Cell Phones, Dopamine, and Development - Barbara Jennings at TEDxABQ

Have you ever heard about nomophobia? In this talk Barbara Jennings tell us why we are so attached to our cell phones. "This compulsive addiction isn't to the cell phone", she says. But, will you be able to meet the challenge that Barbara launches at the end of this talk?

The cell phone has greatly
changed our lives.

In many ways,
it's more practical.

We can talk
to almost anybody

from almost anywhere.

But there's also ways

that the cell phone
has impacted lives

that you maybe
not aware of.

You see,

our brain has a natural
chemical response

to the cell phone.

It's a release

of the chemical in the brain
called dopamine.

Now, I know it's
the dopamine

is the chemical
that makes you feel good.

But that's not
actually the case.

Dopamine,

is the chemical that's
responsible for our seeking.

So we look
for something,

and we find it,

and we get
a dopamine release.

And we look for
something else,

we get another
dopamine release.

This is
what's known as,

again, the dopamine loop.

This is the same
thing that occurs

when you get on the internet
and you're doing a search,

say, for a recipe for dinner.

And you find yourself,
an hour later,

light years away
from where you started.

Now you're reading
about designer breed dogs

(Laughter)

and dinner
still isn't ready.

(Laughter)

The cell phone has greatly
impacted our lives,

and - in some ways
we become dependent again.

Here's my story.

I had the original cell phone
that came with my plan.

It wasn't fancy,
no text, no camera,

but it was practical,
and I kept it in my purse

and I used it
when it was necessary.

Then came the iPhone.
(Laughter)

Now I had camera,
internet, email,

and a whole host
of phone applications,

in an all-in-one
hand-held unit.

And I found myself,

really developing
a dependence on this phone.

I would carry it with me
from room to room in the house,

even taking it
in the backyard,

when I went to garden.

But my dependence worsened

when I get into
a relationship with a texter.

I found myself,

on an emotional
roller coaster.

(Laughter)

I so looked forward

to the texts
I would get from him,

and when I got them
I be elated and excited,

but when they didn't come in,
I found myself really low.

(Laughter)

So this intrigued me.

And I started looking
at how other people

use their cell phone.

Families on cell phone.

Parents talking on the phone
instead of to their kids,

kids on the cell phone.

I go into restaurants,

and whole tables,
everybody on the cell phone.

(Laughter)

So, I decided
to do some research.

It turns out that

everything about
this technology

is designed to rope us in,

from the alert that it emits

to the amount of text
you can see on the screen.

And we buy into it,

because we become
information seekers.

Even the text
on a news media.

audios, visuals

and texts scrolling
across the screen,

and we go for it.

The most common
use of cell phones

is occurring
in college students.

They're receiving
about a hundred texts a day,

and checking for their texts,

an additional sixty times a day.

Now, their compulsive addiction

isn't to the cell phone,

it's to the dopamine they get

every time they get a message.

Think how you feel
when you check your messages

and you don't have any,

versus when you do.

Elated, valued, kind of important.

The cell phones also,

change the way we think

and we communicate with people.

We'd rather communicate
in snippets of text,

rather than way through
a voicemail or email message.

And our focus
and our attention span,

is shorter.

We split from topic to topic,
and idea to idea,

hardly ever finishing anything.

And even in the Google age,

with all this information
provided to us,

we're willing to take
the first response supplied,

rather than
really verify it.

Her's another thing.

How do you feel
when you drive away

and you realize you've left
your cell phone behind?

(Laughter)

Do you turn around
to go back for it,

no matter how
late you are,

to wherever
you're going?

(Laughter)

Well, as it turns out,

there's been a reported
increase in anxiety of this kind,

and there's
a medical condition

associated with it.

Nomophobia.

(Laughter)
No, really.

(Laughter)

No mobile phone phobia.

And it's the condition that arises

from the anxiety
that we feel

when we don't
have our cell phone,

or when you don't
have communication.

So, I want to offer you
a challenge today.

For the next two weeks,

put your cell phone
out of your physical location,

for an hour a day.

For one hour a day,

be without the cell phone.

Focus on something else.

Your surroundings,

the people
around you,

or just gaze into

these beautiful New Mexico skies.

One hour a day,
dopamine free.

(Applause)
Hello, mum...

(Applause)