My Name Is Manj, And I’m Addicted To Notifications
I finally have the strength and courage to admit it — I am addicted to notifications. I can’t pinpoint precisely when the addiction crystallized — if anything it’s been a gradual process that has steadily crept up on me. What I do know is that my penny dropping moment occurred last week.
I was sitting watching The Godfather, and I was engrossed in the transformation of Michael Corleone unfolding elegantly on the screen. Despite my absorption in the film, I get kept getting an itch — some internal feeling that I needed to check my phone. It irritated me, so I switched to airplane mode and moved the device away from me. I was horrified to find my level of discomfort grow stronger, to the point where I became distracted by the distance between me and my phone. Why? I asked myself. I know better than this, and yet here I am fawning for my iPhone when I do not need to text or call. I felt like my child had gone missing.
The irony is I’m against our societal obsession with smartphones and social media. I barely use Facebook or Instagram. I’ve muted everyone on WhatsApp because I hate the incessant buzzing and expectation of a reply. Last year, I went as far as ditching the iPhone altogether. Seemingly, none of that matters, because I am still picking up my phone every minute, unlocking the screen and hunting for those bubbles that indicate some form of an update.
The truth is this has spread way beyond social media. It doesn’t matter that I’m not active on these apps because I have found other ways to get my hit. The fact is the platform or content of the update doesn’t matter, I’m looking for anything.
Like many other addictions, it’s not hard to hide. If anyone questions me, I can say I’m expecting an e-mail. Heck, most of the people I know will be doing the same thing anyway. There are very few people in my life who are going to call me out on this behavior, so I have to take responsibility for my change.
My quest for change started with a simple question — “Why am I addicted and what can I do about it?”
This has led me to some fascinating research, that although I was somewhat aware of, I had not fully explored. Everything we need to know about notification addiction revolves around one key player — Dopamine.
I scoured tons of research to find a definition of Dopamine. I like this definition plucked from Psychology Today:
This single, simple chemical is directly linked to movement, attention, cognition, and motivation. Moreover, it’s disruption can lead to Parkinson disease, ADHD, and schizophrenia (Schultz 2016). Ironically this hormone that enables us to get stuff done and accomplish our goals exposes us to risk of addiction and excessive pleasure seeking. When we get our hit, we want it again and thus repeat the behaviors that lead to that feeling. This creates a feedback loop that creates habits which could be beneficial or detrimental to our health.
What is especially frightening is the parallel between this hormone and drugs such as Cocaine. Research has consistently shown that the euphoric high of Cocaine is induced by the release (and overactivation) of Dopamine (Nestler 2005). Regardless of whether you experience a natural or artificially induced high, Dopamine plays an integral part in creating the peak and drives you to seek it again.
Where I want to make an important distinction, is the difference between two parts of the brain where the chemical is generated: the Substantia Nigra and Ventral Tegmental. Acknowledging these subtleties helps us to understand why dopamine isn’t always beneficial for us.
The Substantia Nigra drives actions such as movement and speech. When the cells die in this region, we start to see the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, including tremors and difficulties with motor function. In short, these are critical processes that require healthy functioning of the neurotransmitter.
Conversely, dopamine produced in the Ventral Tegmental region doesn’t directly help us move but instead secretes in expectation or receipt of a reward. What this means is that we begin to feel pleasurable sensations, not just when we receive something, but in anticipation of receiving it, e.g., thinking about eating our favorite dessert. This appears to be the basis behind my addiction to notifications.
The reason behind my semi-detailed introduction is to educate you on the real dangers of what we are facing. I started this piece with my genuine concern for what I deemed an irrational behavior. My research has opened my eyes to the severity of the situation — it’s not necessarily my failure as a human, but rather being exposed to a drug-like and addictive chemical daily.
Robert Sapolsky of Stanford University has studied the subject extensively. There are two main findings from his work that I believe are integral to our understanding of this challenge.
First, dopamine is about the anticipation of pleasure, not just the reward — you don’t have to have the result to get the euphoria. Second, levels of this hormone spike tremendously when there is an uncertainty of reward, mainly when the probability is at 50%. Unpredictable reward is a subject that deserves a dedicated post, but we need not look further than the gambling industry and slot machines to recognize their power over humans.
Both these points are critical when examining the addictive nature of notifications. What these findings tell us is that it doesn’t matter if I have a notification or not — I am getting my pleasurable release of chemicals from the anticipation of finding out. Furthermore, I don’t know if I will have them for sure — it’s likely, but the uncertainty boosts my dopamine levels and compels me to pick up my phone and find out. Companies know this and utilize it — the Instagram algorithm can even delay notifications so that you receive them unpredictably in a larger batch. They create an addictive swing from a negative to a positive feedback loop. The result? Your nasty habit of checking your phone every 30 seconds.
We’re not done yet either. In humans we can summarise the dopamine feedback loop simply:
Do Work → Anticipation → Receive Reward → Repeat
Dopamine is highest in the anticipation stage and continues with the reward. We are motivated to repeat the process because of how it made us feel.
But what’s incredibly dangerous here is that first step “Do Work.” In most areas of life, doing the work has a cost; for example, physical exercise requires energy and spending hours researching takes time, focus, etc. Notifications remove the cost of this doing work — the effort needed to check your phone is minimal. This reduces our resistance in engaging with the loop and makes it incredibly hard to escape. If checking your phone is so easy and rewards your brain with pleasurable chemicals, why would you stop?
I could write forever on this topic but let’s keep this focused. The research is clear — dopamine can create drug-like addictive behavior, and notifications offer an enticing loop of pleasure that can manipulate us into habitual and unconscious attachment to our devices.
We all need to take responsibility for our actions and take control of our behaviors. The question becomes — What can I do?
Although I don’t have all the answers, I am confident we can all start with a few basic strategies.
It’s not easy, but it’s going to be worth it. If you find yourself looking in the mirror as I did, wondering how it came to this, then try the strategies above. It’s never too late to make a change, and I refuse to be ruled by unproductive addictions any longer.
My Name Is Manj, And I’m Addicted To Notifications
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