A Thought-Provoking Article on Changing Human Behavior with Phone Addiction

In a Kurzgesagt video, there was a claim that hunter-gatherer man had a more complex brain than modern man. The reason was this: there are so many things that man needs to know in order to survive. The grasses he should eat, the grasses he shouldn’t eat, how to trust him when he comes across a weed he doesn’t recognize. The insects to avoid, the animals, the seasons; what to watch out for and how to watch out for what time of the year. In this race for survival, he had to be agile, intelligent and knowledgeable in the conditions of his time. His primary goal was to survive and pass on his lineage, to leave a strong bloodline; he could not afford to give up or not fight.

Lifestyles used to be similar in people who were engaged in similar economic activities and lived in similar socio-economic strata, and they still are. Compared to the past, we have this problem: the monotonous, boring but stable life of the past, where strong stimuli were rare, has been replaced by a life that can be considered unstable but still boring. And this is how it has done it: visual stimuli. Visual stimuli have become so much a part of our lives that they are now the only stimuli for most people in our daily routine, apart from working, going to school, spending time at home. from instagram to youtube…

Visual stimuli are easy to access and what’s even better is that, thanks to smartphones, we can get the kind we want, at any time, in any mode we want. We can see everything, we can watch or listen to those who experience everything as if we have experienced it all (mirror neurons, storytellers). thus, the stimuli we need, the stimuli that will bring us pleasure, are waiting on the screen of our smartphone while we are lying at home. Youtube’s home page, instagram’s explore tab, twitter’s trending topics and dozens more leave us the chance to spend unlimited time. Thus, things lose their appeal for us.

Beyond the cliché that we only want to own something if we can show it off, we start to not want it anymore. Because visual stimuli become enough. Instead of touching real skin, looking at a real face, really feeling the wind, we are stimulated by a quick and guaranteed feeling of satisfaction, calm down, and stay in a temporary order until the next moment of stimulation. And back to the screens to recharge. Netflix and chill is joined by maximum snacks and another person to make love with when bored or whatever. Sex, food-based taste and visual satisfaction. even sex will collapse for most people in an environment isolated from tv, pc, phone. After ejaculation, they will get bored with their partner and look for something to take care of themselves. Because the lack of stimulus makes itself felt. At most he will have a snack, but when satiation comes, not being able to look at a screen will show signs of deprivation.

We have a brain that is constantly processing images and the brain relaxes as it sees. It is very afraid of the unknowing that comes with not being able to see. The lack of need to think that comes with seeing makes us lazy in thinking. The concept of the Google Effect refers to this a bit; we will not need to think about things, we will only think about links. The nature of things will disappear. We are familiar with the concepts of post truth and virtual reality.

In the end, when we can’t decide what to watch on Netflix or YouTube, when we can’t make up our minds about anything, when nothing stimulates us anymore, we will face whether or not we can overcome our fear of turning off the screen.