or Facebook account, or circling down the rabbit hole on Reddit, or caught in an endless YouTube playlist or Netflix binge.
The first step in recognizing your Internet use is to become conscious of how much content you’re consuming, and to become aware of exactly how much time you have unknowingly surrendered to your device. This is perhaps easier said than done, in that most of the time on your device may be spent without a thought, with little awareness that you have begun a slow descent into the electronic sinkhole of the Internet.
The following sections briefly cover addictive platforms and technologies. Part 2 is devoted to these topics.
Social media
What exactly is social media? I explain in Chapter 5 that social media is a broad category of applications and websites that are structured around the idea of connecting people, organizations, or businesses around themes, content, or interest areas. Although there are several well-known social media sites, the definition of social media has also expanded to include newer apps and websites that attract users’ time and attention. Some examples of social media sites are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, Snapchat, Vine, Twitter, and YouTube, and even travel sites like Waze and Yelp have a social media component; undoubtedly, countless social applications are integrated into other apps and websites, as businesses have found that social sells.
Some social sites are integrated around news and communication, others focus on video and text, and still others are simply about photos and user life updates, posts, and sharing. Some integrate all of these features. Most are without fees to the user; however, none are free. Most accept advertising, and many sell your user data to others for a variety of purposes.
Streaming audio and video
Consuming audio and video content (including music, podcasts, and audiobooks) has become commonplace; in fact, most of what you consume in terms of music, TV, movies, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, podcasts, YouTube, Kindle, and so on is essentially in streaming format. Even software is streamed or downloaded, and your data is increasingly held in the cloud (on a company’s server) instead of on your devices. Streaming means that information and content is pushed to your device in real time, and you watch, read, or listen to it as it is streamed. Sometimes you can download it onto your device and store it for later use.
Video games
Video gaming is perhaps the most common reason why people seek treatment in our clinic and residential treatment center. Of all the content areas that are consumed on the Internet, video gaming is perhaps the most problematic that we see in terms of negative life consequences. That doesn’t mean that video gaming is bad or inherently dangerous; in fact, most people who use video games have no significant problem with them and are able to use games with little or no negative life impact. In other words, they can use them in a moderated manner. However, there is a small percentage of users (studies suggest between 1 and 10 percent) who cannot self-regulate their use and who spend inordinate amounts of time on gaming platforms, including handheld devices, consoles, and PC-based systems. Most of the patients we treat seem to be having problems with PC-based or console games.
Video games incorporate some very attractive factors that contribute to their addictive potential:
They provide stimulating content that is novel, interactive, and dynamic. Games are always evolving, through updates and modifications, to keep the novelty and challenge factor high.
When playing a video game, you can experience a level of growing mastery that often creates a sense of accomplishment; you might develop greater efficacy in your skills and a higher ranking in comparison to other users.
The game provides a sophisticated variable ratio reinforcement and reward structure (the maybe factor), and this structure is modified and changed to maintain user interest and to maximize the dopamine/pleasure response.
All forms of Internet communication facilitate some degree of social connection and group interaction, albeit in a two-dimensional online format, but many video game users find the social component of video gaming to be quite compelling. Many times, gamers are communicating verbally (on a headset) via apps such as Discord or others, and the conversations may not only be about the game being played. Flip to Chapter 7 for more about video games.
Online gambling
Although online gambling is technically illegal in the United States, many sites can be accessed offshore and also found on the dark web (covered later in this chapter). The problem with gambling is that it is potentially quite addictive to begin with, but when you combine this stimulating form of content with an online interface, it becomes even more appealing. Online, there are no thresholds to cross and no one to look in the eye; all you have is unfettered, easily accessible content that is both fun and highly addictive. Online gambling removes the last vestiges of human interaction from the equation in that it’s an easy pick-and-click activity with no personal interaction. See Chapter 8 for more information.
Online shopping
Shopping can certainly be addictive, and it can elevate your dopamine levels in the same way that many substances and behaviors do. However, what could possibly be bad about the amazing convenience of shopping online? I do it several times a week and it certainly makes my life much easier.
But the dark side to this convenience is that you’re divorced from the impact of your shopping by the ease of being able to search and click and then receive the item within a day or two. Amazon has this down to a science, and they know that the average consumer will almost always purchase more than they ordinarily would because of that ease of access and convenience — and by the fact that they bombard you with reminders and images of what you looked at and what you might need or should buy, you’re pushed to click some more. This consumer science has the effect of making you less conscious of your purchases, at least until the bill comes. Rarely a month goes by that I am not surprised by how much I have spent at Amazon. Sometimes online shopping can just be a little too easy. Chapter 8 has more details about online shopping.
Online investing
Stock trading and online investing are a perfect match for the Internet. Just like shopping (see the previous