If you’ve ever forgotten to bring your smartphone somewhere or haven’t had access to it for some period of time, you’ve probably felt the anxiety that can follow. They are the ultimate multitool; between scrolling reels and watching videos, it’s easy to forget how useful it is to have a camera, flashlight, audio recorder, GPS, instant messaging and an actual telephone lodged into your pocket. This one little computer has so many uses that it almost feels taboo to leave the house without your phone.
When describing your cellphone, the word ‘your’ implies that this device and its contents are under your total control. The reality is that we don’t buy phones for their built-in features, there is significantly more value to be extracted from a user after a smartphone is purchased. There are overt ways of trying to get us to spend money, like apps and subscriptions, but there also are the vulnerabilities of the human mind which lead to an attention based market.
Intermittent reinforcement is a concept that was discovered in the early half of the last century due to the rise of technology. Instead of giving the brain a reward every time that an action is performed, giving a reward more unpredictably results in significantly more excitement and activity in the brain’s reward system. Casinos, scratch offs and gambling being prime examples, where the off chance of winning is what keeps a person continuing to spend their money.
Tech companies build intermittent reinforcement into their apps in order to increase retention. The reward isn’t a drug or money, it’s the satisfaction of finding the right video. Users believe that they are ‘navigating’ an algorithm, or ‘searching’ between videos to find something that actually excites them. The reality is that the recommendation algorithm is fully capable of displaying more desirable videos more often, but this would disrupt retention and time spent on the platform.
More time spent on the platform means more ads served, and more data collected about a person’s interests and behaviors to push more relevant ads more often. Teams of corporate psychologists dedicate their lives to researching the best ways to keep users on their platform. Hijacking a person’s reward system is not a side effect of the platform, it is the core functionality of these apps.
The result of our corpo-digitalism is that little moments throughout the day have been robbed of their intimacy. Constant content consumption reinforces the desire for something stimulating. By constantly remaining connected to our phones and social media platforms, we have traded the desire to explore our inner worlds to instead generate value for tech giants. Whether it be shorts, reels, reddit or TikToks, the need for stimulation in our dull moments is no longer a want, it is explicitly a need.
A notable side effect of our mental hijacking is devaluation of other forms of entertainment like reading, painting or writing. We no longer find the same amount of excitement in those activities like in continuously scrolling. When in groups, there is no longer a desire to speak with each other to fill the silence with because our phones occupy our time. When watching a movie, there’s no need to pay attention when you could be watching something more interesting. There’s no need to look into news if you can watch a one minute video instead, because surely it ‘includes all of the important details.’ Through this, nuance and meaning evaporate from our lives and are replaced by the superficial first impressions.
The irony in all of this is that we’re stuck between having unlimited access to all knowledge and watching entertaining content but we always choose the latter.
The opinions desk can be reached at opinions@ubspectrum.com
