From the printing press to the advent of film photography, new technology has played a major role in the ways humans think about the world and their position in it. Rapid technological progress in the last 50 years, though, has intensely altered the way we interact with each other. As a result, the way we think is notably different as we consume new information, communicate with others, and internalize our feelings.

While there are significant benefits to the ease of access to exciting new technologies, it is not without its risks. Many people—adults and adolescents alike—struggle with internet addiction. In a study by the National Institute of Health (NIH), they concluded there needs to be more awareness of the dangers of internet addiction, especially in an age where the internet is required for many of our daily obligations.¹

To help make sense of it all and to provide effective solutions to unintended, severe mental health problems that arise from online technology, researchers have developed a new field: cyberpsychology, which seeks to understand the varying psychological effects of technology. Cyberpsychologists research disciplines such as psychology, sociology, forensics, computer science, and philosophy to identify and find new ways to treat technology-related addictions.2 

How Does Technology Impact Psychology?

Modern technology has created a climate where online behaviors can have immense mental health consequences offline. In other words, technology is dramatically changing the way people think and feel. From sitting in front of screens for work to using screens for escapism and entertainment, we are increasingly experiencing phenomena like burnout, technology addiction, and brain rot.  

Brain rot is a relatively new issue researchers are studying that is caused by constant engagement with social media, online videos, video games, television, and other forms of screen time. This incessant use of technology and high screen time can overstimulate our brains and lead to serious mental health issues. With our phones providing constant streams of news and information, it can be difficult to escape cycles of scrolling, especially since smartphone use has been proven to increase the production of dopamine, which can result in feelings of gratification.³

According to the Forbes Coaches Council, the way we interact with each other and our perceptions of reality have dramatically shifted because of the effect of technology on our thinking.⁴ Buying and selling things, dating, planning a doctor visit, and even waiting in line has changed. As a result, our approach to the world and ourselves has taken an entirely new form where we’re constantly inundated by new information. Through our 24-hour news cycle, an endless feed of text and images, and an unending exposure to celebrity and influencer culture, our ways of thinking have been undeniably linked to technology. 

Social Media Addiction

Behavioral addictions related to social media are gaining attention in psychological circles as people find it more difficult to disconnect from technological opportunities around them. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health claims both extroverts and introverts are developing addictive practices because of the easy access to social networking sites (SNSs). The report found that the more people are engaged with social media in unhealthy ways, the more likely they are to have lower academic achievement, lower job performance, and greater real-life relationship problems. This helps answer the question: What does social media do to your brain? 

There are numerous telltale signs that a person might be experiencing social media addiction. Some include:⁶ 

• Thinking about social media often when not using it 

• Spending less time doing other activities or hobbies to use social media 

• Spending less time with others to use social media 

• Experiencing feelings of anxiety and irritability when you can’t access social media 

• Using social media to cope with unwanted emotions 

Social media can also have a negative impact on our self-esteem and how we perceive ourselves. Because people tend to post about positive life experiences, it can be easy to compare ourselves to others and develop a false sense of what their lives are like. This can lead to unrealistic expectations and perceptions of reality. Peer pressure has always been a problem, but with the ability to constantly compare our lives, it’s more prevalent than ever.  

One effective tool for assessing social media addiction is the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, which was originally designed for Facebook addiction but has since been generalized for all forms of social media. It includes six questions to consider. For each, the participant assigns points as follows: (1) very rarely, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) often, or (5) very often:⁷ 

1. Spend a lot of time thinking about social media or planning how to use it
2. Feeling an urge to use social media more and more 
3. Using social media to forget about personal problems
4. Trying to cut down on the use of social media without success 
5. Becoming restless or troubled when prohibited from using social media. 
6. Using social media so much that it has had a negative impact on work or school 

Scores below 12 indicate normal use, scores between 12 and 18 indicate problematic use, and higher scores indicate internet addiction.⁸

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is a psychological, social, and technological phenomenon where users experience severe mental health consequences like anxiety, lower self-esteem, and depression because of content posted on social media. In other words, users feel FOMO when they see friends or followers post content that exclude them, which only further exacerbates feelings of isolation.

Online Gaming Addictions

Gambling addiction has always been a serious issue, but like many other addictions, it has been enhanced by the internet’s ease of access. Both websites and smartphone apps allow users to make bets with real money on virtual poker games, lotteries, sports games, and more.  

According to the American Psychiatric Association, a gambling disorder “leads to problems for the individual, families, and society. Adults and adolescents with gambling disorder have trouble controlling their gambling. They will continue even when it causes significant problems.” Their criteria for identifying a gambling disorder requires at least four of the following be met within the past year:⁹ 

• Need to gamble with increasing amounts to achieve the desired excitement 

• Restlessness or irritability when trying to cut down or stop gambling 

• Repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back on or stop gambling 

• Frequent thoughts about gambling (such as reliving past gambling or planning future gambling) 

• Often gambling when feeling distressed 

• After losing money gambling, often returning to get even 

• Relying on others to help with money problems caused by gambling 

It’s important to recognize the signs of a potential gambling addiction now that the barrier to entry has been significantly reduced. From therapy to cutting out gambling completely, there are a variety of ways to help treat this disorder once it’s been identified.  

The internet has also contributed to a rise in video game addictions. Even though the World Health Organization has recently identified “gaming disorder” as a classified issue worthy of greater attention,¹⁰ psychologists remain split on how to approach it from a clinical standpoint. The American Psychiatric Association rightly finds that the disorder, which is continuing to gain popularity, should receive more research in scholarly and academic circles.⁹ The more data that researchers have to work with, the better equipped they can be to respond. 

Porn Addiction

AMuch like gambling addiction, addiction to pornography has become more of a problem in the digital space. Accessing pornography is easier than it’s ever been, and it increases the risk of developing an addiction or for a pre-existing addiction to get worse.

According to WebMD, there are disputes in the medical community about whether porn addiction is a true addiction from a scientific perspective.¹¹While many studies have been done on how online porn affects the brain, the addiction is still not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Regardless of whether it is officially recognized in the DSM, easy access to porn can have a negative affect on one’s life and put a strain on mental health and relationships.

Signs of a potential online porn addiction include¹¹:

• Porn becoming a central part of daily life
• Neglect of personal care
• Loss of interest in other activities
• Loss of interest in social encounters
• Damage to relationships

There are several risk factors for developing an addiction to porn including changes in brain chemistry and ease of access. Since this can have a drastic impact on physical and emotional well-being, it’s always important to be careful and seek help if you think you or a loved one has a problem.

FOMO

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is a psychological, social, and technological phenomenon where users experience severe mental health consequences like anxiety, lower self-esteem, and depression because of content posted on social media. In other words, users feel FOMO when they see friends or followers post content that excludes them, which only further exacerbates feelings of isolation.

FOMO can play a major role in social media addiction and the negative feelings and emotions caused by endlessly comparing ourselves to others. Researcher Volkan Dogan in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology studied the responses of 566 respondents and found “that FOMO is positively associated with interdependent self-construal.”¹² By altering the way we feel like we fit into the world, social media and other forms of online FOMO have an unprecedented amount of control over our self-perception.

Another study by the University of Glasgow examined the mental health consequences of social media use in 467 high-school-aged students. They found evidence that teenagers are pressured by what they experience on social media and continually face the need to be always available.¹³ With the prevalence of social media and lessening feelings of privacy, there is an increasing need to re-learn how to occasionally disconnect for our mental health.

Numbing

The overuse of social media, binge watching on streaming platforms, and excessive online gaming can also contribute to a symptom researchers refer to as numbing. Numbing may serve multiple psychological functions, such as replacing emotional regulation skills and distracting from stress or uncomfortable feelings.

Joe Nemmers, LISW of UnityPoint Health explains this numbing response as an action of our sympathetic nervous system: “In the face of physical or emotional pain, or a traumatic incident, our sympathetic nervous system has three responses: fight, flight or freeze. Emotional numbing is freezing. Our brain shuts down as a protective response to keep us safe when our nervous system is overloaded.”¹⁴

This response is a form of dissociation we get by avoiding complex feelings by escaping into the digital space. Whether our escape is social media, streaming platforms, gambling, or pornography, access to our phones often feels like a more comfortable alternative than facing our feelings and putting the work in to improve our mental well-being.

One way to find out if you may be experiencing internet addiction and numbing is to answer a few simple questions.

1. Do you sometimes scroll on your phone or stream videos out of boredom or to avoid difficult situations?
2. Do you find yourself thinking about social media, streaming, or online games when you are living in the moment with friends and family?
3. Do you ever find yourself clicking back and forth between social media apps on your phone when you had planned on doing something else (like reading a book)?
4. Does your phone keep you up at night?
5. Do you ever feel embarrassed by how much time you spend on your phone, games, or streaming and try to keep it a secret from your friends?
6. Do you use the internet or play online games to avoid doing work at your job?

If you answered yes to most of these, you could have a problem with internet addiction.

The Significance of Cyberpsychology

As technology advances and increasingly continues to affect our modes of thinking, psychologists have developed a new field to study the psychological effects of technology. The result is cyberpsychology, which has become a meeting point for psychologists and scientists representing a vast array of disciplinary concentrations.

The interdisciplinary approach has received significantly more attention in scholarly circles because of its exploration of topics like:

Online dating and relationships: As we move more and more toward online dating services and smartphone apps (Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, etc.) as the primary way to meet partners, more research needs to be done on how this shapes future relationships, affects self-esteem, and impacts gender views and norms.

Self-perception in an online space: Our self-perceptions will continue to be affected by our use of social media and other social technologies, and we need a better understanding of what this will do to mental health trends.

Social media and internet addiction: The internet has opened the door to many new types of addictions. We need to continue to study these to find beneficial ways to combat and prevent them.

Regressive and problematic behavior types online: The anonymity provided by certain web forums and comment sections can often lead to problematic behavior. This can be one of the most damaging aspects of online activity and needs to be studied more.

Moreover, the scholars attached to this group find the blossoming field necessary because our world continues to blend technology and psychology.

The field is rising in popularity so much that a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal has been developed to confront these issues of pervasive technology and its effect on our psyches. Called Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, the publication looks to provide empirical, quantitative, and qualitative research on several known or unknown problems brought on by digital landscape.¹⁵ Here, the groundwork is being laid for future attention to the ongoing intersection of technology and psychology, where serious and pressing topics can be explored by authorities across a variety of fields.

In sum, cyberpsychology exists today to give research questions concerning the undeniable link between technology and psychology to help improve the human experience. By collecting raw data and applying that data to solid conclusions, people are ultimately much better equipped to confront contemporary psychological problems that arise in our constantly connected world.

If you’re interested in learning more about technology addiction, cyberpsychology, and other exciting studies in the psychology field, King University’s online Bachelor of Science in Psychology could be for you. You’ll gain the knowledge, skills, and insight necessary to pursue a fulfilling career helping those in need. Take the next step in your education today.

View Degree Details

Sources

1. National Library of Medicine. “Internet Addiction, Psychological Distress, and Coping Responses Among Adolescents and Adults.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5485234/.  
2. New Jersey Institute of Technology. “What is Cyberpsychology and Why is it Important?.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.njit.edu/admissions/blog-posts/what-cyberpsychology-and-why-it-important. 
3. Newport Institute. “Brain Rot: The Impact on Young Adult Mental Health.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.newportinstitute.com/resources/co-occurring-disorders/brain-rot/. 
4. Forbes. “Technology Is Shaping Your Psychology, And Here’s How You Can Benefit.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/05/27/technology-is-shaping-your-psychology-and-heres-how-you-can-benefit/#392d252a644e.  
5. MDPI. “Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of the Psychological Literature.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/9/3528.  
6. GoodRx. “Social Media Addiction: Could Your Scrolling Habits Be a Problem?.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.goodrx.com/well-being/behavioral-addiction/addicted-to-social-media. 
7. Salford PsyTech. “Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://hub.salford.ac.uk/psytech/2021/08/10/bergen-social-media-addiction-scale/. 
8. BMC Women’s Health. “The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale: its psychometric properties and invariance among women with eating disorders.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-022-01677-2#:~:text=The%20Six%2Ditem%20Internet%20Addiction%20Test,-The%20Spanish%20version&text=Responses%20are%20rated%20on%20a,ranges%20between%200%20and%2030. 
9. American Psychiatric Association. “Gambling Disorder.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gambling-disorder. 
10. World Health Organization. “Addictive behaviours: Gambling disorder.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/addictive-behaviours-gaming-disorder. 
11. WebMD. “Porn Addiction.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/porn-addiction-possible.
12. Sage Journals. “Why Do People Experience the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)? Exposing the Link Between the Self and the FoMO Through Self-Construal.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022022119839145 
13. Woods, H. C. and Scott, H. (2016) #Sleepyteens: social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Journal of Adolescence, 51, pp. 41-49. (doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.05.008) 
14. UnityPoint Health. “A Therapist Explains Why We Shut Down When Flooded with Big Emotions.” Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.unitypoint.org/news-and-articles/a-therapist-explains-why-we-shut-down-when-flooded-with-big-emotions. 
15. Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace Cyberpsychology. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://cyberpsychology.eu/.