Module 13. Digital media addiction

In Module 12, we discussed how multimedia technologies can influence our memory and attention. For example, we considered the possibility that the hyperlinked structure of the Web allows us to endlessly wander through the vast and complex weave of ideas, images, sounds available on the Internet. Module 12 concluded with a quote by a researcher referenced from one of the readings, suggesting that digital games in particular (and digital media in general) might lead to younger generations craving high intensity stimuli.

Craving can be seen understood as a milder form of addiction (Kavanagh, May, & Andrade, 2012), and the idea of digital addiction has gained some traction (Ng-Lim, 2018). For instance, in October, 2018, the first case of a person being treated for Netflix addiction was reported in India, wherein the patient purportedly watched seven hours of Netflix a day for six months (Kulkarni, 2018). In 2019, Filipinos were reported to spend more time online and social media than citizens of any other country (Gonzales, 2019). If digital media is indeed addictive, the question is: why? In this module, we will look at a few theories about how human attention is engaged through stimulation and reward and how they might explain digital media addiction.

The theory of supernormal stimuli

An artificial stimulus given to a living organism is said to be supernormal when it engages attention and interest more strongly than a similar stimulus to which the organism had learned to respond in the natural world. According to this theory, humans are susceptible to supernormal stimuli because our neurophysiology hasn't evolved to keep up with the products and technologies we have created. For instance, humans are primed to be attracted to sweet food because they provide an excellent source of energy. While this strategy worked when we were hunter-gatherers and edible sources of such concentrated energy were hard to come by, our proclivity for sweet food doesn't serve us well now that we can access sugar-laden products very easily due to the massive changes in the way we produce and buy food nowadays (Bull, Gibney, Miller, & Suh, 2016). Similarly, the theory of supernormal stimuli suggests that our brains have yet to catch up with strong visual and auditory stimuli that is so pervasive in the digital media products and tools that we consume and use, making it difficult to tear ourselves away from our mobile phones and computer screens.

The theory of supernormal stimuli is but one of several that could explain how digital media captures people's attention and doesn't let go. The reading in Activity 13.2 suggests how the interaction capabilities fundamental to contemporary digital media can also lead to addictive behaviors.

Conclusion

It is unlikely that a single cognitive theory can adequately explain or predict what media technologies are doing to our minds. And you should always watch out for claims that are unsupported by evidence or that merely appeal to your sense of what is reasonable. For example, consider Video 13.1, which was embedded in Ciotti's article. The video claims that the constant interruption of our attention through digital notifications prevents memory consolidation--the formation of long-term memory:

You have this awesome, life-changing piece of information in your short-term memory, but then you hear that email ding, and boom, there it goes. The email takes its place and you never get the chance to learn anything.

It sounds like a reasonable argument, doesn't it? Except that the model for memory consolidation cited in the video (though it has been accepted wisdom for decades) may actually be completely wrong. Evidence exists which suggests that experiences are not moved from short term memory to long term memory like a passenger on an elevator; instead, there might instead be parallel processes so the experience is simultaneously copied to both short-term and long-term memory, but the experience is only really entrenched in long-term memory after some time (ScienceDaily, 2017). That is to say, the explanation provided in the video underlying how notifications supposedly prevent the consolidation of long-term memory is problematic.

Nevertheless, a general consensus appears to be developing that warns us of the capacity of the interactive and sensory features of digital multimedia to hijack our brains, sometimes to our detriment. What's interesting is that at the beginning of the digital technology revolution, when email was first invented, when the Web was still in its infancy, this didn't appear to be the case. In Unit 5, we will touch on McLuhan theory of the tetrad, which suggests how media innovations develop and what happens when they develop too far.

In this module and the previous one, we've highlighted mostly the negative effects that digital media has on the brain. And yet the fact that the brain can be hijacked through digital media is not fundamentally a bad thing. In Module 14, we will look at some examples at how digital multimedia can be used to exploit our cognitive processes and hack our brain... but for the better.