Tackling the root of the problem.

The widely popular tech designer, Nir Eyal believes that we as individuals must look inward to understand the eager need for distractions primarily taking place on our phone (Hari). Although this sense of addiction is in fact an industry wide problem taking place in all of society, Eyal explains how we must change and adapt as individuals in order to break away from the hold social media and our screens have on us. Furthermore, Eyal expresses how internal triggers of discomfort or stress cause one to look for distractions (as avoidance) to get away from these stressors in our lives.

“We are living in an era where capturing moments on our phone is more important than actually living these moments with whoever is beside us.” -Unknown

In Stolen Focus, by Johnathan Hari, the author shares his standpoint on Eyal’s argument and generally, I agree with Hari over Eyal. Hari states that Eyal is talking from a privileged perspective where he is able to control the stressors in his day to day life. However, not everyone is able to do this. Those people with external stressors may need a distraction and as planned by the designers/ tech experts, our screens are just that to ‘get away’ from our stress. 

“To overcome this process of becoming hooked on our apps and devices, we have to develop individual skills to resist the part inside all of us that succumbs to these distractions. He argues that to do that, we primarily have to look inward—to the reasons why we want to use them compulsively in the first place” (Hari 141)

Personally, I think it is unfair for Eyal to call this an individual problem and solution, because as Hari stated, we must start from the root of the problem, which is the companies. These tech and social media companies are so persuasive that they can create a sense of craving from users which lead to more engagement and more money (Hari). Eyal is backing up the idea that these addictions are created by industries who then blame their users. 

In my experience, I often use my phone and scrolling as a buffer. As someone who struggles with mental health, specifically with anxiety, I use my phone as an escape specifically at night or at social situations. These digital distractions from my daily stressors help me feel relaxed until I fall into the endless loop of ‘doom scrolling’. I find it unfair that the tech industry is blaming us for the problems they created.

Hari shares the words “Cruel Optimism” where society or in this case, industries, blame individuals although they have limited ability to fix it. I thought this was particularly interesting as this is a way for people to blame themselves, in response feeling more negative and possibly returning to digital distractions and therefore giving the industry more and more money. The industry is taking advantage of its users, focusing on their personal gain more so then their user’s gain. 

Hari suggests that this problem can be solved, however we must form a large movement in order to overcome the industry’s issues. Moreover, he states that redesigning the apps in order to not be so distracting and help you make real world connections is one way to help this pandemic of digital addition. 

“Sometimes I hear people say it’s too late to make certain changes to the web or platforms or digital technology,” James Williams told me. But the ax, he said, existed for 1.4 million years before anybody thought to put a handle on it. The web, by contrast, is “less than ten thousand days old.” (Hari 165)

From personal experience, the endless scroll feature on nearly all social media platforms, is my biggest weakness. As Hari briefly mentioned, if there was a limit to the scroll or at least a button to ‘keep continuing’, that moment to pause may help many users distance themselves from ‘doom-scrolling’, including myself.

Hari, Johann. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention–and How to Think Deeply Again. Crown, 2022.

Hey, I’m Ashley!

I am a graphic & interactive designer passionate about creating purposeful, fun, and engaging design. Whether it’s a brand identity, a responsive website, or a social media campaign, I love connecting ideas with strategy to make work that’s not only beautiful, but effective.