e-Safety Understanding addictive behaviour Sep 2018

How do you feel about what just happened? Which do you think is most important to me – my phone, or you? Who is the master here – me or my phone? Why did I do this? How to explain this behaviour…. (Checking for likes) (Many parents do not switch off their phone in meetings)

Feedback! It’s human nature - we want to be noticed, to be recognised - we want feedback However, in the smartphone age we seem to depend more on our phones for feedback rather than on face-to-face contact. Have we just de-humanised human relationships?! Do you find it easier to deal with people through social media than directly? De-humanised?! Dinner with our smartphones!

Feedback! The younger you are, the more you want the feedback (the reward), and the more upset you get if it doesn't arrive. Imagine if nobody liked your selfie…. …. would you be upset? But a lot of likes means better self-esteem, higher self confidence? Is this why you have so many “friends” you don’t really know? - someone will like your post! - do you compete for likes? - do any of you buy “likes”?

You become addicted to the feedback! The science behind this behaviour Your body has its own House Points system! Your brain handles reward-motivated behaviour. It does this through a chemical called dopamine: If you get your reward, you’ll feel good If you don’t get your reward, you’ll feel bad dopamine Dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter - a chemical released by neurons (nerve cells) to send signals to other nerve cells. dopamine is signaling feedback for predicted rewards. If you, say, have learned to associate a cue (like a crack pipe) with a hit of crack, you will start getting increases in dopamine in the nucleus accumbens in response to the sight of the pipe, as your brain predicts the reward. But if you then don’t get your hit, well, then dopamine can decrease, and that’s not a good feeling. Abrupt dopamine increases when a person perceives stimuli that predict rewards is a dominant mechanism of reward learning within the brain—a concept similar to Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s dog hearing the bell and salivating at a response to stimuli, Dopamine performs its tasks before we obtain rewards, meaning that its real job is to encourage us to act, either to achieve something good or to avoid something bad. You become addicted to the feedback!

Youtube addiction!

Youtube addiction! YouTube is a great resource for teachers and students… …. but, it can be highly addictive! You can learn about everything on YouTube, listen to music… You can just sit back and let millions of videos stimulate or numb your passive mind. When you watch more and more videos, log in more and more frequently, even though you had planned to do something else, then you are addicted! Freeing up the ICT Room – Youtube is always first!

Addicted to Youtube? What can you do? Ask yourself – do you really need to watch those Youtubers? Get a life! If you use it to listen to music, use something that plays only music! If you are using Youtube as a research tool, don’t be distracted. First is to recognise you have a problem – like all addictions

Mobile Game Addiction

Dopamine and Mobile Game Addiction Game developers keep you hooked by using strategies designed to increase your dopamine levels. You might get a dopamine rush from: completing one of the 3,590 levels of CandyCrush picking up jewels in a Fortnite match

Are you showing signs of video game addiction? Do you fall asleep at school? Has your effort and homework performance declined? Do you fail to complete work on time? Are you devoting an increasing amount of time to video gaming? Are your thoughts preoccupied with video games? Have you become more irritable, depressed or anxious? Have you tried but failed to cut back on time spent playing video games?

What can we do? Crave it! Need it Want it Like it Addiction Monitor Be aware of our “addiction” - admit that we have a problem! Stop looking for the digital rewards! Turn off notifications Start a “digital diet”! Use different ways of communicating Find a hobby or sport Spend more time with friends and FAMILY! Everything in moderation! Crave it! Need it Want it Like it

Perhaps e-safety week should be e-free week? day !