Digital addiction is a broad term for unhealthy behaviors related to spending too much time on the internet, in particular when a person cannot stop these behaviors despite experiencing negative consequences. The addiction can take many forms and is becoming more common.<\/p>\n
The basics<\/p>\n Digital addiction can come in many forms, including excessive interaction with social media, internet gaming, online gambling, online shopping and online pornography. As with gambling and pornography, the internet can amplify addictions by increasing accessibility. Some people can be especially vulnerable to falling into digital addiction, like \u201cthose with high levels of internet use for socialization, education and entertainment,\u201d said Psychiatry.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Those who struggle with digital addiction may \u201ccompulsively\u201d feel the urge to check notifications or need to \u201cspend increasing amounts of time online to achieve satisfaction,\u201d said Northwestern Medicine<\/a>. They may also tend to lose track of time while on the internet and feel \u201crestless, moody, depressed or irritable\u201d when attempting to cut back on phone or internet usage.<\/p>\n The Week<\/p>\n Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nSUBSCRIBE & SAVE\n<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters<\/p>\n From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n Addictive by design<\/p>\n It is not surprising that the internet<\/a> has become so addictive. After all, it was designed that way. Many social media apps, for example, use what is called the Hook Model to keep users on their apps. In this model, the app will first trigger a person to interact, like with a notification. This, in turn, will prompt someone to enter the app. Then, the app will use a variable reward system to prompt a user to remain there. \u201cEven if users open a social media app because of a notification, they\u2019ll likely engage with other parts of the app as they seek additional rewards\u201d like endless scrolling content, said ADDitude<\/a>. In a volatile circle, the users will like, save and share content that will give the app\u2019s algorithm knowledge about what keeps them hooked.<\/p>\n Another way websites and apps keep people hooked is through gamification, which turns internet interactions into a game. Social media is not the only area of the internet using gamifying techniques. Online shopping also employs the method. The way the shopping app Temu prices and promotes products is \u201cdeliberate,\u201d with the company \u201cpushing the exact consumer psychology buttons necessary to keep shoppers shopping,\u201d said the BBC<\/a>. \u201cCustomers are encouraged to keep shopping with the introduction of bonuses and coupons that mimic the rewards you might accumulate in a video game.\u201d<\/p>\n Population problem<\/p>\n While some populations use the internet more than others, digital addiction is \u201cnot limited to a specific demographic group, and it is increasing across diverse populations,\u201d said Psychiatry.org. More than 50% of Americans believe they are addicted to their phones, and up to 60% of teens show signs of cell phone addiction, according to research from 2024<\/a>. In addition, at least 10% of American social media users are addicted to it.<\/p>\n Teens and young adults are some of the groups most addicted to the internet, but there has also been a stark rise in addiction for baby boomers. A recent report found that approximately 50% of the mostly baby boomer polled sample \u201creported spending more than three hours daily on their smartphones\u201d and \u201croughly 20% spent more than five hours per day,\u201d said Newsweek<\/a>. This suggests that a \u201cnotable portion of the Baby Boomer generation exhibits patterns associated with digital addiction,\u201d the report<\/a> said.<\/p>\n The consequences <\/p>\n Digital addiction can significantly affect a person\u2019s mental health. Excessive internet use can lead to anxiety and depression, exacerbated by the isolating nature of the addiction. It can also cause \u201cdishonesty, anxiety, aggression and mood swings,\u201d said the Addiction Center<\/a>. Digital addiction can affect physical health as well and lead to \u201cbody aches, carpal tunnel syndrome, insomnia, vision problems and weight gain\/loss.\u201d In the worst cases, it can lead to suicide.<\/p>\n Teens in particular \u201cmay frequently fall behind on schoolwork, stay up late and fight with parents,\u201d said ADDitude. Adults may neglect their jobs and other responsibilities in favor of spending time on the internet, which could lead to unemployment and even homelessness. Those with ADHD may also \u201cspend more time on digital media and have more severe symptoms of problematic internet use\u201d compared to those without the diagnosis.<\/p>\n AI and addiction<\/p>\n The rise of AI may also be worsening digital addiction and potentially leading to worse mental health problems. Chatbots like ChatGPT have led many to psychosis<\/a> by feeding delusions and offering unsound medical advice. A new subset of digital addiction, known as AI addiction, has become prevalent. Those who identify as AI addicts tend to use AI applications for extended periods \u201cdespite attempts to control or cut back,\u201d said Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous<\/a>. They also reported finding that their \u201csense of validation and emotional regulation\u201d was tied to their use of AI models.<\/p>\n Despite this, AI could in time lead to a decrease in digital addiction<\/a>. The internet is \u201calready so woven into every part of our lives that going cold turkey is pretty much impossible,\u201d said The Atlantic<\/a>. But the \u201cinternet\u2019s new era may push AI skeptics to spend less time online, while another group ramps up their AI-mediated screen time.\u201d The prevalence of AI may make people turn to the real world again, viewing it as more trustworthy. \u201cWhere going online once evoked a wide-eyed sense that the world was at our fingertips, now it requires wading into the slop like weary, hardened detectives, attempting to parse the real from the fake.\u201d<\/p>\n Preventing addiction<\/p>\n The key to keeping internet use healthy is to establish balance, boundaries and communication, according to Psychiatry.org. Families should \u201cconsider approaches ensuring children get adequate sleep, daily physical activity, time for play and reading and discovery, time with people they care about and time to focus on learning without multitasking.\u201d<\/p>\n Adults could track their screen time and try to match it to time spent off-screen. \u201cIf you have an hour online, spend an hour outside or an hour reading a book,\u201d Lisa Strohman, a clinical psychologist and author and founder of the Digital Citizen Academy, said to NBC News<\/a>. \u201cYou want to make it at least equal to the time you\u2019re spending on your phone.\u201d<\/p>\n If you find that your internet use is affecting your life or you are unable to stop, consider addiction therapy. Therapy can \u201chelp uncover the underlying issues that may be contributing to your addictive behaviors,\u201d said the Addiction Center. This is important if digital addiction is occurring alongside another mental illness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Digital addiction is a broad term for unhealthy behaviors related to spending too much time on the internet,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1638,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-183722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}