The article attached, found on Medium.com discusses how mobile culture, smartphones, and social media have contributed to the rise of “instant gratification culture”(Flex, 2023). Discussing the role of dopamine and reward-seeking behaviour versus delayed gratification and long-term happiness, mobile culture and social media have had a significant impact on impulse control and life satisfaction.
The Rise of Instant Gratification Culture: How Smartphones and Social Media Contribute
Flex, A. (2023, August 21). The rise of instant gratification culture: How smartphones and social media contribute. Medium. https://medium.com/@neonmaxima/the-rise-of-instant-gratification-culture-how-smartphones-and-social-media-contribute-33bfa3a43ab4#:~:text=Smartphones%20and%20social%20media%20hijack,us%20crave%20more%20of%20it.
Watching the previous two videos about the brain’s ability to focus and cell phone addiction, it’s no wonder that more and more students are having a hard time concentrating. Teachers and parents are struggling to connect and maintain attention in and out of the classroom, and we are seeing an increased number of diagnoses of ADHD. Could those be connected? Does this shift in mobile culture, centred around instant gratification, be the cause or a symptom of ADHD in adolescents and adults?
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Reduced attention span is a highly pertinent detriment in global addiction to mobile culture, which has extended into the worlds of both work and play. Flex (2023) highlights a study where those who chunked email checks throughout the day were less stressed than those who opened their inboxes multiple times per day. But how can we reduce constant email checks when very few of our work days are designed for employees to check emails at the end of the day? As a college instructor, I have notifications on high alert on my phone set on vibrate. I check my email every time I get an alert. If I didn’t, I would miss essential changes happening during the day, such as student absences, substitute teaching, rescheduled classes, zoom meetings, and location adjustments. The current college at which I work has also set up an intranet system using Moodle messaging and Teams, neither of which I have adapted to with much eagerness nor success as i recognize I am ‘stuck’ in web 1.0 digital habits. Has the institution adapted these new tools to help or hinder? I seem to be misusing the affordances of these devices, particularly when I see how differently my young, international students live their mobile lives, sending snapshot videos, instantly translating text, and gaming. Rewarding the attention economy specifically, however, the world of play has been affected very differently than work, arguably, in a much more positive manner through gamification. Beyond the instant reward system, what is so powerful about well-designed video games that can capture someone’s attention for hours? how can these aspects of play be more seamlessly integrated into the world of work? How can we retain social obligations and communication skills in the midst of technological addiction and mental health crisis?