The Cognitive Effects of the Digital World; The Rise of Psychological Attention-Gripping Techniques Used by Online Platforms and ADHD Diagnosis

9/13/2024

In the wake of COVID-19, modern society has significantly increased interdependency with the online world and entwined daily activities with technology to sustain vital parts of life, such as education, careers, and social connections. Phycologists and neuroscientists have begun a series of studies to determine the overall outcome of the digital age on the human brain. These studies show that technology's adverse effects on human cognition may be more extensive than previously thought.

Online platforms constantly compete for users' attention to gain a profit and utilize attention-grabbing techniques that create an endless stream of distractions. The methods used by media companies to gain consumer views are proven to lead to impairments of the brain in areas of multi-tasking, which displays symptoms of ADHD, correlated to ADHD diagnoses that have skyrocketed in the last 15 years (Firth et al. par. 17). The article “Online Brain”: How the Internet May be Changing Our Cognition, written by Firth et al., unfurls the harmful effects of the Internet on the human brain and describes the implication of media platforms in using psychological techniques to gain user attention. Firth describes that big tech and media companies “…intentionally capitali[ze] on the addictive potential of the Internet, by studying, testing, and refining the attention‐grabbing aspects of their websites and applications…without due concern for user well‐being” (Firth et al. par. 4). Companies' constant bombardment of attention-seeking ads leads the users’ attention down a rabbit hole of click-bait quality content.

Recent findings convey that the distracting atmosphere online causes users to consistently multi-task; multiple switches between various apps and webpages occur within minutes or seconds of each other. A recent cross-sectional study of individuals highly engaged in media and those who are not showed that contrary to the results researchers had anticipated, individuals heavily involved online do not present above-average multi-tasking skills (Firth et al. par. 11).  The data discovered through cognitive tests that users involved heavily in multi-tasking displayed decreased ability in multi-tasking tests due to “… increased susceptibility to distraction from irrelevant environmental stimuli” (Firth et al. par. 9). The distractions innate to media and online environments hinder the multi-tasking skills of users by providing users with consistent stimulation that is rewarded with releases of dopamine, increasing the incentive for further emersion online. The study found that participants viewed 75% of all online content for less than one minute (Firth et al. par. 11). The rise of online engagement presents a clear correlation to the adverse effects on multi-tasking and attention-based abilities of media users.

Citations

Firth, Joseph, et al. “The ‘Online Brain’: How the Internet May Be Changing Our Cognition.” World Psychiatry: Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 18 June 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6502424/.