Search Here

Digital addiction is slowly becoming a problem for the masses, according to a marketing professor. It is a trap that is hard to escape from.

Adam Alter, a New York University associate professor of marketing, believes that society is on the brink of behavioral addiction. This could have dangerous and strong implications for everyone. Digital addiction could be as harmful as the effects of alcohol, drugs and nicotine.

Some people think that digital addiction is a problem that only affects certain kinds of people. According to Alter, this kind of behavioral problem is a concern for the masses. Estimates suggest that half of the developed world has a digital addiction problem.

Everyone is a potential addict waiting for the right circumstance in life to trigger the digital addiction. Alter illustrates how this behavioral addiction comes to life. A person who is lonely finds access to a video game that connects him to millions of other people in the world. A depressed person may numb his emotions by reading all information in the news feed.

Digital addiction is being hooked on, but not limited to, video games, social media, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. This behavioral problem has a long-term consequence in the financial, physical, mental or social well-being of the person.

Escaping from digital addiction is not a lost case, but it can be a struggle. According to Donna Freitas, a sociologist who interviewed 200 students about their social media addiction, there is a combination of pleasure and pain in being imprisoned to the addiction.

A psychologist, who runs a programme to help players overcome their addiction from an online game called "World of Warcraft," said that "once your cucumber brain has become pickled, it can never go back to being a cucumber." Digital addiction is a trap that is hard to escape from.