A few days ago, my brother sent me a video about phone addiction he thought I would find interesting. Since this topic has fascinated me since my senior year of high school, it did interest me and I actually watched it three times in a row to fully understand all the information contained in the video. Going into public relations, I knew I would be immersed into the world of social media and I have always looked at the positives of it.
But, there is no denying apps are meant to be addicting, and I have worked to promote the necessary awareness needed when using social media platforms. I think this video gives great insight into how exactly they do become addicting so you are aware of what you are getting yourself into when using the apps. The video was posted by Vox and is called “It’s not you. Phones are designed to be addicting” and includes an appearance by Tristan Harris, Google’s former design ethicist. Harris is the founder of Time Well Spent, a non-profit that works to raise awareness of the design of social media platforms to intentionally make them more addicting. Although I don’t understand the extent of which the organization goes, it gave good insight into what Harris was trying to accomplish in the video. The entire video gives examples of the design aspects of social media apps that make them more addicting, but also how those methods can be reversed. Harris points out three simple things a person can do on their own so their risk of addiction is lessened.
Turn off all non-human notifications
This is something I did starting the spring of my senior year after I completed a project on the positives and negatives of social media. Most people are not willing to do this because they enjoy the instant satisfaction, which is achieved
when notifications pop on their phone. Platforms simulate social interaction with the type of notifications they are using now, which is why people are more likely to click on the notifications. The unpredictability of notifications is what makes them so addicting; Harris compares it to slot machine. Since you never know what you are going to get, you want to continue to “pull the lever”, or in this case, swipe down to refresh your page. By turning off notifications, the instant satisfaction factor is taken away and can lower the level of stress about it. According to research, receiving notifications in large bundles is the most productive way to do it, but since that is not the case with social media today, we have to do it ourselves. Taking the control from the social media companies is the key to decreasing our addiction as a society, we just have to know how to do it.
Grayscale your screen
Although this is a less realistic option for most people, it is something I have never thought about when it comes to decreasing addiction. Thinking about it more, color is the key part to any design,
whether it is a website, logo or app. The color of notifications is also crucial to grabbing a user’s attention. Specifically, the human eye is attracted to red the most, which is why notification bubbles on your phone are red. It grabs your attention so you are more likely to click on the app, but gray scaling reverses the distraction of color. By making sure every app on your phone has the same color, it makes it harder to distinguish which ones are more important. To relate it back to the slot machine analogy, slot machines use the same methods to distract players so they are more likely to continue to use the machines. Now, am I going to grayscale my phone? No, I enjoy seeing color on my phone, but once again, it adds to the awareness I am gaining in order to take back control.
Restrict your home screen to everyday tools
Once again, this is not something I have thought about doing in order to decrease addiction, but it is a simple thing that can be done on anyone’s phone. When you first open your phone, you are less likely to click on social media apps
if they are not the first apps you see on the screen. You don’t see the red bubble, and if you did turn off your notifications, you aren’t as tempted to check and see if you have missed something. Apps need to be taken off the first page if they have infinite scrolling, where you could be sucked into the endless amount of content on the app. Most social media apps are created so there is no designated endpoint to them, which is a sneaky way to keep you on the app. You feel obligated to stay on because they continue to feed you with content, which is the root of the addiction problem. By taking those apps away in your direct eyesight, you are less likely to fall into their trap. Phones were created to be helpful, so putting the apps that are going to assist you in everyday life are priority.
After watching this video, I gain a whole new perspective on how much I use my phone. Now, let's make one thing clear: I still checked my phone at least eight times while writing this blog.
But, it does make me aware of the time I do spend on my phone and if I think about it enough, hopefully I can get out of the bad habit. I am not saying doing all these things will make you use your phone an exponential amount less, but it is a start. As I have said many times before, social media can be a good thing, but if people do not understand control, addiction comes into play. Instead of letting the platforms control us, we have to take control of how much we use social media apps so we can take back control of our lives.
If you are interested in watching the video, because I did not include everything he said, I will attach the link here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUMa0QkPzns
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