Aussie Teens: Connected to devices, disconnected from life. By Grace Quinn-Hennessy When conjuring up the perfect day – sun shining, breeze blowing, and great company; you probably don’t picture yourself clasping your mobile phone and scrolling through the latest updates from Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. But this is exactly what is happening in 2016 and it is happening to an ever increasing number of young Australians. It is a distinct sorrow for Australia that many of its teenagers are addicted to the online world, in fact, so much so that it has become their alternative to the real world. If one walks down any Australian street it is now commonplace to see teens with their heads down and eyes focused on the small screens of their mobile phones. And when …show more content…
Digital Attention Disorder is an addiction to social networks, internet and computers in general. A study on Australian teens found that 1/3 of the adolescents studied met all the criteria for online addiction. Internet addiction, especially among adolescents, has been recognized as an important social issue because of the high prevalence of depression, aggressive behaviour, psychiatric symptoms, and interpersonal problems associated with this addiction. What causes this addiction? Over 50 years ago, psychologist B.F. Skinner, used rats and pigeons in experiments and noticed that the unpredictability of reward was a major motivator for animals. If a reward arrives too predictably or too infrequently, the animal loses interest. But when a reward comes with just enough frequency the animals’ brains would release dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the in the brain that regulates pleasure. What does that have to do with teenage internet addiction? Researchers believe that intermittent reinforcement in the way of texts, tweets and gaming levels may be working on teenage brains the same way rewards did on Skinner’s pigeons and