Friday evening - the long-awaited weekend is finally here. You and your partner are sitting relaxed on the sofa in your shared old apartment. A glass of wine in one hand, a bag of chips in the other. Amy Winehouse is playing in the background. The living room idyll could look so beautiful, but instead of looking at each other and chatting about your week, you are both looking at your smartphones. Just a quick look at the latest Instagram story, a quick check of WhatsApp. You are not just having one conversation, but actually six parallel conversations.
Cell phones have become an indispensable part of our everyday lives. They have honestly become something that feels like an extension of our hand. In a recent study by Psychology Today, 94 percent of participants said they felt anxious when they didn't have their cell phone with them, 80 percent were jealous when someone else held their smartphone, and 70 percent felt depressed, panicked, and helpless when their cell phone was lost or stolen. The whole thing now even has a technical term and is called nomophobia (no-mobile-phone-phobia) - it describes the fear that something could happen to the cell phone, making you unreachable, and goes hand in hand with cell phone addiction.
While the study results described here are unlikely to surprise you, they would have shocked someone eight years ago. Since 2012, when there were around 30 million smartphone users in Canada, this number has more than doubled by 2019, according to Statista.
Let's put it another way: In just eight years, a single technological device has gone from being a barely used object to something that profoundly influences our habits, social behavior, and actually our entire lives.
So how did we get from point A to point B?
Spoiler alert: Much of this has its roots in evolutionary theory and psychology.
One after the other
The sudden increase in smartphone usage didn't happen overnight, but gradually. It all starts with a small molecule called dopamine, which is found in our brains.
Here's what happened: When you first got your smartphone, you probably did a few things that made you feel good - like reconnecting with a childhood friend, reading a nice text message from an acquaintance, or simply seeing a notification pop up. All of these activities caused the release of dopamine in your brain.
What is dopamine again? Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good. Our brains are designed to release dopamine when we do things that contribute to our survival - like eating or having sex. Numerous studies have shown that cell phone activity causes dopamine to be released in the brain, making us feel motivated and happy.
In the first few months of using your smartphone, you probably did a few mundane things with it that didn't evoke any warm or exciting feelings inside you, like mindlessly scrolling through Oddly Satisfying videos on Instagram or stalking strangers on Facebook.
However, every time you did something that caused dopamine to be released, your brain started to recognize a pattern. Soon enough, it started to associate "cell phone" with "dopamine." And since your brain naturally craves a readily available dose of dopamine, it started to crave your cell phone.
And suddenly a habit forms
When you repeatedly perform a certain behavior that triggers a specific reward, this pattern becomes ingrained in your brain cells. And soon after, your brain begins to crave the reward on a regular basis.
And the thing about dopamine is that it breaks down incredibly quickly in the brain, leaving you constantly craving more. So once the effect of the dopamine wears off, your brain will do everything it can to get the feeling back - as quickly as possible.
What's a simple and tangible way to trigger the flood of dopamine? Check your phone. So that's exactly what your brain is telling your body to do.
The thing is, not every text message, Facebook post, or Instagram photo will provide you with the product your brain is consuming. However, we are wired to work hard for the dopamine rewards, so we continue to sift through the mediocre data flood.
Sometimes we even contribute to our own reward system.
Have you ever caught yourself posting something on social media just to cheer yourself up? Or sending a few text messages to friends just to feel socially connected? Don't worry - you're not alone. It happens to the best of us - and it's in our neural pathways.
What’s inside a cell phone?
But why does this happen with cell phones and not any other device? What is it about smartphones that gives us such a dopamine rush?
Take tablets, for example. They are slim, digital, fairly portable - basically just like cell phones. The difference between a smartphone and a tablet is that we tend to use the tablet more for personal, passive activities, such as video screening or reading (online) books. These activities, according to Psychology Today, lead to a completely different neurological response than that elicited by smartphones.
Our phones serve the following function: They serve as a portal to connect with the social world. We spend most of our time on our phones texting, scrolling through social media, and chatting with friends.
So what does this have to do with dopamine? It turns out that all the notifications we get on our phones - from social media, news, app notifications and more - activate dopamine in our brains. In fact, the most addictive smartphone features have one thing in common: they tap into the desire for social connection, according to a report by Dr. Veissière and Professor Stendel published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Humans are 'social animals'
Like the release of dopamine, our need for social connection is hardwired into our brains. Humans have a desire to form and maintain deep relationships. These relationships are as fundamental to our mental well-being as hunger and thirst are to our physical satisfaction.
Why? Here, too, the origin lies in evolution. As humans evolved, their survival depended on one another despite harsh environmental conditions. Those with stronger bonds to others had a higher chance of survival because they could count on the support of several people.
The desire to monitor others, in particular, is deeply rooted in our evolutionary past. As humans evolved, they needed constant input from others to determine culturally appropriate behaviors. This is how they gained a sense of purpose, identity, and set long-term goals. It's not surprising, then, that social media—and especially posting photos there—has become so popular.
All in all, it appears that smartphones provide us with a platform to fulfill the innate need to form social relationships with others, which, according to Dr. Veissière, is a “fundamental feature of human evolution that predates the smartphone by hundreds of thousands of years.”
Why can't we stop checking our phones? They fulfill one of our basic needs in a quick and easy way: social connection.
And truth be told, this effect is only made worse by tech companies. Some of these companies hire psychologists, neuroscientists, and social scientists to help them develop addictive products that keep the dopamine release going. There's even a startup called Dopamine Labs that uses neuroscience to make tech companies' products extra 'irresistible.'
The silver lining on the horizon
Okay, this may all sound a bit scary, but it actually has a calming side too.
The psychology behind our motives can be a first step toward breaking harmful habits.
But wait, is cell phone use really only harmful?
Since our cell phone use is rooted in our evolutionary needs, theoretically we must benefit from it somehow.
Dr. Keith Hampton of Michigan State University points out that smartphones allow us to stay in touch with friends, even after moving from school to college, or moving to another city (or even another country!). Because of this, we move in larger networks with more people we can confide in, travel with, or learn from: "You gain a diverse social network," he rightly points out.
But it's also worth mentioning that our phones can get in the way of some of our most important relationships. According to a study by James Robers and Meredith David, "phubbing" - when you ignore someone you're spending time with to focus on your phone instead - reduces satisfaction in a relationship.
Not only that, another series of studies has shown that having a cell phone with you during a deeper conversation (say, it's on the table in plain sight during dinner) disrupts the feeling of connection with the person you're talking to. And usually it's these personal, meaningful conversations that really bring us closer together.
In one of these studies, Professor Misra found that "when one of the two participants put the phone on the table or held it in their hand, the shared conversation was rated as less fulfilling." She also found that participants who took out their phone in the middle of a conversation felt less empathy for the other person.
In addition, a meta-study from King's College London found that 23 percent of adolescent subjects exhibited problematic smartphone usage (PSU), which was associated with an increased likelihood of depression, stress and poor sleep quality.
So, are we in a pickle?
No, we don't. While this article may feel like a storm cloud hanging over your head, there are relatively many silver linings. First, let's be clear that smartphone use does not produce the same neurological response as chronic addiction. There are typically no withdrawal symptoms associated with cell phone use—it's more of a habit that can be broken through digital detox.
This means we can still stay connected with our friends through mobile while still having a healthy relationship with the smartphone.
How exactly? A first step would be to download an app that tracks your phone usage, such as StayFree (Android) or Moment: Cut Screen Time (iOS), and start paying attention to how often you check your phone each day. You might be surprised. You might also want to take this quiz to see if and how addicted you really are to your phone.
And if you then start a self-experiment with digital detox, plan some time without your cell phone and also reduce the number of times you look at your smartphone to 10 to 20 times a day, you may be surprised by the effects this has on your mental health.