, live photo links, click-bait, and feeds that take you down endless rabbit holes, which have you later emerging from your journey without a clue as to how this occurred. No boundaries equal no markers for time passage.

The Internet is a completely dynamic, active, and interactive system. It isn’t linear, but rather a networked and almost circular set of interactive data. It in some sense operates more like our brain than a book. But without markers for time or space, the Internet can take you on a journey far beyond where you intended to go. Obviously, online content providers and Internet companies love how this lack of boundaries creates captive audiences of you and me.

The Internet and digital screen technologies are amoral. They have no agenda in and of themselves, and service providers, content developers, and app and software creators all have the same goal: your attention and your eyes onscreen. This is a battle for how you spend your time, but your time is a non-renewable resource, and technology must always be balanced in terms of how it ultimately serves us, not simply for a promised better life.

There is perhaps no better example of the purported benefits of screen technologies than the power of multitasking. Multitasking is a very misunderstood concept, and there has been much research on the neuroscience of attention; the overwhelming conclusion is simply that there is no such thing as multitasking.

What is often seen as multitasking is rapid attention-shifting and moving your focus in an alternating fashion. What this means is that you’re quickly shifting your attention from one screen or activity to another, and although it feels seamless and simultaneous, it isn’t. There is no way for the human brain to attend to and process two stimuli at the same time. So, the next time your teenager has a laptop, tablet, TV, textbook, and smartphone open in front of them (while they are listening to music) and then tells you they are attending to all of them at once, they are kidding themselves (and you!). They may believe they are attending to all these activities simultaneously, but what the research shows is that the amount of comprehension of each stimulus is basically reduced by a factor of how many other sources of input you have going on at once. So, if you are doing homework while doing other activities, it will simply take you longer to get it done and/or there will be less comprehension of what you worked on. Internet and screen technology does not actually increase efficiency; it increases the functional organization of how we manage information, but even this benefit must be weighed against the amount of distraction it creates along the way.

The big question is this: How does Internet and screen technology affect human relationships and our overall health and well-being? From its early adoption, the Internet has been touted for its ability to connect people; initially social media was hailed as an important way to stay connected with our friends, family, work, and school. There is little argument that the Internet is a useful tool, and the COVID pandemic has offered further evidence of how amazing and useful this technology is. It has allowed us to continue our work and school from home and to shop and stay connected to our friends and loved ones. I am in no way debating the utility of this technology; what I am addressing is the quality of some of those activities and social connections made online.

There is little disagreement as to the mixed quality of online social connection and questionable satisfaction (and efficacy) of attending school online. Why is that? Why is it that social behavior online seems decidedly two-dimensional? Why has online schooling during COVID been seen as a failure? Why is online intimacy and social connection generally rated as inferior to real-time interaction? Even Zoom, which may be one of the heroes emerging from COVID, can leave people feeling hungry for more real-time, physical contact and connection. From the COVID experience, we see that our children, who have been schooled virtually, report increasing depression, social isolation, and dissatisfaction from the online academic experience — and some are experiencing other increased mental health issues as well.