There is a prediction (somewhat catastrophic) that, as time passes, almost everyone will be a little hunchbacked. This will happen because we are addicted to looking at the screen. cell phone, forcing our spine into a posture that is not natural to our body.
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This “prediction” became a meme on social media and several people made montages and jokes about the subject. But one thing is very certain: we are, in fact, addicted to our devices.
After all, we spend most of the day glued to it, whether solving work problems, playing games or scrolling through the infinite feed on social media.
Scientists have an explanation for this that goes well beyond a algorithm very well calculated for social networks and digital games. At least that's what an article published in the journal Neuroscience Of Consciousness says.
Why are we addicted to cell phones?
The person who signed the text is Jelle Bruineberg, a philosopher at the University of Copenhagen. According to the researcher, it is a mix of two things: the algorithm and our innate desire for new things.
“When we feel that urge to check our email or check the latest Facebook notifications, it's not because we're being bombarded with information. Many times, we are not even interacting with our cell phone when the need arises”, he highlights. “But the action of checking our phone gives us easy access to a very satisfying reward: new information. This desire is, according to cognitive neuroscience, a basic aspect of the way our minds work.”
According to the philosopher, it is even possible to develop this same “addiction” to analogue objects, but it is more difficult. He gives the example of a library. “It wouldn’t make sense to get back into the habit of checking out a specific book,” he explains. “Furthermore, the information in a book is static, it does not change suddenly in the same way as information in the digital world”, he adds.
Furthermore, he points out that, throughout history, other sources of attention have already captured brains of human beings, such as some meditative and contemplative practices of some communities religious.
For him, the cell phones, in fact, they created a more widespread way to get distracted. “The idea I present is that there is a profound disconnect between the way our minds work and the structure of modern digital technologies. But it’s not about us being inundated with a bunch of information,” he says.
Graduated in Social Communication from the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.
