Your Reward System and Quarantine
After over 9 months at home, I’ve noticed a dramatic uptick in my screen time and reduction in time spent outdoors. With all this time on Zoom calls, social media, and some of the many streaming services, I couldn’t help but wonder- what kind of effect could the increased screen time be having on a larger scale?
Before we dive into the potential effects, I want to briefly introduce some psychological terminology that can help better illustrate my point. First, let’s talk about dopamine- a neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger in your brain) that is released by your reward system when you’re feeling pleasure or expecting a reward. For example, the happiness you may feel when your favorite song starts playing can be attributed to the release of dopamine. It can also be released in anticipation of a potential reward- like when you hear the ice cream truck on a hot, sunny day.
Another important concept is classical conditioning. Basically, it can be described as “learning through association.” To illustrate this, let’s look at a famous experiment from the 1890’s by Ivan Pavlov which involved a dog, a bell, and food. Pavlov was curious about when and why dogs salivate, so he measured how much a test dog salivated in response to different scenarios. Without any stimulus, the dog would salivate when presented with food. Then, as a stimulus, Pavlov started to ring a bell before presenting the dog its food. Eventually, the dog began associating the bell with the oncoming of food, so it started to salivate in response to the bell instead. To tie things together, dopamine was released in the dog’s brain in response to the anticipated food because it associated it to the bell as a result of classical conditioning.
So, what does this have to do with you? Throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have been working or taking classes remotely which has resulted in the increased usage of video conferencing software like Zoom and Skype, social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, and streaming services like Netflix and Disney+. This increased screen time has led users to more exposure to companies who actively seek to control their attention. For instance, have you noticed yourself checking certain apps more often lately? What do you have the urge to do when you feel bored?
Facebook and Instagram are just two of many examples of platforms that deliberately engineer their apps to create a psychological dependence in the user to constantly check them for notifications or updates. For example, have you noticed that Facebook and Instagram’s notifications are bright shades of red?
In the field of color psychology, red represents urgency and excitement- quite fitting, isn’t it? Generally, dopamine is released by users in response to such notifications and keeps them coming back for more. Consequently, apps like Facebook and Instagram earn a lot of money from ad revenue (~$95 billion and ~$9 billion in 2019, respectively). Social media platforms are Pavlov, users are the dog, checking the app is the bell, and notifications are the food- and Pavlov is being paid billions.
Just as Facebook and Instagram aren’t the only platforms out there that seek to condition their users into checking them constantly, notification design isn’t the only strategy used to manipulate users’ reward systems. For example, look at Netflix’s auto-play feature, Robinhood’s game-ification of investing, and pretty much the whole design of modern dating apps. Behind the scenes of these pretty user interfaces and entertainment, these companies are plotting on how to retain and monetize your attention.
Looking at the effects that these apps and platforms can have on users’ reward systems, I think it’s fair to deduce that users’ attention spans have also been impacted; focusing on one task that doesn’t release as much dopamine can become less desirable than another activity that does. In other words, instant gratification has become more desirable than delayed gratification. Why seek dopamine from reading a long, tedious book when you can see what’s trending on TikTok? Why toil away on your homework when you can escape responsibility and binge your favorite shows on Netflix?
Now, why am I telling you all of this? Over the years, I’ve realized that life’s greatest rewards don’t arrive instantly- they take time and prolonged effort. Something as simple as notification design can rewire your reward system to seek instant gratification and reduce your attention span to the point that you may check your phone every single time you get bored while working on a task. Becoming aware of the psychology at play is essential if you want to control the influence that these apps and platforms have on you. Once you start preferring delayed gratification, you may find yourself more focused and motivated and that fixing your reward system is, ultimately, rewarding in itself.
With that being said, feel free to provide any feedback or constructive criticism in the comments below!
