It's time for bed. You go through your nightly routine and prepare for your imminent trip into unconsciousness. Just one last thing though. You innocently open your laptop to see what's happening in the Facebook community, or even get a weather update for the next day. The next thing you know, one link has led to another, and an hour has mysteriously passed. The sleep lost from these episodes often hits you the next morning like the lethargy of a hangover. Yet upon waking, what's the first thing to take care of? Usually another update, a morning internet briefing. Not because it's necessary, but just because it makes us feel "connected" in some vague way.
The 'benefits of disconnecting' is a common refrain to hear these days. We usually classify these suggestions in the same part of our brain where we keep ideas such as 'getting a paper done a week before it's due' and 'trying to exercise more consistently this month.' This is the same place where we keep ideas that we enjoy imagining ourselves doing because each of us is the pinnacle of human evolution and virtue, goddammit. But we don't actually carry them out. Inconvenience is the ultimate arbiter of human accomplishment, or lack thereof.
I would suggest that when it comes to disconnecting, we should keep this notion in the part of our brains where content such as, " t's probably not a good idea to stick my finger in the electrical outlet" and, "I think I'll refrain from snorting that substance today" are stored. For all intents and purposes, the internet is a drug.
Like most technology, the internet is a tool. It can be used to carry out an unlimited amount of tasks efficiently, and has unquestionably changed the way society works.
The problem is that humans aren't naturally wired to handle the internet in moderation.
Our brains crave emotional engagement. This is the reason why music, movies, and art have such a powerful effect on us. Media like these have the ability to 'move the spirit,' because they provide us with an emotional experience, that can even be pleasurable if it is seemingly negative. Take horror movies for instance. Contrary to expectations, people legitimately enjoy being scared by these movies, because we know that we are really in a safe environment. Our brains apparently get a kick out of any way we can stir the emotional pot, as long as we are in the driver's seat.
The internet has a remarkably similar function. Through the safety of a screen, we are exposed to an infinite amount of triggers for 'emotion trips,' whether it be a Netflix binge or social media interaction. Studies have even pointed to the fact that we get a sick kind of pleasure, known as 'schadenfreude' from exposure to the misfortunes of others, when a constantly morbid news feed implicitly reassures us that a tragedy didn't happen to us. When this range of emotional indulgence is available at the click of a button, humans just can't get enough. The buzz of a notification is like taking a hit; you automatically get some pleasure from the mere anticipation of an engagement. Like Pavlov's dogs, we can easily become chemical slaves to our smartphones and laptops.
To be fair, maybe this expanded definition of 'drug' isn't so convincing. After all, millions of people are addicted to a daily cup of coffee. Should we be on a crusade against anything at all that has addictive properties? Here, I think it's important to make a distinction between things that are inherently addicting and those that are addictive for secondary reasons. A cup of coffee in the morning is simply a pick-me-up for the daily haul (which many people don't even drink for its taste), with no established adverse side effects.
The internet, on the other hand, is something we can become addicted to simply because it is an endless source of distraction. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt like I needed some time to adjust to reality again after staring at my smartphone screen for a while. Anything that sucks our focus away with such force surely deserves to be approached with caution.
Like any drug, quitting the internet cold turkey might be unrealistic. The best option is a steadily increasing regulation of time spent browsing and binging. The first step, though, is to realize if you happen to be a victim of internet addiction.
