From the course: Taking a Break from Your Phone

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Resist the urge to pick up the phone

Resist the urge to pick up the phone

From the course: Taking a Break from Your Phone

Start my 1-month free trial

Resist the urge to pick up the phone

“

- Despite following the concepts in this course, you may still find it difficult to resist that urge to pick up your phone. This stems from both your personal tendencies and product design that encourages compulsive behavior. The urge to check your phone is like gambling. People continue to play slot machines because of a psychological concept called variable ratio reward. Slot machines are enticing because from time to time, you pull the lever and it pays off. Often, nothing happens, but it's that hope, that possibility that if you pull the lever something exciting might happen, so you keep doing it. Your phone is the same. Usually when you pick it up, there's not much of a reward. But every once in a while you get that little pat on the back. You win a game, you read a promising email, you see a picture that makes you smile. And that little surge of dopamine tells your brain that picking up this little glowing…

Contents