Out to cure social media addiction – with apps

Rebel developers try to rein in news feed, update obsession

TO UNDERSTAND why it is so hard to pry yourself free from your cellphone, Facebook and Twitter, you need to know about BF Skinner’s pigeons.

In the 1950s, Skinner began putting the birds in a box and training them to peck on a piece of plastic whenever they wanted food. Then the Harvard psychology researcher rigged the system so not every peck would yield a tasty treat.

It became random – a reward every three pecks, then five pecks, then two pecks.

The pigeons went crazy and began pecking compulsively for hours on end. Fast forward six decades. We have become the pigeons pecking at our iPhones, scrolling through news feeds, swiping left/right on Tinder for hours, the uncertainty of what we might find keeping us obsessed by design.

In the modern economy of tablets and apps, our attention has become the most valuable commodity. Tech companies have armies of behavioural researchers whose sole job is to apply principles like Skinner’s variable rewards to grab and hold our focus as often and long as possible.

But some people are starting to fight back. A small but growing number of behavioural scientists and former Silicon Valley developers have begun trying to counterprogramme those news alerts, friend requests and updates crowding our waking hours.

Increasingly, the rebel developers are using fire to fight fire – creating apps that try to put users back in control. They call their movement “digital wellness”, and recently they scored two huge victories when Google and Apple announced plans to incorporate some aspects of digital-wellness apps – like allowing users to track their screen time – into upcoming Android and iPhone operating systems.

“The system is built against us, because the more you use these products, like Facebook and Google, the more money they make,” said Nick Fitz, a behavioural researcher at Duke University in the US.

In an experiment, Fitz tracked the smartphone use of more than 200 people.

Most got between 65 and 80 notifications a day. When he eliminated their alerts, their stress levels dropped.

A haze of inattention lifted. Their concentration improved.

But cutting off the updates also caused a spike of anxiety in most of his subjects, who reported feeling ‘fears of missing out’ (Fomo in millen- nial speak). So, Fitz and a team of developers created an app to bundle those notifications and deliver them in three batches – morning, afternoon and evening. The people with the app on their cellphone reported lower stress, higher productivity and no spike in anxiety.

Fitz has slowly unplugged from Facebook and Instagram and rarely uses them these days. On his web browser, he has installed an extension app called “Mortality” so whenever he goes online, he is greeted by a countdown of the days he has left to live (based on average life expectancy).

In a 2014 survey, 46% of users said their smartphone was something “they couldn’t live without”. Such habits fuel today’s web economy. Among the legions of developers who specialise in behavioural design, one of the most famous is Nir Eyal, whose 2014 bestseller Hooked is required reading in Silicon Valley.

Eyal details the four key elements of craveable tech: the trigger (the ping from an unread message), the action (clicking to open an app), user investment ( liking or commenting on other posts) and the variable reward (the crucial hook, which Eyal traces back to Skinner’s experiments).

What’s important is web users, like the pigeons in Skinner’s boxes, do not know when they will come across their reward. As they hunt through their news feeds, their brains experience surges of dopamine. The neurochemical is associated with the feeling of anticipation and plays a large role in linking specific cues with reward.

The mental health effect of today’s constant digital grab for our attention is unclear.

Some studies have linked social media and smartphones to stress, depression in teens and poor sleep. Others have cast doubt on such findings.

But lately, amid the tech backlash over data- mining scandals and election interference, warnings have come from the very people who helped develop the web’s earliest and biggest platforms.

Facebook’s founding president, for one, admitted at an event last year, that the company had been “exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology”. Its creators, Sean Parker said, “understood this consciously, and we did it anyway”.

In response to the criticism, Facebook and other tech companies say they are trying to improve products to address such concerns.

Facebook pledged $1 million last year to research the effect of social media on the youth.

Web developer Kevin Holesh’s Moment app works like a Fitbit, tracking the number of hours users spend on their phone and specific programmes. It sends notifications after they’ve been on for an especially long stretch, suggesting a break. It also allows them to turn their usage into a game of sorts, challenging them to pick up their device less and less – until they feel like they’re back in control.

Other apps – Freedom, SelfControl, AppDetox, cold turkey and StayFocusd – help users block websites or apps they’ve had trouble quitting. – Washington Post

PICTURE: WASHINGTON POST Kevin Holesh works in the mobile home where he and his wife live full time as they travel the US. An app he created helps people pull away from constant social media use.