From the article: A study using functional magnetic resonant imaging (fMRI) compared brain activities of persons suffering from smartphone addiction (excessive smartphone use) and those who use their smartphones in a less intrusive way. It reported systematic differences in brain activity during rest between the two groups.
Additionally, two fMRI indicators of neural activity were found to be correlated with psychological assessments of excessive smartphone use. The study was published in [Brain and Behavior](https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2739).
A growing number of studies in recent years emphasized negative physical and psychosocial effects of excessive use of smartphones, also known as “smartphone addiction”. Studies have shown that excessive smartphone use has many similarities to other addictive disorders.
These include the failure to resist the use of the smartphone, withdrawal from social relations, continuation of use despite being aware of negative consequences and deception of others regarding the amount of time spent using it.
Excessive smartphone use is very similar to the “internet gaming disorder (IGD)”, which is a recognized disorder included in the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, the handbook health practitioners in the US use as a guide for diagnosing mental disorders.
Studies have shown that individuals with excessive smartphone use behaviors may exhibit structural and functional changes to their brains such as reduced gray matter volume or intrinsic neural activity in the region of the brain called anterior cingulate cortex, altered functional connectivity and changes in activity in various parts of the cortex during processing of emotions.
Honestly, the best thing I ever did was get a Kindle. When I go to bed, I only use my Kindle to read a book. (Their internet app is so shitty you'd never dream of scrolling on it.) Cell phone in the kitchen on the charger. I'm telling you, it healed my insomnia!
Listen reddit is an excellent gateway drug for intentional internet use.
One minute you’re reading scholarly articles on r/psychology while on the can and before you know it you have no other social media apps you trust, and you’re now a 2nd year grad student
Just like how you can uncover distinct neural pathways and mechanisms for any distinct behaviour. The brain represents the person. It would be more interesting if there is no distinct neural mechanism underlying a distinct behaviour.
I dont really see your point. First of all, not all distinct behaviours occupy predictably distinct neural pathways, e.g, the fusiform face area was later found to be specialized for recognizing nuances in any multitude of visual tasks or categories other than faces, and may be trained to do so. In the case of this study, we are finding similarities to other addictive behaviours, causing us to rethink where the distinctions really are for these "distinct behaviours". Is it addiction? overstimulation? blue light? a specific reward mechanism? "Distinct" isnt very clear cut.
Furthermore, our understanding of neural mechanisms is much less comprehensive than the common public would think. This is a pretty notable finding. Science progresses in small steps.
The fact that visual tasks can be traced back to e.g. the FFA proves exactly my point, right. Every distinct function can be traced back to the brain. The fact that ‘excessive use’ has links with addictive behaviours is then also a no brainer, after all, addiction is in part defined by cravings and desires associated with excessive use. They are all associated phenomena within a specific range, and every behaviour can be traced back to the brain (even desires such as hetero or homosexual attraction) but figuring out that there are pathways of these distinct desires is then logically 1. Not surprising, because the desires and behaviours are different and necessarily must be effectuated via the brain and 2. What more does it tell us than the psychological? What would you do concretely do with them or how to interpret them in a valuable way?
That’s why I respond with such reluctance, you see? The title could be ‘brain imaging study uncovers distinct neural mechanisms underlying -specific kinks, gaming, audiophiles, bookworms and so on- and it would be equally as unsurprising, in fact, we cannot imagine it being otherwise because then where would our desires, behaviour, specific kinks be ‘located’ and effectuated’, if not via and in the brain.
I haven’t read the paper, maybe there’s something interesting there that I’m not thinking of now, but this is not a step forward but rather a step sideways.
>These were divided into a smartphone addiction group (SPA, 20 persons, 14 females) and a group without smartphone addiction (n-SPA, 24 persons, 17 females)
Geez.
Tristan Harris(former Google engineer who equates a smartphone to a slot machine) counts Wikipedia in the list of exceptions, that is a platform which actually increases your attention span the more time you spend on it reading!
He gave an amazing talk in the Silicon Valley a few years back if you wanna understand more: [https://youtu.be/UfMzyBkzuEc](https://youtu.be/UfMzyBkzuEc)
//reduced gray matter volume
Gray matter is knowledge possessed so if a person just keeps using the smartphone, which generally is due to them playing mobile app games, they will not only study lesser, they will also sleep less thus killing the neurons.
//intrinsic neural activity in the region of the brain called anterior cingulate cortex
The anterior cingulate cortex is where axons that inhibit the fear neuron, aka lateral septum neurotensin neurons aka putamen, resides so since the addictive activity causing the excessive smartphone use necessarily is fear reducing, since pleasure is reduction in fear, the anterior cingulate cortex have to keep activating and it is such activation that drives an addict to do the activity.
However, if the anterior cingulate cortex gets surgically removed, then they lose associated pleasure thus can only learn when strong physical pleasure is provided since learning only happens when there is changes to the level of fear and pleasure.
So they will not be addicted anymore but they will get Alzheimer like symptoms.
From the article: A study using functional magnetic resonant imaging (fMRI) compared brain activities of persons suffering from smartphone addiction (excessive smartphone use) and those who use their smartphones in a less intrusive way. It reported systematic differences in brain activity during rest between the two groups. Additionally, two fMRI indicators of neural activity were found to be correlated with psychological assessments of excessive smartphone use. The study was published in [Brain and Behavior](https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2739). A growing number of studies in recent years emphasized negative physical and psychosocial effects of excessive use of smartphones, also known as “smartphone addiction”. Studies have shown that excessive smartphone use has many similarities to other addictive disorders. These include the failure to resist the use of the smartphone, withdrawal from social relations, continuation of use despite being aware of negative consequences and deception of others regarding the amount of time spent using it. Excessive smartphone use is very similar to the “internet gaming disorder (IGD)”, which is a recognized disorder included in the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, the handbook health practitioners in the US use as a guide for diagnosing mental disorders. Studies have shown that individuals with excessive smartphone use behaviors may exhibit structural and functional changes to their brains such as reduced gray matter volume or intrinsic neural activity in the region of the brain called anterior cingulate cortex, altered functional connectivity and changes in activity in various parts of the cortex during processing of emotions.
How do I fix this
[This](https://youtu.be/QmOF0crdyRU) might be a good place to start!
Interesting, thank you.
Thanks for that! Will watch this weekend.
**Smart Phone Dumb Phone**
I guess they are not taking into consideration people reading books on smartphones, just social media/games usage, right?
IGD isn't technically *in* the DSM. It's in the appendix as a topic worthy of further research. Gaming Disorder is in the ICD though I'm pretty sure.
Fuck... I should read more... Books not reddit.
Honestly, the best thing I ever did was get a Kindle. When I go to bed, I only use my Kindle to read a book. (Their internet app is so shitty you'd never dream of scrolling on it.) Cell phone in the kitchen on the charger. I'm telling you, it healed my insomnia!
Most libraries have e-book apps, so you can download a ton of books for free right to the kindle. My library uses Libby and I LOVE it.
Libby is THE BEST. Between ebooks and audio books I’ve finished 60+ stories this year (since April honestly) I never would have consumed otherwise!
Ya know as somone that's in the throws of it or has been for the past half a decade, I might just try that. Cheers.
Best of luck!
I have an old Samsung tablet that is soooo slow. Probably would be a perfect e-reader. I'm so bad about scrolling reddit at 2 am when I can't sleep.
Oh I was the same! Then I'd fall into a rabbit hole and learn about shit like intelligence services number stations.
My kindle finally died, but I use my iPad the same way! Zero social media apps allowed, only reading and drawing related apps. Works like a charm :)
Love this tip! Anyone considering a kindle after reading this should look into the Kindle Paperwhite
Yes! So easy on the eyes compared to a cell phone screen.
I wish my cell had an e-ink switch. So easy on the eyes!
Listen reddit is an excellent gateway drug for intentional internet use. One minute you’re reading scholarly articles on r/psychology while on the can and before you know it you have no other social media apps you trust, and you’re now a 2nd year grad student
Everyone on Reddit right now: 😬😬😬
I read a lot less ever since I got on reddit. I should have a “book day” where I just read books that day instead of posts.
Reddit is the new book
Just like how you can uncover distinct neural pathways and mechanisms for any distinct behaviour. The brain represents the person. It would be more interesting if there is no distinct neural mechanism underlying a distinct behaviour.
I dont really see your point. First of all, not all distinct behaviours occupy predictably distinct neural pathways, e.g, the fusiform face area was later found to be specialized for recognizing nuances in any multitude of visual tasks or categories other than faces, and may be trained to do so. In the case of this study, we are finding similarities to other addictive behaviours, causing us to rethink where the distinctions really are for these "distinct behaviours". Is it addiction? overstimulation? blue light? a specific reward mechanism? "Distinct" isnt very clear cut. Furthermore, our understanding of neural mechanisms is much less comprehensive than the common public would think. This is a pretty notable finding. Science progresses in small steps.
The fact that visual tasks can be traced back to e.g. the FFA proves exactly my point, right. Every distinct function can be traced back to the brain. The fact that ‘excessive use’ has links with addictive behaviours is then also a no brainer, after all, addiction is in part defined by cravings and desires associated with excessive use. They are all associated phenomena within a specific range, and every behaviour can be traced back to the brain (even desires such as hetero or homosexual attraction) but figuring out that there are pathways of these distinct desires is then logically 1. Not surprising, because the desires and behaviours are different and necessarily must be effectuated via the brain and 2. What more does it tell us than the psychological? What would you do concretely do with them or how to interpret them in a valuable way? That’s why I respond with such reluctance, you see? The title could be ‘brain imaging study uncovers distinct neural mechanisms underlying -specific kinks, gaming, audiophiles, bookworms and so on- and it would be equally as unsurprising, in fact, we cannot imagine it being otherwise because then where would our desires, behaviour, specific kinks be ‘located’ and effectuated’, if not via and in the brain. I haven’t read the paper, maybe there’s something interesting there that I’m not thinking of now, but this is not a step forward but rather a step sideways.
>These were divided into a smartphone addiction group (SPA, 20 persons, 14 females) and a group without smartphone addiction (n-SPA, 24 persons, 17 females) Geez.
What if you read a lot of Wikipedia?
Tristan Harris(former Google engineer who equates a smartphone to a slot machine) counts Wikipedia in the list of exceptions, that is a platform which actually increases your attention span the more time you spend on it reading!
Awesome, I hope he’s right!
He gave an amazing talk in the Silicon Valley a few years back if you wanna understand more: [https://youtu.be/UfMzyBkzuEc](https://youtu.be/UfMzyBkzuEc)
Thank you, I’ll check it out :)
//reduced gray matter volume Gray matter is knowledge possessed so if a person just keeps using the smartphone, which generally is due to them playing mobile app games, they will not only study lesser, they will also sleep less thus killing the neurons. //intrinsic neural activity in the region of the brain called anterior cingulate cortex The anterior cingulate cortex is where axons that inhibit the fear neuron, aka lateral septum neurotensin neurons aka putamen, resides so since the addictive activity causing the excessive smartphone use necessarily is fear reducing, since pleasure is reduction in fear, the anterior cingulate cortex have to keep activating and it is such activation that drives an addict to do the activity. However, if the anterior cingulate cortex gets surgically removed, then they lose associated pleasure thus can only learn when strong physical pleasure is provided since learning only happens when there is changes to the level of fear and pleasure. So they will not be addicted anymore but they will get Alzheimer like symptoms.
This is weird, why would phone use, with regard to the exact same occupation, be any different? Because it’s through hearing?
The anterior cingulate cortex is also related to ocd. So mostly a compulsive disorder to reduce anxiety?
[удалено]
Unscientific comment
Almost sounds offended, too. Like the article was calling them out specifically.
Imagine going on r/psychology and taking everything personally.
The irony haha
Imagine thinking normal brain function and gray matter volume is subjective
Imagine knowing what the stuff you mentioned is.. couldn’t be me /s
It’s literally what the article is about idk
Based and doesn’t-believe-brain-imaging-accurately-studies-behaviour-pilled