Why are mobile phone applications so addictive?

The more time users spend managing the applications (apps) of the mobile phone and with greater frequency, the more money the owners of the applications earn. themselves and that is why they are responsible for employing a series of psychological strategies in order to keep people attached to their phones smart.

That is why it is convenient that we know why mobile phone applications are so addictive based on understanding of the main strategies used by mobile app development companies that make users so hooked.

In this article we will see why smartphone applications are so addictive and also some tips to prevent us from getting hooked.

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Why are mobile phone applications so addictive?

Today it is very common for people to be attached to their smartphone, so it has become become an indispensable companion and separation from it generates anxiety in many people and to a large extent it owes to the addiction that users can develop to many of its applications

, since without applications the mobile would be a technological device that would only be used to call and send messages, just as It happened when the first mobile phones appeared, which did not generate the addiction that smartphones generate today in day.

That is why we are going to explain why mobile phone applications are so addictive. For it We will see what are the psychological strategies used by the technology companies that develop the applications for mobile phones in order to hook their users as long as possible.

1. The state of flow that they can provoke

One of the reasons that can explain why mobile phone applications are so addictive is the state of fluency that they tend to cause in users while they are handling them. Applications such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube or Netflix, among others, have developed a smooth operation in their applications, based on a psychological principle that was baptized as “flow” by the Hungarian-American psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who researched this concept for many years while working at the University of Chicago.

The concept of flow deals with a subjective way of experiencing a sensation in which a person is completely absorbed in a certain activity, being able to visualize the contents of an application without stopping, so that the person ends up losing the notion of the weather.

In order for the users of the applications to enter a state of flow while they are browsing them, the their developers have created automatic operating patterns such as the "stories" of instagram, what they can be played one after the other automatically, just like the “relays” of the same application.

The same goes for the display of posts from different social networks that can be seen simply by sliding the finger up or down, so that the user does not have to do much effort and you can get absorbed in the app more easily; as happens with the automatic reproductions of the contents of YouTube or Netflix, in order for users to find immersed viewing its content and can move from one video to the next without realizing the time elapsed within the application.

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2. The App Ownership Effect

The second of the reasons that we are going to talk about to explain why the applications of the mobile phone is the well-known "possession effect" generated by the download of an application by the user, being a very frequent phenomenon in the applications of online games when a person has invested money in order to advance to higher levels in the development of the game.

Surely we are all familiar with the experience that occurs when we download a free game for mobile phones and at first we don't have to use much effort to level up; instead, When we have already spent some time and have achieved enough achievements, the game developers ask us to pay a certain amount of money if we want to continue progressing towards the next levels, so that some users who have become hooked and have also been able to develop a certain bond due to the time spent, they will end up paying.

When a user has invested a certain amount of money in an application, the "possession effect" is generated, which will cause it to continue investing more and more money, so that it will be hooked more or more, being very difficult to end the addiction to said application.

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3. peer pressure

Another reason that explains why mobile phone applications are so addictive is the social pressure they cause some applications through the signals that indicate that the person who has received the message that has been sent has read it, so what if you don't reply right away, the sender of the message could become anxious for not having received an immediate response. In this type of case, it has been possible that the reading notices of the messages received encourage people to react as quickly as possible, thus generating social pressure.

This social pressure also works through the notification system that lights up the screen when the mobile is locked, alerting people when they have just received a message and, when they are using their mobile, it notifies them through a tab that appears at the top of the screen. In some cases, if that application is not accessed immediately they usually warn continuously with notifications after a certain time in order for the user to access the application again.

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4. personalized content

Personalized content would be another reason that can explain why mobile phone applications are so addictive, and this is possible thanks to algorithms computer systems that are responsible for controlling the advertising or offers that appear to us when we are browsing mobile applications or when we are visiting a web page, since algorithms detect our tastes and interests based on what we visit on the network and then bombard us with related advertising, so that each person receives a type of different advertising.

This also causes the person to be able to access said advertisements and suggestions in order to continue browsing the web pages or through the applications for a longer time; and it is that the companies that develop the applications they analyze with great precision all our actions in the application (time we spend browsing, our hours of consumption, type of content we consume, what type of profiles we usually find more frequently to “like”, etc.), and thanks to them they show us and suggest advertising and similar profiles in order to hook plus.

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5. The rewards

The fifth reason that can explain why mobile phone applications are so addictive is the rewards. This means that in those applications in which we can receive a "like" from other people, they will generate a greater addiction in us due to the positive feedback we receive; thus, the more "likes" we receive, the more likely we are to spend more time visiting that application and will also prompt us to continue posting content.

A group of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, conducted an investigation in 2016, in which evaluated participants who had to look at a series of photographs that they had posted on their own social media accounts. Instagram; having received in some many likes and in others few, all doing a brain scan in the meantime. What they were able to observe was that while looking at a photograph that had received many "likes" there was increased activity in neural reward centers, such as the nucleus accumbens.

This showed that the "likes" acted as a reward, activating brain regions similar to those of other types of addictions, of way that it could be said based on this that they can become addictive and severely influence people's behavior users, thus explaining another of the reasons why mobile phone applications are so addictive and especially networks social.

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Psychological treatments for addiction to mobile phone applications

Now that we have seen the reasons that explain why mobile phone applications are so addictive, it is convenient that we know what are some of the psychological treatments for smartphone addiction and, more specifically, its applications (apps). It should be noted that when a person considers that he suffers from a mobile phone addiction and has not been able by his own means to reduce its use, It is recommended that you seek professional help..

It should be noted that since addictions to mobile phone applications are relatively recent, they are still More research is needed on effective psychological treatments to address this type of disorder. addictions; however, we are going to mention some strategies.

First of all, let's see some of the most common characteristics of those people who have a mobile phone addiction and, above all, to certain applications (apps):

• Feeling of anxiety when they do not have their mobile phone with them.
• Lack of sleep and rest due to handling certain applications on your mobile phone.
• They have spent money on certain mobile phone applications and games.
• Continuously look at their mobile phone to check if they have received messages or any notifications.

Next we will explain some techniques or methods that can be used to combat all those strategies that we have seen previously used by developer companies that explain why mobile phone applications are so addictive.

1. become aware of the problem

First of all, someone who has an addiction to certain mobile phone applications or mobile phone in general should reflect and carefully analyze the frequency and duration of handling the mobile phone in order to be aware that it has a problem, since what otherwise it would be impossible for him to try to change his habits in order to make a correct and healthy use of this device.

For this, the professional will help the patient to be aware of the serious consequences of the abuse of mobile phone applications, of the possible expenses at an economic level, of the deterioration of social and family relationships, as well as at an academic and/or work level.

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2. Establish a control over the mobile phone

In these cases, the psychological treatment should go as soon as possible aimed at establishing control over the handling of the mobile phone carried out by the user, encouraging them to carry out healthier alternative activities that occupy their time (p. g., reading, playing sports, meeting friends, visiting relatives, signing up for courses, etc.).

Another strategy that allows establishing a control that reduces the use of the mobile phone is turn off notifications at times when you should be doing other things (p. g., working, studying, being with other people, going to sleep, etc.) so that the screen is not continuously illuminated for the user to respond.

Even if less important notifications are turned off permanently (eg. e.g., instagram likes, notice that a YouTuber you follow has uploaded a new video, the notifications of the messages of the WhatsApp groups, etc.) in the long run the person would gain health to the not receive a constant bombardment of notifications that cause you some anxiety and generate more frequent access to applications.

Another very useful action could be the stimulate control, so that when you are doing a task that requires attention, the person silences the mobile phone and leaves it in a place that is not currently within their reach or in sight (p. e.g., studying in their room and leaving their mobile in the living room or asking a family member to keep it for them meanwhile and establish a fixed schedule to be able to look at it once the task that I had to do is finished do).

There are also applications that block the mobile for a certain time and warn when a certain time so that the user allows himself a limited break to look at the mobile (p. e.g., the pomodoro technique across apps that can be used to set a time determined to work or do whatever task and a more limited one to rest and look at the mobile).

Another option would be to establish schedules to handle certain applications, so that they are only used during a limited daily time or at specific times (p. e.g., after eating and before going to work or set a limited rate of 1 hour a day for manage the mobile, allowing the rest of the day to only use it for calls or messages important).

All these strategies depend on the preferences of each person and the level of action that each one has on the mobile phone. In any case, these measures could be applied little by little, since if it is done abruptly, it is likely that the person will abandon their intention to reduce the use of their mobile phone.

In short, psychological help for addiction to mobile phone applications and/or phone use in general is aimed at modify that series of compulsive behaviors related to their management, seeking to control the habits of mobile use and that the user also acquires a series of skills of coping with situations that generate greater anxiety and cause a greater need to use the mobile.