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Digital addiction: how technology keeps us hooked

By Dr , ; Dr , , and Dr聽,

The World Health Organisation is to include , the inability to stop gaming, into the International Classification of Diseases. By doing so, the WHO is recognising the serious and growing problem of digital addiction. The problem has also been acknowledged by Google, which recently announced that it will begin focusing on .

Although there is a growing recognition of the problem, users are still not aware of exactly how digital technology is designed to facilitate addiction. We鈥檙e part of that focuses on digital addiction and here are some of the techniques and mechanisms that digital media use to keep you hooked.

Compulsive checking

Some digital platforms use features normally associated with slot machines. Antoine Taveneaux/Wikimedia, CC BY

Digital technologies, such as social networks, online shopping, and games, use a set of persuasive and motivational techniques to keep users returning. These include 鈥渟carcity鈥� (a snap or status is only temporarily available, encouraging you to get online quickly); 鈥渟ocial proof鈥� (20,000 users retweeted an article so you should go online and read it); 鈥減ersonalisation鈥� (your news feed is designed to filter and display news based on your interest); and 鈥渞eciprocity鈥� (invite more friends to get extra points, and once your friends are part of the network it becomes much more difficult for you or them to leave).

Technology is designed to utilise the basic human need to feel a sense of belonging and connection with others. So, a fear of missing out, commonly known as FoMO, is at the heart of many features of social media design.

Groups and forums in social media promote active participation. Notifications and 鈥減resence features鈥� keep people notified of each others鈥� availability and activities in real-time so that some start to become compulsive checkers. This includes 鈥渢wo ticks鈥� on instant messaging tools, such as Whatsapp. Users can see whether their message has been delivered and read. This creates pressure on each person to respond quickly to the other.

The concepts of reward and infotainment, material which is both entertaining and informative, are also crucial for 鈥渁ddictive鈥� designs. In social networks, it is said that 鈥渘o news is not good news鈥�. So, their design strives always to provide content and prevent disappointment. The seconds of anticipation for the 鈥減ull to refresh鈥� mechanism on smartphone apps, such as Twitter, is similar to pulling the lever of a slot machine and waiting for the win.

Most of the features mentioned above have roots in our non-tech world. Social networking sites have not created any new or fundamentally different styles of interaction between humans. Instead they have vastly amplified the speed and ease with which these interactions can occur, taking them to a higher speed, and scale.

Addiction and awareness

People using digital media do . These include salience, conflict, and mood modification when they check their online profiles regularly. Often people feel the need to engage with digital devices even if it is inappropriate or dangerous for them to do so. If disconnected or unable to interact as desired, they become preoccupied with missing opportunities to engage with their online social networks.

According to the UK鈥檚 communications regulator Ofcom, 15m UK internet users (around 34% of all internet users) have tried a . After being offline, 33% of participants reported feeling an increase in productivity, 27% felt a sense of liberation, and 25% enjoyed life more. But the report also highlighted that 16% of participants experienced the fear of missing out, 15% felt lost and 14% 鈥渃ut-off鈥�. These figures suggest that people want to spend less time online, but they may need help to do so.

Gaming disorder is to be recognised by the WHO.

At the moment, tools that enable people to be in control of their online experience, presence and online interaction remain very primitive. There seem to be unwritten expectations for users to adhere to social norms of cyberspace once they accept participation.

But unlike other mediums for addiction, such as alcohol, in making its usage more informed and conscious. It is possible to detect whether someone is using a phone or social network in an anxious, uncontrolled manner. Similar to online gambling, users should have available help if they wish. This could be a self-exclusion and lock-out scheme. Users can allow software to alert them when their usage pattern indicates risk.

The borderline between software which is legitimately immersive and software which can be seen as 鈥渆xploitation-ware鈥� remains an open question. Transparency of digital persuasion design and education about critical digital literacy could be potential solutions.

, Associate Professor in Computing and Informatics, ; , Senior Lecturer in Psychology, , and , Principal Academic in Psychology,

This article was originally published on . Read the .