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Smartphones: It’s Time to Confront Our Global Addiction | Dr. Justin Romano | TEDxOmaha — Transcript

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0:06Let's start with a dirty word, shall we?
0:09Pandemic.
0:11As we transition out of the last
0:13pandemic, we're entering a new pandemic
0:16of addiction that might be the most
0:19pervasive addiction in human history.
0:22Scary part is, the world has yet to even
0:25acknowledge that this addiction exists,
0:27despite it being all around us and
0:29fueling our current mental health
0:31crisis.
0:33But today,
0:34we turn the tide on this new addiction.
0:37What if I were to tell you that in 2007,
0:40a new addictive drug came out and it
0:42took the world by storm?
0:44In less than 15 years, over half of the
0:47world's population was using this drug
0:49daily.
0:50It was causing a rise in depression,
0:52anxiety, and suicide in all age ranges,
0:55but especially in young girls.
0:58And it was accounting for 3,000 traffic
1:00deaths per year in the United States
1:02from impaired driving.
1:05If this were happening,
1:07wouldn't there be an outrage?
1:09Wouldn't the government and society as a
1:11whole be trying to fix this?
1:14Wouldn't we be drafting class action
1:15lawsuits and demanding justice?
1:19Well,
1:20check your pockets.
1:22Cuz I'm guessing you have this drug on
1:24you right now.
1:27And it's your smartphone.
1:30When you think about addiction, what
1:31comes to mind?
1:33Substances like drugs and alcohol? Maybe
1:36sex, gambling?
1:38You think about computer code?
1:40Apps?
1:41Algorithms?
1:44As a child and adolescent psychiatry
1:46fellow, I am here to advocate for my
1:48patients, who are mostly kids age 5 to
1:5119, who I'm seeing become addicted to
1:53their phones in mass. And the purpose of
1:56this talk is to shift your perception of
1:58addiction because we must start viewing
2:01smartphones, technology, and social
2:04media in the context of addiction if we
2:06want to reverse our current mental
2:08health crisis.
2:11What we know about addictions,
2:13neurologically, is that all addictive
2:15things, including your smartphone,
2:17increase dopamine in your brain at the
2:19levels of the tegmental ventral
2:21tegmental area and the nucleus
2:23accumbens.
2:25Dopamine makes you feel good, satisfied,
2:28but also increases your drive.
2:30That drive is important cuz it's the
2:32drive that makes you do things over and
2:35over again.
2:36For example, in caveman times, if you
2:39were find a new food source that helped
2:42you survive, say a big bush of wild
2:45blueberries, your brain would release a
2:47ton of dopamine to make you feel good
2:49about your find and increase that drive
2:52to do it again.
2:54In today's world, there are endless apps
2:57that are trying to trick your brain into
2:59releasing dopamine without being
3:01fundamentally good for you.
3:03App developers have found a way to hack
3:06our reward and addiction pathway and
3:08they did it without a substance.
3:10They did it with computer code.
3:12Addiction in 2022 has become nothing
3:15more than zeros and ones.
3:19Typically, we define addiction by these
3:20signs. Play along and see how many you
3:23have. Like hazardous use, using while
3:26driving or when it's dangerous,
3:29impaired social functioning, like
3:30isolating yourself or giving up on your
3:32social roles,
3:34having withdrawal from your phone,
3:36cravings for your phone, increased
3:38tolerance, like your screen time
3:39creeping up, trying to cut down on your
3:42use and being unable to, spending more
3:45time using than you initially
3:46anticipated, and giving up your hobbies
3:48and interests to use.
3:51How many of you have that
3:53"Oh, crap. That's me." feeling?
3:56And if you don't see it in yourself, how
3:57many people around you do you see these
3:59signs in?
4:02So, if we're seeing everyone become
4:03addicted to their phone, you'd think
4:04that the mental health community would
4:06be doing something about this, right?
4:09But,
4:10this addiction came on so fast that
4:12academia has yet to catch up.
4:15And as of now, none of the top mental
4:17health associations in the world have
4:19even recognized this as a real
4:21diagnosis.
4:23The DSM-5, the diagnostic and
4:25statistical manual, psychiatry's Bible,
4:28has no official diagnosis for phone
4:30addiction.
4:31The ICD-10 and 11, the international
4:34billing and coding system we use in
4:36America.
4:37Now, there is a code for getting sucked
4:40up into a jet engine and requiring
4:41medical care,
4:44but there's no code for phone addiction.
4:47If there's no code, it makes it
4:48incredibly difficult to diagnose, bill
4:51for, and track.
4:53We have to come to a consensus on a
4:55diagnosis and a code, because right now,
4:58without an official diagnosis, the world
5:00has yet to even admit that this is a
5:02real problem.
5:04And you don't have to be a psychiatrist
5:05to know that the first step in treating
5:07an addiction is admitting that you have
5:09a problem.
5:11How pervasive is this issue? Well, to
5:13compare it to smoking, at the peak of
5:15the tobacco industry in 1954,
5:18only 45% of Americans smoked.
5:21Right now, 97%
5:24of Americans have a smartphone, and
5:26surveys indicate about half of them feel
5:28addicted to them already.
5:31Here's why your smartphone is a super
5:33addiction. It places multiple addictive
5:35elements into one device.
5:38Video games, pornography, sports
5:41gambling, shopping, social media,
5:44instant messaging. By placing these all
5:46into one device that lives in your
5:48pocket, you're walking around with an
5:50addiction ticking time bomb that you
5:52have
5:53unlimited access to.
5:55Your phone is programmed to buzz and
5:57ding you at just the right rate to make
5:59sure that you're constantly thinking
6:01about your phone and your screen time
6:03creeps up.
6:05Now, the phones are specifically
6:07designed to be addictive, but there are
6:08so many other reasons why this is a
6:10super addiction.
6:12Like rapid acceptance.
6:14Remember, phones smartphones have only
6:16been around for the past 15 years. The
6:18iPhone was released in 2007.
6:21And in 2022, 95% of American teens have
6:26a smartphone and use them on average up
6:28to 9 hours per day.
6:32The original telephone took over 100
6:34years to democratize
6:36where everyone has access to it. The
6:38smartphone did it in less than a fifth
6:40of the time.
6:42Smartphones have revolutionized a very
6:44sexy topic in 2022.
6:46Supply chains.
6:48Most addictions have to be planted,
6:51grown, processed, shipped, packaged,
6:53prepared, and consumed.
6:55Smartphones eliminate almost
6:57all of these steps and allow app
6:59developers to deliver free, legal,
7:01addictive content to anyone
7:04anywhere
7:05instantly.
7:07Imagine if there was a physical drug
7:08that was free, legal, addictive, and put
7:11right in your pocket whenever you craved
7:12it.
7:13How many people would be using it?
7:17Smartphones will continue to evolve at
7:19the pace of the internet age, quickly
7:22and continuously.
7:24Look how fast TikTok was able to take
7:26over for an entire young generation.
7:29That's because it was specifically
7:30designed to be more addictive, designed
7:33to be harder to put down.
7:35This will keep on happening where every
7:37few weeks newer, more addictive apps
7:40will come out to replace their
7:41watered-down predecessors.
7:44But perhaps the most important reason
7:46why smartphones are a super addiction
7:49is because it's socially acceptable.
7:52It's typically frowned upon to give your
7:54kids smokes, booze, and porn.
7:57But
7:59giving your kids the new iPhone for
8:00Christmas makes you a good parent,
8:02right?
8:03At least that's what the commercials
8:04tell us.
8:06I would argue that the phone is worse,
8:08but society doesn't see it that way. And
8:11that's why we've all been caught up in
8:13this current of addiction with little or
8:15no resistance from us.
8:18So I hope by now I've convinced you that
8:20your smartphone might be just a little
8:22bit addictive.
8:24The thing that worries me the most as a
8:25mental health provider is
8:27addictions have what we call
8:28comorbidities or other mental health
8:31problems that go with the addiction.
8:33Depression, anxiety, substance use,
8:36obsessive-compulsive disorder have all
8:38been studied and found linked
8:40to excessive smartphone use.
8:43Not to mention the social problems that
8:45are coming as a result. As I know lots
8:47of kids who get two to three messages
8:49per day telling them that they're
8:50worthless
8:51and that they should go kill themselves.
8:54Kids face constant judgment from online
8:57and social media, which I think might be
8:59making social anxiety worse.
9:02Sexual predation is rampant and
9:05psychologically scarring an entire
9:07generation.
9:08You want to know how bad this problem
9:10is? Ask any teenage girl how many times
9:12she's been pressured for nudes.
9:15The longer we let smartphone addiction
9:17go on, the worse these issues will
9:19become, especially in this next
9:21generation who's growing up with an
9:23addiction.
9:25Because when your brain develops with an
9:26addiction, the changes to brain
9:28physiology and personality can be
9:30dramatic.
9:32And I'm not just talking about the very
9:34young, as brain development is complete
9:36in the early 20s for females and the
9:38mid-20s for males.
9:40Addiction literally rewires your brain.
9:44We've all heard the stories about
9:45someone addicted to methamphetamine or
9:46heroin who lies, cheats, and steals from
9:49their family to support their drug
9:51addiction and ruins their relationships
9:53in the process.
9:55I have met young people who impulsively
9:57steal credit cards from anyone they can
9:59to support their online video game
10:01addiction.
10:03Similarly ruining their relationship and
10:05trust with their family.
10:07When your brain develops with an
10:09addiction,
10:10everything else comes second.
10:13The rates of those comorbidities I
10:14mentioned go up, academic performance
10:16goes down.
10:18Imagine how much creativity, empathy,
10:22productivity, and connectivity we will
10:24lose if everyone in society is on their
10:27phone for 9 hours every day.
10:31My training as a child psychiatrist has
10:33taught me that in the very young, brain
10:35development is dependent upon those
10:37daily interactions with caregivers. And
10:40babies these days are having to compete
10:42with smartphones for the attention of
10:44their parents.
10:46Let's face it. Screens have
10:47fundamentally changed parenting.
10:49Directly in how much kids are on their
10:51screens and indirectly by how much their
10:54parents are on their screens.
10:57I wonder as to how many collective hours
11:00of that brain development, of that
11:01interaction, we have lost because
11:04parents are spending hours a day on
11:06their phone just
11:08scrolling.
11:10This is a topic of personal interest to
11:12me
11:13as I'm going to be a first-time father
11:15in 2023.
11:17Thank you.
11:20Right now, my screen time app tells me
11:22I'm on my phone from 3 to 5 hours per
11:25day.
11:26And I'm curious as to how that will
11:27change me as a person and as a a
11:31I think it's safe to say that cutting
11:32back on my phone use would give me more
11:35of that interaction time with my child,
11:37would make me a better parent, but to be
11:39honest with you, I don't know if I can.
11:42Cuz I've tried before
11:44and I failed.
11:45But,
11:47I'm going to keep on trying.
11:49Because we all have a social obligation
11:51to make a world that we want my son,
11:54your children, your grandchildren to
11:56grow up in.
11:57A world where a kid can go back to being
11:59a kid.
12:00Where 2-year-olds aren't handed an
12:02addiction that consumes a third of their
12:04entire existence.
12:06A world with less depression, anxiety,
12:09and suicide.
12:12We have to take a hard look at our
12:15relationships with our phones.
12:18Cuz honestly, and you might not believe
12:20this,
12:20I'm not saying that smartphones are a
12:22bad thing.
12:23They're a wonderful tool in many cases.
12:26And getting rid of them altogether is
12:27just not realistic.
12:30I'm saying that we have to have a
12:31healthy balance with our phones before
12:33we fall too deeply into this addiction.
12:37So,
12:39what do we do about it?
12:41Here are four things you can do to
12:42reduce problematic use in young people.
12:45Number one, set screen time limiting
12:47apps and set a password. Kids aren't
12:50dumb, they'll just turn them off and
12:51they do all the time.
12:53Number two, take their phone away at
12:55night.
12:56Sleep is imperative to mental health and
13:00brain development. And too many kids
13:01these days are staying up all night on
13:03their phone when they should be
13:04sleeping.
13:06Number three, talk to your kids about
13:08this. Education is an important piece.
13:11If kids know it's addictive and it's not
13:13very good for them, they're less likely
13:14to start.
13:16And number four,
13:18take a look in the mirror.
13:21We have to set a good example for our
13:23young people. We cannot expect them to
13:25make a change if we ourselves are
13:28unwilling to make a change.
13:31Those are some of the individual things
13:33you can do to stop the bleeding, if you
13:35will, on this addiction.
13:37The mental health community and the
13:38medical community have some work to do,
13:39too.
13:41Like I mentioned earlier, got to come to
13:43a consensus on that code and the
13:44diagnosis.
13:46We have to start raising awareness about
13:48this. We have to start being diligent
13:50about asking our patients about their
13:51digital media consumption and screening
13:54for signs of addiction.
13:56But perhaps the most important thing we
13:58can all do as a society is
14:02hold the tech companies accountable for
14:04what they're doing.
14:06Cuz if we don't,
14:07they're just going to keep on doing it.
14:10Good news is, we were able to hold the
14:13the tobacco companies accountable and
14:15that helped turn the tide in the smoking
14:17epidemic.
14:18We can do the same thing now.
14:21And I don't want to villainize the tech
14:23industry too much, cuz I think there's a
14:24real wonderful opportunity for
14:26collaboration moving forward.
14:29Imagine a world in which the tech
14:31industry shares their data with
14:33researchers so that we can understand
14:35this addiction and reverse it.
14:38And
14:40what if we're also able to use that data
14:42to be able to identify people at the
14:44beginning stages of depression, anxiety,
14:47ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,
14:52to make sure that those people get the
14:54right help sooner.
14:57The tech companies would go from being a
14:58part of a problem to being a part of the
15:00broader solution.
15:02What a redemption.
15:05Okay. I know this is a little
15:07overwhelming and it's supposed to be.
15:11We're nowhere near those long-term
15:13research-driven solutions.
15:16Today's journey starts with raising
15:18awareness to an issue that's been right
15:20in front of our eyes for the past 15
15:22years.
15:24That smartphone addiction is real.
15:27And turning the tide on this new
15:29pandemic starts right now.

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