The first iPhone launched in 2007. Prior to that, some people had smartphones. BlackBerry was the most common brand, and it had its own potential for addiction (the term “CrackBerry” was bandied about). But it wasn’t until after the launch of the iPhone that we began to really see everyone around us using them all of the time. In terms of global history, the Internet is young, and smartphones and social media are even younger. And yet, new technologies are emerging every day. Things that we are only just starting to see right now—like self-driving cars and lifelike smart robots—are going to be ubiquitous before we know it. There will also be other technologies that perhaps we can’t even fathom right now. What are the implications of these new and emerging technologies for Internet addiction? We can only guess.
There are so many different new and emerging technologies. A short list includes artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality, biometrics and implanted chip technology, blockchain, cryptocurrency, Dark Net sites, drones, edge computing (a variation of cloud computing), improved haptic response, robots (including sex robots), self-driving vehicles, smart home technologies, targeted advertising, voice assistants (Alexa and Siri), and 3D printing. We can imagine so many different scenarios in which each of these things might help or hinder problems of Internet addiction. For example, if it becomes the norm that we implant technology directly into our bodies, how is that going to affect the brain, and can we do something with that technology to maximize the benefits without leading to more addiction? This isn’t the realm of science fiction; it’s technology that’s emerging here and now. That said, for all of our guesses, we can’t say for sure where any of this is going, yet. For the purposes of this book, we’ll explore only two particular aspects of this new and emerging technology: augmented and virtual reality and AI.
We are right on the cusp of a huge change in technology thanks to developments in virtual reality, and we’ve already seen some of that when it comes to augmented reality. Augmented reality is when you view the real world through a screen and see something on the screen that isn’t there in real life. Virtual reality is when you look only at a screen (usually through glasses or headsets) and immerse yourself entirely into the world there, sometimes with additional sensory input from haptics to make it feel even more like you’re in that world.
We’ll discuss augmented reality first. Not that long ago, some friends visited here from out of town with their three children, all under the age of twelve. San Francisco is a fascinating city, with not only rich history and architecture but also really fun, colorful characters and activities. I was curious what the kids were enjoying most about this fabulous city that they were visiting for the first time. The five-year-old barely glanced up from his screen as he answered, “There are so many Pokemon here.” Pokemon Go was one of the first augmented reality games to really hit the mainstream and start a craze. In this game, you look at the real world through your phone screen, and various little Pokemon creatures pop up on the screen. You have to navigate around the real world to find and collect them. On the plus side, the kid was out in the real world, moving his body around and avoiding some of the negatives associated with a sedentary life. On the other hand, he didn’t seem to see this rich city around him because he was narrowly focused on finding the Pokemon.
The augmented reality game became so popular that psychologists (and others) almost immediately began questioning whether it was a positive or a negative for mental health. On the positive side, people were moving around in the fresh air, which reduced depression and anxiety. In some cases, it encouraged social engagement with people in the real world, which was a further benefit. Plus, it had some of the benefits of gaming such as the feeling of competence when achieving a new goal by catching a new Pokemon. On the other hand, if you’re engaging with your phone instead of the people around you, then you’re risking some of those same problems (loneliness that begets depression, etc.). Plus, you run the risk of addiction, and if you get addicted to the game, then there are more negatives than positives. Fifty-two-year-old Dominic Rushe shared in an article in the Guardian about a time when he ignored warnings to evacuate an area and risked his life in a lightning storm because he wanted to capture a Pokemon in a particular area. This sounds ridiculous, but reports indicate that there was a spike in distracted driving accidents right after the launch of Pokemon Go; people were paying attention to the augmented reality instead of the actual reality of the road. If you’re risking your real-world physical health and safety, then you’re dealing with addiction. If augmented reality helps you engage with the real world, that’s a benefit; if it helps you escape the real world even when you’re out in it, then that’s a risk.
Virtual reality takes you completely out of the physical world, immersing you into the virtual world. It looks and feels like you’re in a completely different place. If you’re in virtual reality and it looks like a hole opens up in front of you, in the real life you will jump back because it feels real.
You can be a completely different person in virtual reality. The same problems that we see when it comes to prolonged Internet use may get exacerbated with virtual reality. For example, consider the rare but problematic issue of psychosis among people with Internet addiction. Prolonged gaming, in particular, can lead to a break with reality where the person doesn’t know that they aren’t in the game anymore. Virtual reality allows games to become even more realistic, which can increase the potential for confusing the brain as to what’s real and what’s not, thereby risking the problem of increased likelihood of psychosis.
Highly immersive technology increases the risks of our existing technology. The more immersive the technologies get, not only the more potential harms but also the more potential benefits. Consider when augmented and/or virtual reality becomes a regular part of social media experiences. A highly immersive social media interaction with peers and support groups might greatly enhance their benefits, offering more of the positives associated with “real life” experiences while also negating some of the problems that the limitations of social media currently incur. If you feel like you’re “really there” with people, then perhaps you’ll feel more empathy online instead of less (as is often the case today). On the other hand, if you use virtual reality to create an avatar that’s not anything like yourself, you risk greater self-dislike, more problems with your own identity, and increased likelihood of falling into catfishing behavior.
Likewise, consider the implications of virtual reality when it comes to pornography. If online porn is addictive, then virtual reality porn has the potential to be even more addictive. It stimulates more of the brain. If you would rather engage in virtual porn with a stranger than spend time with your partner, then that’s likely to cause significant problems in your relationship. In contrast, though, if virtual reality pornography can be made to incorporate some sense of “real person” feedback that makes you feel like you’re actually interacting with another human and have to be sensitive to their needs and feelings, then there’s the potential that it could reduce some of the numbing sensation that online pornography today seems to cause. It could go either way, and only time will tell which way it’s going to go. How it plays out will also vary from person to person.
Like with most aspects of the Internet, augmented reality and virtual reality both have the potential for either good or harm. One benefit, for example, is that some people may actually develop better self-esteem when playing with an avatar that looks better than they do in real life. This is counterintuitive and may not be true for all people, because there’s always the risk that you won’t be satisfied with your real life self and therefore have higher risk of addiction since you’re more comfortable in the game. However, Pang reports that Jeremy Bailenson of VR Lab has done some convincing studies that people playing with better-looking avatars have better self-esteem even when they are not playing the game.
Augmented and virtual reality may have naturally protective benefits that help to reduce problems with addiction. They may also have built-in features that increase the likelihood of addiction. How that plays out from person to person, and across society as a whole, is something yet to be seen. Because we know about the potential harms of Internet addiction, we as a society have the ability to look forward to these new technologies with a wiser eye and hopefully design them and utilize them in ways that are more positive.
One important thing to note as a potential positive is the role that augmented and virtual reality can play in mental health treatment. Virtual reality offers sensory feedback and allows you to deeply immerse yourself into experiences that feel very real but that you also know aren’t real. This combination of features makes it helpful in certain types of mental health care. Research indicates that it can be particularly effective when used in therapy for people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s also been shown to have positive outcomes for people dealing with phobias, social anxiety, and certain types of paranoia.
Some mental health issues just don’t respond that well to traditional talk therapy. Trauma, including PTSD, is one of the biggest ones. Many people find that it’s not helpful to talk about the traumatic experience. At worst, it can trigger negative reminders that make the symptoms of trauma even worse. Even when it’s not harmful, though, it’s not particularly helpful. That’s why PTSD is often treated with alternative therapies including animal therapy and somatic therapy. Virtual reality can also be helpful. It’s been used specifically with military veterans who suffer from PTSD. They use immersive virtual reality to return to the war zone where they can physically work through the situations that caused the trauma in the first place. While at first glance you might think that would be more traumatizing, research indicates that many veterans find it helpful—being able to control the situation in a new way through virtual reality while in the company and supportive care of a therapist helps them to heal.
People with anxiety, including phobias, can also benefit from virtual reality. One of the most effective treatment for phobias (and one also used for obsessive compulsive disorder [OCD]) is exposure and response prevention. In this treatment, the therapist exposes you to the things that trigger your fear, and you prevent yourself from engaging in the negative response. For example, if you have a fear of spiders, the therapist might have you hold a spider, and you work to breathe through the fear instead of running away. Virtual reality provides a way to offer more immersive exposure experiences while also placing the individual at less actual risk. Someone can work on their fear of spiders or heights without having to actually hold a spider or climb up on a ledge. People who have social anxiety can practice being with others and communicating in a virtual setting that feels very real. Of course, the goal of this therapy would be to eventually translate that to the outside world; if the individual is limited only to virtual relationships, then the problem isn’t resolved. But it can be a huge stepping stone in therapy.
And we’re just beginning to scratch the surface as to how virtual reality might help in the therapy room. For example, some very early research indicates that it can help in concrete ways with symptoms of depression. One of the problems in depression is that you lose interest in things and feel numb; a therapist might help you through virtual reality by exposing you to immersive experiences that reignite some of your interests again. If you feel more excited about things again, then you can start to do more, which means that you can start engaging in treatments that further help you resolve your depression. But this is all new. We don’t know yet how it will all play out. Virtual reality could help resolve some types of depression, but it could also cause depression in the same way that existing forms of Internet addiction seem to cause depression for some people. Consider, for example, if your depression is linked with loneliness. If you use virtual reality to connect with others in meaningful ways, then it could ease your symptoms, but if you use virtual reality to escape and not deal with the problem, then it could exacerbate your symptoms.
One way that people might benefit mentally from virtual reality is through the use of immersive meditation experiences. Mindfulness practice is increasingly popular as a treatment for a variety of mental health issues. It’s challenging for some people to sit still and practice mindfulness on their own, so guided meditation is a great way to get started. If you’re sitting in your room trying to do guided meditation through an app, then there are a lot of potential distractions. If, on the other hand, you’re immersed in a virtual world that’s guiding you into meditation, then that could be a benefit. Therapists are working on ways that they can incorporate mindfulness, de-stressing, and centering/grounding practices into their therapy through virtual reality.
Limbix and Psious are just two of many virtual reality companies that focus specifically on creating tools for therapists to utilize in their sessions. They both have products that offer entryways into mindfulness and breathing practice. They also have tools to help with various types of anxiety and phobias. For example, they both offer their own versions of a virtual reality bar scenario in which you can learn to overcome social anxiety by practicing sitting at the bar and speaking with people. Some of the other specific anxiety-provoking situations they offer include taking an exam, getting a shot from a needle, and flying on an airplane. People who have serious anxiety could work through that fear in therapy. And we can imagine that these tools could also help the average person without serious mental health issues, like the child who might be flying for the first time or afraid to go to the doctor and get that shot.
Virtual reality isn’t just a benefit in the physical therapy room but could also enhance the benefits of online therapy. One of the biggest limitations of online therapy is that you’re missing that personal touch of being present one-on-one with your therapist. If you and your therapist both enter a virtual reality world together, then you mitigate some of that. Someone who can’t access therapy due to cost or location can reap the benefits of a face-to-face talk in a therapy room using virtual reality.
One of the things we looked at in the previous chapter was whether the technology itself can help resolve the problems of technology. We can ask more specifically, is it possible to use augmented and/or virtual reality to solve Internet addiction? There is a very promising study published in the June 2016 issue of Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine that suggests it’s possible. The researchers found that virtual reality therapy could actually improve areas of the brain affected by online gaming addiction. They specifically found that use of virtual reality as a form of therapy helped balance the cortico-striatal-limbic circuit of the brain, reducing the severity of online gaming addiction. They compared their virtual reality method with traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and found that it produced comparable results. In other words, someone with a gaming addiction could go to traditional CBT, or they could use virtual reality therapy to resolve the problem of online gaming addiction.
Virtual reality has been found to be a helpful treatment for other types of addiction as well. There has been specific research into the use of virtual reality therapy for nicotine addiction, and it points to great success. People in recovery are traditionally at great risk of developing other addictions, including Internet addiction. If we can figure out a way to utilize virtual reality during the recovery process as a positive thing instead of a potential tool for more addiction, then it could turn out to be a great thing. For that to happen, the makers of the technology have to have an interest in the positive use of their technology, and one strong motivator is the marketplace, so we as buyers have to put our money toward those more positive uses particularly when it comes to the new and emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality.
We use the term a lot, but what does “artificial intelligence” really mean? Put very simply, it refers to machines (computers) that respond in ways that are consistent with how humans respond. A 2018 Brookings report suggests that AI systems have three key qualities: intentionality, intelligence, and adaptability. Intentionality means that they can make decisions based on real-time data without being limited to preprogrammed responses. For example, autonomous (self-driving) cars have to be able to respond to whatever happens on the road in the moment. Intelligence means that AI systems utilize machine learning and data analytics to respond in ways that consider complex issues such as bias and justice. Adaptability means that the computer is able to keep on learning, adjusting, and improving upon itself as conditions change.
Autonomous vehicles are one example of AI in action today. Here in San Francisco they’re on the road regularly. I frequently see them waiting at four-way stops as they seem to be “thinking” about what to do next. They’re a little bit clumsy right now. I imagine that the driver inside has to take over now and then. But they’re getting better every day. It causes a lot of controversy. Some people are terrified of the idea of machines taking over the planet. Do you want to be in a car that’s driving itself and decides to take you somewhere that you don’t want to go? Or that gets hacked by someone with bad intentions? (Of course, even the cars we drive ourselves are computer based today, so it doesn’t have to be a self-driving car to have hacking as a potential risk.) Trusting a car to drive itself may seem a little crazy, but is it crazier than trusting all of the other humans on the road? Especially when most of those humans are now distracted by their devices, among other distractions? Whether you are for, against, or neutral about autonomous vehicles, they’re here, and they’re a great example of AI in society today.
If you can’t quite get a mental grasp on the self-driving car, though, consider a different type of AI that many people use daily: voice-activated personal assistants like Alexa and Siri. We say, “Hey, Siri,” and then we ask the device to answer questions, set timers, or perform calculations. If Alexa is linked with your home’s other smart technology, then the options for what you can ask the device to do open up even more. As these tools keep learning, they’ll be able to do more and more.
Okay, but how does all of this relate to Internet addiction? Darren Austin, writing for Business Insider, makes a great argument for how devices like Alexa have some of the same built-in addictive qualities as other aspects of the Internet. He uses the hooked model, which is author Nir Eyal’s description of how technology hooks us (remember, we explored this back in Chapter 3), to explain how his own behavior with Alexa has some of the warning signs of addiction. The hooked model starts with a trigger—external as well as internal. One of the biggest triggers for Internet addiction is a negative feeling; you want to escape feeling bad, so you engage in the addictive behavior. Austin noticed that every time he felt the uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty, he’d quickly turn to the reassuring voice of Alexa. Asking her for the answer relieved the feeling, and asking is the second step in the hooked model. The easier it is to perform the action, the more addictive the technology is likely to become, and asking Alexa is much easier than even doing a quick Google search on your phone.
The next part of the hooked model is that part of addiction that we’re very familiar with by now—the reward. You get the immediate reward of getting your answer from Alexa. But Austin points out that it’s more than that. Sometimes these devices respond in a clever or funny way. That surprises us. It feels good. It might offer that dopamine hit. It’s not all of the time, so it’s an intermittent reward, and we are primed to love that. And Austin also points out that sometimes Alexa is wrong—or she doesn’t give us the answer we want—and that in itself means that getting the right answer from her is another intermittent reward. It’s annoying to say, “Alexa, turn on the room light” and get no response, but when she finally gets it right, we get the reward.
And finally, as we know, we are more likely to become addicted to technology when we invest time, energy, money, and the like into the device. With Alexa, you’re constantly teaching her new things. You might take the time to download a new skill for her to use, or you might let her know what your favorite restaurant is. As she learns, you’re becoming more invested, which makes you more prone to addiction.
For the addict, this could mean preferring Alexa over human interaction. One blogger, Kathy Gottberg, noted that she felt like her husband was more interested in Alexa than in her, and when she asked what he liked so much about her, he basically responded, “She does what I want and doesn’t talk back.” We can get instant gratification from our devices without having to deal with the messy interaction that other humans cause us. That’s one of the problems of social media, as we know, but at least on some level we know that somewhere on the other end of the social media app is another human being. With Alexa, we know no such thing, which has the potential to further reduce empathy and increase the problems of social isolation.
Consider as these technologies come together in the form of very lifelike robots, including sex robots. Using virtual reality and haptic feedback, you can begin to feel like your robot is as real as any human. But she’ll respond, like Alexa, mostly only in the ways that you want. What potential risk does this create for humans who are already having trouble bonding with others? We don’t know. The technological advances that we are just beginning to see could mitigate some of the problems of Internet addiction, or it could make them worse. How we proceed individually and as a society could help determine the difference.