Unplug & Unwind: Part 1 -How Our Tech Impacts Our Mental Health
Tips, Tricks, and Research to Better Understand Phone Design, Digital Marketing, & Well-Being.
Did you know?
The average American spends over four hours a day on their device, totaling over 56 full days a year.
Americans check their phones 47 times per day on average.
80% of Americans check their phones within a half hour of waking up.
Americans ages 18 to 24 pick up their phone on an average of 82 times per day.
While these numbers are intimidating, it can be hard to contextualize them. In his incredible TED Talk, psychologist Adam Atler shares this telling (and scary) graphic about the amount of time we use on our phones. See that red part?
That’s the part of the day we spend on screens. Over time, it’s growing bigger and bigger. And see that white part? That is our personal time. That teeny tiny sliver, that’s all that’s left for us to do the activities that make us feel like ourselves. Reading, playing with your dog, hanging out with friends- we’re leaving little time to enjoy those activities and spending more of our free time on our phones. But why?
Have you ever set down your phone and thought “woah, I’ve been on instagram for a half hour??” Ok, maybe instagram isn’t your vice but no matter what it is, app developers actually have a name for this: flow. Natasha Schüll, a professor at MIT, explains, “Flow is when time speeds up or slows down in such a way that hours feel like minutes and the mind reaches a state of almost euphoric equilibrium.” App developers are actually striving to make this happen. They want you to stay on the app as long as possible and flow is how they keep you there. A prime example? Dating apps.
Before we explain the apps- we need a quick psych recap. Skinner was a researcher that discovered that blending tension, expectation, and release together creates a reward in our brain. This “reward” is a dopamine rush which influences how we feel pleasure. Yet if the reward is too easy or too difficult to achieve, the seeker will not repeatedly come back.
Think about the slot machine. You pull the lever, you wait full of tension and expectation about your results, and then all of this pent up excitement is released when you get your results. For most people, the results don’t really change the way they feel. What they enjoy is that rush.
Dating apps are our modern slot machines. You swipe, and swipe, and swipe until BOOM you’ve matched with someone. You might stop, check out your reward, and start a conversation. But most likely, right afterwards you’ll go back to swiping.
If the app takes too long to match you with anyone, you’ll probably delete it and go do something else. If it calls everyone a match, you’ll also probably delete it and walk away. So, developers use what we know about psychology to perfectly place those matches to keep you hungry for more.
On the bright side, learning about these tactics developers use is the first step to being able to control them. In Unplug & Unwind: Part 2, we have tips, tricks, and resources for those interested in spending less time on their screen.
So, what do we do about all this? Check out Unplug & Unwind Part 2: How to Take Control of Our Screen Time to set yourself up for a happier & healthier relationship with your devices.
