Over the weekend I was at a housewarming with a few friends.
At one point in the evening, two of us were called out for incessantly being on
our phones. I hadn't realized how much time I spent on it over the course of
the evening and mused that it isn’t Apple’s fault my iPhone battery dies so
quickly when it was brought to my attention. In an effort to unplug and be
present with our friends, we tossed our phones in the corner of the room. Being
ten feet away from my phone felt uncomfortable, and I didn’t even last an hour
before picking it up again.
The physiological stress reaction in response to not being
able to check a cell phone is something that affects many smartphone users.
Constant use of smartphones hinders communication and signals rudeness is
social setting, but this inability is psychologically based and can be
downright dangerous in other settings.
The dangers of texting and driving have received a great
deal of publicity and nearly everyone agrees it is hazardous. In fact, 94% of
people believe it should be illegal, but 33% of American adults do it each
month anyways. The numbers behind texting and driving speak for themselves.
Texting while driving doubles the likelihood of getting into an accident and in
2011 alone texting caused 213,000 car crashes, 387,000 injuries, and 2,331
deaths. We know the dangers and think it should be outlawed, yet we’re doing it
anyways. Why?
When standing in line or waiting at a stop light, there is a
seemingly physical urge to look at your smartphone. When your phone vibrates,
it feels as if that text message is burning a hole in your pocket, compelling
you to check it. Psychology tells us this is a conditioned stress based
response. The notifications on a smartphone induce the physiological markers of
stress and the only way to reduce that stress, urge, or anxiety is to check the
phone.
Your phone goes off, you get the urge to check it, you check
your phone, and then the urge goes away. If you think back to your introduction
to psychology class, this is an example of operant conditioning, and more
specifically, negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is the process of
increasing the likelihood a behavior will occur by removing an unpleasant
stimulus after the behavior occurs. In the example of your smartphone, you
checking your smartphone (the behavior) removes the urge or stress (the
unpleasant stimulus) so you’re more likely to continue checking it in the future.
You check your phone and bad feeling goes away so you keep checking it. It’s a
cyclical and cumulative process. This process of negative reinforcement is
largely responsible for how the compulsions of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
(OCD) are developed, maintained, and strengthened. In many ways, attached
smartphone users are similar to individuals with OCD.
As this pattern of negative reinforcement repeats, the
responses are strengthened and become automatic. Like me at the party, many
people respond to their phone without thinking or even realizing they are doing
so. In other words, using your smartphone becomes an automatic process.
Automatic processing is the result of our brains creating
shortcuts for things we do frequently, so we can save cognitive resources for
more complex or important tasks. Your phone has programmed your brain to
habitually check it, and to send out an unpleasant feeling when you don’t.
Recent research has shown people whose cellphone use is driven by such
automated habits are more likely to text and drive. These cognitive processes
are the reason people text and drive when they know they shouldn’t or interact
with their phone in the presence of others despite knowing they are being rude.
Keep in mind, these phenomena do not justify such behavior, they merely explain
it.
Psychology has not been as helpful at finding quick and
simple ways to reduce phone checking compulsions as it has explaining it, but
there are some in the works. I think exploratory interventions for texting and
driving and should target the compulsory feelings that spur us to check our
phones. I would consider applying treatments typically used for OCD like
cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT). Prolonged Exposure is one of those
treatments. To use PE, the individual would be exposed to that stressful
feeling of knowing you have a text and not being able to check it for an
extended period of time. By having this feeling, not being able to check it and
then being shown that nothing bad happened from not checking it that stress
response is lessened over time.
Systematic desensitization with reciprocal inhibition may
also have merit as a treatment. That big technical name represents a treatment
that is typically used to treat phobias. Essentially, the person is walked
through a series of anxiety producing scenarios (in this case would include
thinking you have an important text message, notification, or alert) while
going through relaxation exercises. Pairing the stress inducing stimulus
(thinking you have a text) with relaxation techniques teaches the body to
automatically manage the stress of not checking a smartphone.
Using smartphones at inappropriate times can be explained by
basic psychology, so interventions to reduce it should feature psychological
methods. Shaming people, threatening them with jail time, or disabling their
phones only addresses a symptom and ignores the root cause of the behavior. Even
using behavior modification techniques, there is not a simple solution to
reducing dependence on smartphones as everyone knows how hard it is to break a
habit. Awareness is the first step to changing this behavior, especially since smartphone
use has become an automatic process for many people. If you see someone glued
to their phone at an inappropriate time, it is worth bringing it to their
attention because like me at the party, they may not even realize they are
doing it.
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