Carpe diem instead of losing your social mind: Beyond digital addiction and why we all suffer from digital overuse

• Main Authors: Christian Montag, Peter Walla
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2016-12-01
• Series: Cogent Psychology
• Subjects: internet addiction; smartphone addiction; primary emotional systems; well-being; affective neuroscience; productivity
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2016.1157281

It is not too late, but about time to realize how damaging IT overuse can be. The present paper discusses why it is of tremendous importance to study the effect of the Internet, smartphone, and other new digital technologies on individuals’ productivity and well-being. Besides its recognized addictive nature, it also becomes clear that such technology inevitably alters our natural social lives, which has, in our opinion, the potential to harm entire societies. In developed countries, we are more or less all using digital devices for communication purposes; we surf the Internet and we download apps on a daily basis. We present two lines of argument as to why the study of technological (over)use and its consequences is of tremendous importance. First, we outline under which circumstances use of smartphones and Internet can make us unproductive. Second, we anchor the (over)use of technologies in an affective neuroscience framework. Both these approaches to describing and understanding the consequences of digital technology use clearly show that many humans are already “overusing” technology. Therefore, we also provide some initial ideas on how to cut down technology use in order to live more satisfying and happier lives. Let us look into each other’s eyes and begin to spend more quality time with our loved ones outside in nature instead of staring at digital devices.