Do you feel like you rely on your phone or computer too much? What does a healthy relationship with technology look like?
Since technology can be so addictive, you might be tempted to avoid it. But, for most people, this is an impractical solution. Countering technology addiction is a matter of learning how to live with it in a healthier way.
Here are Adam Alter’s three methods that will help anyone learn how to prevent technology addiction.
Harness Addictive Mechanisms for Good
Alter’s first piece of advice on how to prevent technology addiction is to use addictive mechanisms to your benefit. Alter says we’re intrinsically vulnerable to addiction. He argues that, with this in mind, tech developers can aim to create experiences that make healthy behaviors more habit-forming. This approach, called gamification, involves incorporating aspects of games into mundane activities. For example, you might let your kids earn points and rewards for doing chores.
Studies suggest that gamification is effective because humans are prone to laziness—evolutionarily speaking, the less energy we expend to achieve our goals, the better—so an experience has to also be pleasurable to motivate us to engage with it. However, gamification has limitations; for example, if you gamified most aspects of life, you’d have a lower tolerance for boring necessities.
(Shortform note: In Actionable Gamification, Yu-Kai Chou describes several gamification strategies that can motivate users to take certain actions. One involves tying an action, like recycling, to a meaningful purpose, like saving the rainforest. Another leverages skill mastery to motivate participants—for example, Duolingo’s leaderboard uses this strategy. Chou explains that different aspects of games will appeal to different users, so using several of these strategies in combination ensures that your gamified experience will capture as many users as possible.)
Address Individuals’ Addictions
Alter describes a few strategies individuals can use to mitigate or overcome their addictions to technology:
Rehabilitation: Rehab centers are beginning to offer services that specifically target technology addiction by removing addicts from triggering environments and providing them with tailored training and support. Alter says these programs are promising—early results indicate that many enrollees learn to manage their relationships with technology in a healthier way.
Harm reduction: According to Alter, harm reduction involves taking steps to minimize the negative effects of your technology use. For example, you might sign out of your work email on your phone so that you’re not tempted to check it when you’re at home or turn off social media notifications so that social media doesn’t distract you at work.
Habit replacement: Alter explains that it’s difficult to suppress your technology-centered thoughts and tendencies unless you contrive a new focus altogether. The best replacement is one that meets the same needs your addiction does (like recreation) but in a healthier way. For example, you might trade late-night scrolling for reading.
Behavioral design: Behavioral design is the act of purposefully creating an environment that influences people’s behavior in desired ways. Alter emphasizes several such approaches: One option is to separate yourself from technology (for example, by leaving your phone at home when you go for a walk). Another is to use rewards and punishments to moderate your behavior (for example, by setting limits on your technology use and paying yourself to achieve them.)
Protect the Next Generation From Addiction
Children and young people are especially vulnerable to addiction because they haven’t yet developed the adult capacity for self-control. Addiction can have worse consequences for children and adolescents, too, because it disrupts normal psychological development—Alter expresses concern that children who overuse technology may never learn appropriate social skills like empathy, for example. It’s also easier for youth to learn healthy technology behaviors from a young age than it is for them to overcome addiction as adults.
For these reasons, Alter recommends that parents inoculate the next generation against technology addiction by setting healthy boundaries around technology use. For example, parents can limit their children’s screen time and ensure that the content they see is age-appropriate and educationally valuable.
Alter also suggests that society must better meet children’s psychological needs, including their need for connection. Such societal changes would fortify children’s mental health, making them less vulnerable to addiction in the first place. If kids and teenagers don’t have satisfying real lives, they’ll turn to digital alternatives that seem more appealing.
