Improving Your Relationship with Technology: Your Brain Isn’t Always Your Friend

How many hours in the day are you not looking at a phone, computer, or TV? If you don’t count sleep, are you happy with your number?

Technology empowers us to do amazing things: connect with friends and family across the globe, learn about anything with a simple Google search, purchase anything we need and get it in 2 days. Along with these amazing accomplishments comes some negative consequences. 1 in 8 Americans acknowledge that they are addicted to technology. Research shows that our focus and productivity go down just by the mere sight of a mobile phone in sight. Research also shows that the quality of our sleep goes down just by looking at blue-lit screens within an hour of falling asleep.

Why is it so difficult to balance the positive impacts of technology and not give in to the negative impacts? The answer: our brains. We literally can’t help it. While technology has evolved and advanced extremely quickly over the last couple of decades, our brains have evolved at a much slower rate. A prime example is how our brain processes dopamine.

To survive the scary and unpredictable world, our ancestors built communities. In a community, we get protection, acceptance, and food. To be accepted as part of a community, our brains interpret affirmations from our community with a small hit of dopamine. Dopamine makes us feel pleasure. Humans want to keep feeling this pleasure, so they repeat the behaviors to continue releasing the dopamine. This is our brain’s way of telling us, “Good job. Keep it up!”

In today’s world, we are often born into communities. It’s no longer as life-or-death threatening as it was for our early ancestors. However, our brains continue to release dopamine when it detects social affirmations. Guess what those look like today?

A like. A favorite. A heart. A comment. A text. An email.

The more likes, favorites, and hearts we get, the more we want. Because once your body is used to a certain amount of dopamine, your body needs more to feel pleasure. It’s like caffeine or other drugs. If you’ve been drinking coffee for awhile, one cup in the morning doesn’t do the trick anymore, does it?

So with any bad habit, we try to adjust or fix our behaviors. Have you ever gone on a diet, new fitness regimen, or a detox? Did they work? Did the new behavior stick? There are key ways to overwrite our habits, and The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg does an excellent job of explaining the science behind how that works. When it comes to our relationship with the digital world, there’s a trend of “digital detoxes.” People are giving up social media for a year or opting for minimalist phones. These are great alternatives to help re-wire our brains. We need less dependency on what gives us so much pleasure. But this “pleasure” doesn’t always fulfill what we actually want.

We need to take a step back. Before giving up your phone or social media, ask yourself what you really want from these venues. Do you want to stay connected to your friends and family? Do you want to know about the latest fashion trends? Do you want to stay updated on world news? There’s no judgment here. You can utilize this amazing technology anyway you see fit. But to get what you truly want out of it, you must keep your goals in mind. Your brain isn’t going to do that for you. It’s starving for dopamine, and it’ll take whatever hit it can get.

Therefore, remember your goal. Make it a mantra. Whenever you open an email, Web browser, or turn on the TV, repeat your mantra. Don’t let your default brain behavior take over. Otherwise, it’s all of a sudden three hours later, and you’ve accomplished nothing that you’re proud of. Instead, be intentional immediately before you interact with the technology. This increases your chances of success. It’s simple, but it’s not easy.

There’s a ton more research, science, and tactical tips regarding our behaviors with technology. Stay tuned for more articles on this topic!