The Tech Addiction

Written by Christina Young and Edited by Rasheed Majzoub

While the recent Irvine power outage that lasted upwards of 30 hours may have served as a good reminder to appreciate the electricity that we use every day, it has also highlighted how dependent we have become on the technology it powers [1]. Just in the few small housing communities at the University of California, Irvine, students’ reliance on technology became transparent as showcased through their incessant questions regarding when the power would be back on and where they can charge their phones. When told that there was no estimated time, these students turned their attention to observing the colors of the sky, looking at the layout of the community, and took in the sights of things they should be seeing every day. For some, walking around with no cell phone out is nothing new, but for others, this can be more of a challenge. With the growing fascination of games and social media over the things around us, it seems that technology, particularly cell phones, computers, and tablets, is becoming more of an addiction than the simple entertainment it was meant to be.

Although most people think of addiction in terms of drug use and alcoholism, in reality, addiction is about the usage and repetitive behaviors associated with a task. Many addictive behaviors such as alcoholism, drug use, and phone addiction stem from these behaviors having previously rewarded us with satisfaction, but having slowly started to lose their appeal. Despite this, we continue to act on these behaviors to the point of detrimental health effects [2]. In relation to phones and technologies, the rewards of connecting to friends remotely and receiving good news in games is waning in itself. When we first start using social media, making one new friend is exciting, but after awhile, just one will not do, and we need hundreds, even millions, of followers to get that same sense of thrill. Amongst the stress and anxiety of necessitating these social milestones is a cohort of other health issues including a disruption of sleep patterns, eye strain, increased irritability, and hand and wrist pains—all of which can devolve into long-term medical issues such as Alzheimer’s and joint pain [2, 3]. What is even worse is the withdrawal type symptoms that occur when these devices are taken away, prompting depressed feelings as well as obsession, focal points of psychological dependency on these technological connections.

As society develops, signs of this dependency are becoming more evident. As of a 2017 study of phone usage in university students in Taiwan, 27.8% of them self-reported excessive usage and cell phone dependency [3]. The number is only increasing since newer generations of people are being introduced to the technology and social media engagements at younger ages, and are having more difficulties disengaging from these devices [4]. It has come to a point that some drastic initiatives are being taken to reduce young people’s cell phone usage. For instance, as of the 2019-2020 academic year, San Mateo High School in San Mateo, CA, has implemented a ban on cell phones in the classroom. Although students can keep their devices on them, they are inaccessible unless specifically unlocked from specially designed bags, of which their teachers have the key [5]. Both the school’s administration and students hope that this would improve peer-to-peer engagement and create a more welcoming environment where students have more meaningful in-person experiences. But addiction is not something that can be cured in a day, or even a year, for these students and the greater public. It is a process of learning to unplug a little more each day and to take a step back from the devices to admire the world around them, just like any other addiction.

References:

[1] Licas, Eric. “Update: More than 11,800 customers without power Saturday morning; John Wayne Airport reopens.” The Orange County Register, 2 August 2019. https://www.ocregister.com/2020/02/02/outage-cuts-power-to-john-wayne-airport-and-20000-sce-customers/

[2] Roberts, J.A., Yaya, L.H.P., Manolis, C. (2014). The invisible addiction: Cell-phone activities and addiction among male and female college students. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. 3: 254-265. https://akademiai.com/doi/pdf/10.1556/JBA.3.2014.015

[3] Chou, H.L., Chou, C. (2019). A quantitative analysis of factors related to Taiwan teenagers’ smartphone addiction tendency using a random sample of parent-child dyads. Elsevier. 99:335-344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.05.032 

[4] Parasuraman, S., Sam, A.T., Yes, S.W.K., Chuon, B.L.C., Ren, L.Y. (2017). Smartphone addiction and increased risk of mobile phone addiction: A concurrent study. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation. 7:125-131. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5680647/

[5] Reyes, Kris. “San Mateo High School goes phone free, largest public school in the country to do it.” Abc7News, 19 August 2019. https://abc7news.com/education/san-mateo-high-largest-public-school-in-country–to-go-phone-free/5479289/