Tricks That Apps Play in Your Head to Keep You Hooked
Mobile apps can be fun, but they can also be time-consuming and distracting from your work. You need more than just willpower to properly control your appetite for apps – you need to understand how they work and why they are highly addictive.
Why you should be skeptical about your apps
The apps are awesome. Many apps keep you entertained by killing idle five-minute segments of your day. Some apps actually help you stay in touch with friends and family that you would otherwise lose touch with. There’s a reason so many great businesses and experiences have been built on mobile apps. But as the reader told author Nir Eyal : “If it cannot be used for evil, it is not superpower.”
Apps have a dark side that many of us are unaware of. For example, we spend much more time on this than we think . According to information research firm Nielsen , we now spend 65% more time on apps each month than we did just a couple of years ago. By the end of 2013, on average, we were spending 30 hours and 15 minutes a month on apps. This is almost two full waking days.
If you need to further convince us that we’re becoming addicted to our apps and phones, venture capitalist and mobile analyst Mary Meeker reports that we check our phones on average 150 times a day in our May 2013 Internet Trending Report .
Mobile analytics company Flurry defines “Mobile Addict” as someone who launches applications over 60 times a day . Based on their data for 500,000 apps on 1.3 billion devices as of March 2014, they saw the number of “mobile addicts” users grow 123% between 2013 and 2014. There were 176 million mobile addicts in March 2014, up from 79 million in March 2013.
Where earlier technology vendors also wanted to make their products more compelling, they did not have the data or algorithms that application developers have today. Developers can track your every interaction with the app and use that data to make their products more immersive. And they will – the people who build applications are literally using “addiction” as a measure of success .
The solution is not to throw applications out of the window. They are extremely convenient and bring great benefit and joy to our lives. They, too, will only be more useful. You would probably rather live in a world with apps than in a world without them. Just as you have to be careful with substances like alcohol, which can be addictive, you can enjoy it in healthy, controlled amounts.
Apps are not passive (default). They are constantly reaching out to you via inboxes and push notifications. It takes human error to overcome these notifications. Here’s how apps are designed to be addictive, how you can regain control of your time and energy, and how you can live happily with apps:
Apps interrupt your life with triggers
You can have a reaction almost like Pavlov to the sound of a text message, a push notification, or the vibration of your phone in your pocket. App developers and marketers specifically design these hooks to bring your attention back to your mobile device.
Nir Eyal writes on her blog that these external triggers – push notifications, emails, or links – create associations between the app and your existing behavior and emotions. You start to feel more and more the need to use the app every time you feel a certain way. (For example, when I’m waiting for an elevator and I feel bored, I almost instinctively pull my phone out, even though I checked it less than a minute ago.) Before you know it, you’re already using the app. and more often during the day. You have formed a habit .
It’s tempting to respond to your cell phone every time it buzzes, but you need a little space to control your impulses. Apps don’t want you to think (designers and developers are obsessed with eliminating ” cognitive overhead “, which is the delay between receiving a notification and giving in to the urge to look at your phone). To regain control a little, you need a little friction and inconvenience.
Another way to counter triggers is to remove push notifications from apps that you check from time to time . I only leave push notifications enabled for WhatsApp, SMS or iMessage. Sure, you won’t know your friend sent you a funny Snapchat the second it happens, but that trade-off will pay off in dividends when you can focus on your tasks instead of being distracted by push notifications.
If you want to keep push notifications but find yourself waking up to them, don’t make your phone the first thing you see every day. Charge your phone in a separate room and buy an alarm clock.
If you have an Android device, you can use an app like Human Mode to hold phone calls and messages until a more convenient time.
External triggers can be relatively easy to ignore or restrict. However, it is likely that you have made an emotional or personal connection with the apps. (For example, I find myself using Snapchat when I’m bored. I use Path when I think about a friend. I use Flipboard when I feel like I don’t have anyone to talk to at a social event, so I might look busy.)
The next few times you are on the phone, try to identify the specific internal triggers that led to this. It could be a sensation, but it could also be a belief – for example, Yammer product manager Jason Shah turned on the TV before bed because he believed the TV would help him recharge . Find out which beliefs support your internal triggers.
Apps want you to put energy into them
When you chat with a friend on Facebook, follow someone on Twitter, or chat with someone on LinkedIn, you will improve your experience of using these services the next time you use them. This is what mobile apps want from you. You are investing time and energy in perfecting your experience, so quitting will become less attractive and more difficult.
For example, if you have 1,000 Facebook friends, but you only have 50 of their phone numbers or email addresses, you will continue to use Facebook to stay in touch with them. As you all upload more photos online, you become more attached to it, because if you stop using it, you won’t be able to access those valuable photos.
Of course, you can invest some of your time and energy in these networks. However, it’s also important to make sure you start diversifying your investments. If possible, find out the email addresses or phone numbers of your close friends and acquaintances. Store copies of the content you want on your hard drive . Likewise, don’t download information that you absolutely don’t need, and don’t make sure you know how to get data from something if you ever want to. Make it as painless as possible to leave the service if you ever want to.
You may have already spent a lot of time on your apps making them suit your tastes or chatting with your friends, but that’s not a reason to stick with it. This can be a prime example of the sunk cost misconception where people stick with bad options because they are investing time / energy / money in something, even if it’s bad for them.
Now that you know about your investment, pay attention to what services you are spending your time and energy on. You may realize that you were digging in a hole for a service that you were not particularly interested in.
Apps reward you for coming back
Apps trap you by rewarding you with points or emotions of different types and intensities. The unpredictability of these variable rewards makes them all the more powerful. Sometime after receiving the award, we yearn for more. We are focusing on trying to get the next award. You will learn the power of variable rewards if you try to talk to someone who is playing a video game or watching a really good movie.
When you use them, apps reward you with a sense of connection, relief, and excitement. The more you use them, the more you want to use them.
You have to reward yourself for managing your impulses with apps. For example, if you are having trouble falling asleep, instead of using the app, relax with soothing music, or get up and read a book. Meditate or do light exercise – anything that doesn’t give you the stimulation that the glowing, ever-renewing screen gives you.
Separate your mind from mobile devices (a little)
Apps can be very interesting and very powerful. However, they can also grab your attention when you are trying to focus. They tempt you to invest your time and energy in them so that you find them even more attractive. They reward you for using them. Now you understand how they work, and you can figure out what exactly interests you. Use this information to take your mind off your apps. Use your apps, don’t let apps use you.