Addiction: The Gen Z Condition
With my 22nd birthday approaching, I find myself reflecting on the past eight years.
Have I accomplished enough? Am I satisfied with my growth? Did I use my formative years wisely?
At 21, I intensified my efforts to address the information addiction that has plagued me for nearly a decade.
At 20, I deactivated the Facebook account I made when I was 11. The vastness of my digital footprint on a single platform from my childhood is hard for me to stomach.
At 19, I realized I had spent 600 days Snapchatting the same person everyday simply to maintain a Snapstreak, a feature Snapchat developed to encourage people to continue using the app. I broke all my streaks not long after.
At 18, I was desperately frustrated with myself and embarked on a journey of self-transformation. I am happy with the person I have become since.
At 17, my world was dark and I was depressed. I struggled to identify why.
At 16, I began living online. My worldview was molded and manipulated by what I read on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. I spent every night in front of my laptop with thousands of other teenagers; I had met maybe twenty of them in person.
At 15, Snapchat introduced Stories. It became that much easier to show others how much fun we had with our friends, or the cool places we went. It suddenly felt like nothing I did mattered unless it was validated by the views of others. I forgot how to live outside of the pictures I shared with others and became obsessed with who saw my stories.
At 14, I got the iPhone 4s. As I finished eighth grade, I downloaded Instagram.
Although I am proud of my growth and who I have become, I am conscious that I came of age in a turning point of human history. My peers and I were not equipped to navigate the rapid succession of developments in the digital age. Our self esteem, sense of self, and understanding of communication were constantly tested and transformed with each technological advance and new app.
I was part of the first generation of people to grow up this way.
When I entered high school, the majority of my friends had the iPhone 4. Some had Android equivalents, and few had cell phones that were not smartphones. Although we had already been texting for years, the iPhone 4 marked a significant shift in our communication with each other.
iMessage was faster than texting and allowed for group chats. Group chats via texting are riddled with problems: Texts are often sent out of order or lost in translation. As such, these chats are characterized by slowness and miscommunication. They demand patience that teenagers in 2012 quickly lost.
With iMessage, we were able to communicate with multiple friends anywhere and easily, a luxury that was previously reserved for the computer with Wifi access. Our mass-communication now had mobility!
The iPhone 4 had two cameras: A front and a back. We could now take pictures of ourselves without having to guess if we would be in the frame or not. There was no excuse not to take a selfie at soccer games, dances, sleepovers… And share them for all to see on Facebook.
Instagram became popular when I was in eighth grade (2012). Our iPhones equipped us to take selfies and pictures of each other, and we begin growing our feeds.
2012 also gave us Snapchat. Now I could upgrade from nonstop texting to nonstop texting AND sending pictures! With little discipline or self-awareness, the steady stream of notifications made it harder for me to put the phone down. I did not think about what I was doing; sending and receiving thoughtless information became second nature.
Everyone else was doing it too… So I had no reason to question myself.
At 14, I was primed for the addiction I have now.
My growing independence and journey to self-sufficiency as a young adult was marked by my increasing dependence on my phone. I forgot how to be without my phone. It charged next to me as I slept. I grew accustomed to listening to Netflix as I fell asleep. It woke me up as my alarm clock each morning.
I forgot how to be without my phone.
My habits changed. A voracious reader as a child, I began to read less. It’s really hard to focus on reading when your phone gets a text every 45 seconds!
I left for college, taking my streaks with me. Months later, Juuls were put onto the market.
At 19, my generational cohort had been primed for addiction. We had been primed for immediate gratification and quick fixes. It can be no surprise to anybody that Juuls would become a staple of our culture.
Juuls, like iPhones, are sleek and simple. The user does not have to think to use them. They both provide pleasure anytime, anywhere. I think the dopamine rush of likes, comments, Snapchats, and texts made us more susceptible to the head rush of a nicotine blaster.
If you have never been with someone who has lost their Juul, allow me to explain: People become obsessed and crazed, and beg others for a hit of theirs. Somebody once told me that he only had to buy a new Juul a couple times when he was out and realized he did not have his Juul. Only.
Obviously we were prepared to accept a new addiction into our lives. Our brains were redesigned for it.
There are other reasons for the cultural prominence of Juuls. After all, vaping was nothing new.
I simply believe that our formative teenage years, which were filled with the development of serious (and socially accepted) addictions, positioned us to be accepting of other habits that provided us with similar sensations: Mindless and fleeting highs.
I never had a Juul, but I am well aware of what they do to the mind and body.
In short, we are addicted to stimulus. We are addicted to the neurotransmitter whirl of the reward system in our brains. A major problem with addiction is that one’s tolerance of a drug increases the more one uses said drug. This means addicts need something stronger to maintain their addiction.
We are a generation of addicts, but I cannot say we are entirely to blame. I do not think anybody knew what would happen between the years of 2012 and 2020. We were the guinea pigs for the current digital landscape.
I am now conscious of how I use my phone and how it affects me. I have limited my participation in social media. I try to help others recognize when their phones are impacting their mental health.
I have been retraining my attention span so I can read again. I know I have a severe addiction to my phone, but I have made progress in overcoming this issue. It definitely has not been easy, and has resulted in some social isolation.
We can be an example. People younger than me do not need to experience what I experienced. Taming the beast of smart phones and excessive digital stimulus is a daunting task, but I do not think it is impossible. With awareness, we can make different choices.
At 22, I plan to check my phone less. I will read more. I will limit how much dopamine my phone provides me and instead seek that out from relationships and successes outside of my devices.
At 22, I will beat my addiction and create healthier habits. My devices can be tools that help me accomplish my objectives, or vices that interfere with my health and progress. I am determined to use my phone as a tool, and leave the unproductive habits in the past.
I am Dana, Co-Founder of Choice Forward & manager/assistant/strategist (among other things) to Garden Marcus. We are sharing kindness, patience, and positivity to empower individuals and strengthen communities. I love reflecting on my experience growing up in the digital age. My writing is just for fun :)
