Above: "Hands intertwined with Computer Wires." (Shutterstock, 2016)
An Introduction
The internet is both a blessing and a curse for teenagers. On one hand, teens nowadays have the entire world at their fingertips; able to explore or try different apps, websites, or blogs. On the other hand, the internet making social media and entertainment more accessible means the average time purely spent browsing one’s favorite streaming service or Instagram feed has undoubtedly skyrocketed.
Nevertheless simply blaming teenagers for long hours surfing the web, as most of these habits were accelerated and even born out of COVID-19, a disease that forced people to stay inside.
Frontiers reported that “Overall digital device usage increased by 5 hours, giving a plunge to screen time up to 17.5 hours per day for heavy users and an average of 30 hours per week for non-heavy users,” when it comes to COVID-19’s impact on screen time (Pandya and Lodha).
Therefore the sudden increase in the usage of social media isn’t a huge surprise, but what’s worrisome about these trends, is it’s clear social media can have a negative effect on teens no matter how helpful or relaxing it can be.
As researchers have discovered, most students that are addicted to the internet may do it to deal with their emotions, stress, and anxiety life has to offer, it can give way to harmful habits like poor time management and low productivity (Aaserud).
Despite this, do we really know who or what is responsible for internet addiction? As stated before, only blaming teens for their use of the internet is not fair to them and much easier than accepting another truth. In other words, there’s a bigger cause at play.
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Addiction
Internet addiction is defined as excessive internet use to an unhealthy degree. Like other addictions, “excessive internet use has been shown to release dopamine in the brain this means people effectively feel a ‘high’ when engaged online — but it also means they can feel ‘withdrawal symptoms’ when they’re offline,” (Carson-DeWitt). Crossing the line into internet addiction is a blurry one due to the fact that the online landscape is so deeply ingrained into modern society, it’s now far from strange to use the internet daily. Still, the effects of internet addiction are dangerous, with Everyday Health listing them as:
Inability to prioritize or keep a schedule
Avoidance of work and negative effects on your school or job performance
Isolation and reduced involvement with your family or friends
Mood swings or feelings of anxiety, agitation, depression, or guilt
Loss of sleep and feelings of apathy
Preoccupation with being online, even when you’re offline
Now although Internet addiction doesn’t have a direct cause, it’s noted that because the “internet is accessible, provides some measure of control to users, and often leaves users with a ‘high’ feeling or sense of excitement that continually draws them back. The combination of these factors makes it difficult for some people to limit their time online” (Carson-DeWitt). And this is where we can start to see the bigger picture. The internet can be so addicting to many teens because it was designed to be. Moreover, teens growing up in the 2000s-2010s can be more susceptible to internet addiction since technology has been a part of their lives for as long as they can remember.
Profiting On Habits
Nir Eyal, the author of ‘Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products’, wrote that “Habit-forming products change user behavior and create unprompted user engagement. The aim is to influence customers to use your product on their own, again and again, without relying on overt calls-to-action such as ads or promotions. Once a habit is formed, the user is automatically triggered to use the product during routine events such as wanting to kill time while waiting in line” (15). Tech companies nail these criteria to a tee.
This is partly because tech companies are masters at what is called “variable reward”. Essentially, the algorithms the internet runs on are created to reward the user the more they use it. Take, for instance, Youtube. Let’s say you stumble upon a funny video, in your head, you plan to stay on the app for a couple of minutes. Regardless, after watching it, you continue to scroll through the app for another hour looking at other captivating videos. The reason there’s a want to continuously use the app is that once your brain is stimulated by that one interesting video or thing, it wants more of it, leading someone to endlessly scroll through an app. It’s basically a reward system; the more you use that one app, the more you’ll be “rewarded” with wonderful things for your mind to consume. As a result, the brain is pumped with dopamine with the mindset that it’ll be receiving some kind of reward, which then creates a habit as the brain interprets the action of using social media with a good feeling.
Creating habits that are associated with good feelings also means companies like Meta, Google, Apple, and other big tech companies are taking advantage of teens’ highly emotional nature. Many teenagers nowadays find refuge in the internet to feel better, especially with the rollercoaster that is growing up. To many, it is a way to escape real life. What isn’t realized is that by doing so, they are inadvertently creating a stronger connection with a company that won’t be afraid of exploiting that emotional comfort to fit their needs. As a result, internet addiction has a greater possibility of becoming a reality for millions of internet users. Again, the blame should not be pinned on teens as many older generations imply. It’s not their fault social media apps and the internet, in general, are being run by people seeking to profit from the shared feelings they have, however, not acknowledging these problems can only make them fester and grow.
Conclusion
If big tech companies are taking advantage and being the main cause of internet addiction for a younger, more impressionable demographic, what can be done? The internet is an evergrowing network; one that is only becoming more and more a part of everyday life. Think about the fact that schools like ISB already require the use of a laptop to conduct schoolwork. In 20-30 years in the future, the internet will most likely become even more rooted in society with the rise of AI and other new developments. There is no way the internet and social media will ever disappear at this rate, but with more attention brought onto the habit-inducing systems big tech companies are using, there’s a bigger chance these companies can be stopped and these problems don’t go unnoticed. Letting companies continue to profit from teen addiction should not continue to be normalized, so acknowledging that there is an issue with Big Tech is the first step towards a healthier lifestyle for teens.
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