Web Surfing, Gaming, And Texting Are The New Opioids; Time To Get Over Digital Addiction

What used to be substance addiction almost twenty years ago is now transformed into gaming, gambling, online shopping, texting, tweeting, texting, and other digital activities’ addiction, writes Dr. Lembke, a psychiatrist, and professor at Stanford.

He further explains how digital devices are orchestrated to be addictive. These things make perfect sense when we analyze our activities over devices. The flashlights, attractive colors, and images on screens, sound with clicks and likes, and everything, it is not just the way it is for nothing. Everything has a relation with the mental activity of releasing dopamine. This is what we, human beings, crave.

So, digital addiction is getting more official status with every passing day. This is because professionals are now speaking up against the cause and highlighting the issue which has become very real. It gets even worst when we see smartphones in the hands of every child and teen. Are we preparing them for the worst sort of digital addiction? There has to be a balance in their lives, too.

Here, we will cover the science behind digital addiction and how is it similar to substance addiction. Moreover, it will explain how you can protect your children from becoming the victim of it using a FamilyTime iPhone parental control app.

The Science Behind Addiction

The technological revolution was meant to upgrade the lives of people. And most think it did. But looking at the mental health deterioration over the past decades, I have doubts. There are more and more patients with anxiety and depression among people who have apparently all the facilities of life.

Where does the reason lie?

Psychologists say it is too much dopamine that has altered the reward and punishment mechanism of their brains. Here is how it works. Dopamine is a chemical that the brain produces and it works as a source of pleasure and happiness. The same brain mechanism is associated with feelings of pain. In simple words, pain and pleasure work side by side.

Now digital activities, particularly video gaming produce dopamine in response to playing, and the person gets pleasure. Soon, to balance out that pleasure, the pain part activates to calm down the euphoric rush. So, it is followed by calmness and the effects vanish. At this point, the person does the same activity to have that pleasure again.

This process, when keeps on happening for hours in days, makes the brain elevate the set threshold for pleasure. Now, that activity makes the person feel normal and thus, becomes essential. Moreover, not performing that activity causes what any substance’s withdrawal will do, craving, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, preoccupation, which can lead to serious mental disorders, too.

So, this is how a person gets addicted to that digital activity just like one would get addicted to substance abuse. But, people are still using them with no care. This situation begs the question.

Are We Happy Using Them?

The answer is a very big NO. The happiness reports of the past decade are the evidence. America and other first-world states like France, Belgium, Italy, New Zealand, and Denmark, etc. are reported to be less happy in 2018 than that in 2008 as per the happiness index. Moreover, the Global Burden of Disease Study has found a drastic increase in the cases of depression in wealthy countries during the past years.

Suggestions for the Parents to Protect Their Kids from the Harms

Parents have a huge responsibility in changing the dynamics of abundant digital activities and improving the mental health of the next-to-them generations. For now, this is what they can do.

Make Your Kids Take a Leave from Dopamine Rush

This is hard because leaving or minimizing digital activities does not sound like an option. But, it is the only option. Minimize and control your kids’ involvement with their phones, tablets, or computers.

Use Android or iPhone Parental Control App

Using a parental control app for your kids is a smart and viable solution. For example, FamilyTime allows you o keep a check on all the activities of your kids on their devices. It has a plethora of features that empower you to monitor your kids without being present with them.

Check out the details of its features on the official website of FamilyTime. Or, you can download it from App Store or Play Store.