Tech Addiction as Business Models

By Jocelyn Pena

Everything people look at online, everything we search for and like, shows up in ads later. This is on purpose. Nothing online is separate – it is all part of a system, mostly funded by advertising.

Are screen time amounts rising? That is what software and entertainment media companies wanted from the engineers who designed your phone. (frontiersin.org) The more someone spends on a website, the more money they make for the people who bring them content. Our technology is designed to make money and disregard the harm it may cause for users.(bbc.com)

Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram are known for being completely free to use for the average consumer. “There’s a saying that goes: if you’re not paying for a product, then you are the product.”(vulcanpost.com)

Advertisers are the ones who pay for the services, such as Facebook and Instagram, and it is the consumers’ attention that the sites are selling. Hence, it is in the interest of social media sites to keep consumers on the pages for as long as possible.”(vulcanpost.com)

Social Media Companies Addict Users For Money

Behind every screen on a phone, there are thousands of engineers working on it to try to make it as addicting as possible. Many designers were driven to create addictive app features by the business models of the companies that employed them. This was because to get the next round of funding, to get your stock price up, the time that users spend on their app had to go up. In other words, they needed to get more people on their apps for more money. For example, to get this money in 2006 a technology engineer designed infinite scroll. That infinite scroll allows users to continuously swipe endlessly throughout content without clicking. The infinite scroll kept users looking at their phones for a lot longer than necessary.(bbc.com)

Technology Addiction Symptoms

Technology addiction symptoms can be very bad. “Technology addiction is an impulse control disorder that involves the obsessive use of devices, despite negative consequences to the user. Technology addiction symptoms are similar to another behavioral addiction, gambling. It is rare when these symptoms are broken and when they are, it is only for a brief amount of time. But it is a longer amount of time when the symptoms are stronger.”(ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Warning Signs Of Tech Addiction Include:

Excessive use - The technology may be used as an escape to avoid unpleasant life situations or to get rid of boredom.

Negative repercussions - The addictive behavior continues despite consequences including arguments, fatigue, problems at school/work, lying, lack of achievement, etc.

Withdrawal symptoms- The addict may experience feelings of restlessness, moodiness, depression, or other negative feelings when attempting to limit their use of the technology.(techtarget.com)

Technology Companies Respond with More Technology

Technology companies have responded to criticism surrounding excessive technology use by offering control features to limit use. For example, Apple created the screen time feature that monitors phone use and allows users to place sometime restriction. Later the company was requested to create a committee to understand how technology affects children and teenagers, and to offer appropriate parental controls. These things show that people do know and understand social media addiction and effects and are trying to help but are doing little about it. As said above, although these control features are a positive step, they are far from a solution.(sustainalytics.com)

Screen time features keep track and help manage time.

Parental controls help parents keep their children in the right area's of the internet.