Parents are addicted to mobile phones, which only brings harm, so should we confiscate their phones?

gossip

"Old people's 'addiction' to short videos is harmful to their body and mind, do they need to 'quit ' ? "

It is easy for the elderly to become addicted to mobile phones because their willpower decreases with age. For their own good, we need to help them "quit" and it is best to keep them away from smartphones.

Rumor Analysis

This statement is too arbitrary.

On the one hand, many short video apps now use all means to get people to watch as much as possible, and people of any age may become addicted. On the other hand, moderate use of mobile phones, including watching short videos, is good for later life, so it cannot be simply "one size fits all".

"My mother was snatched away by a short video"

"What should I do? Short videos have driven my parents crazy."

“Is there any school for seniors to stop internet addiction? Please enroll my parents.”
…

The addiction of the elderly to mobile phones, especially to short videos, has been frequently called for attention on the Internet in the past two years and has become a pain point for some families. Is this just because the elderly have lost their self-control? The answer is of course not that simple.

Today, let’s briefly talk about why the elderly are so addicted to short videos.

Recommendation algorithms are addictive

There is a sophisticated mechanism behind the algorithm of short video products - recommendation algorithm. These algorithms will count the user's behavior data, recommend content that matches their interests and attention, and continuously push short videos that people can't stop watching.
The longer users use the product, the more behavioral data they accumulate, the better the system understands you, and the more accurate the recommendation algorithm is. After retirement, the elderly have more free time, so once they are exposed to short videos, parents spend several times more time playing with their phones than we do, and of course they become addicted faster.

Moreover, for the elderly, they may not have such a wide range of interests, and they don’t understand recommendation algorithms very well, let alone how to deal with them. Therefore, once they are involved in a certain type of content, they may easily fall into a repetitive viewing cycle.

So, how can we make parents realize this?

Short videos are the electronic version of "eating melon seeds"

The short video recommendation system can be compared to "eating melon seeds" to help parents understand: "Short videos are like melon seeds. They are easy to eat. One bite is not much, but you can eat a whole bag without realizing it." This metaphor can explain that although the content of short videos is short, people can't stop watching them. Watching short videos again and again is like eating melon seeds or potato chips non-stop - you will soon be "full" and time will pass quietly.

This addictive mechanism can be explained by the brain's "reward circuit." Our brain secretes dopamine, which makes people feel happy, just like the reward after completing a level in a game. Whenever we do something that makes us happy, such as watching short videos or eating snacks, the brain releases dopamine, prompting us to repeat these behaviors. The "feedback loop" of short videos is very short, and a few seconds of video can produce a rapid secretion of dopamine, similar to eating potato chips in two seconds or easily cracking melon seeds. This instant feedback makes people addicted and crave more "small rewards."

This continuous small reward will make people unable to stop, until they finish a whole plate of sunflower seeds or a day's worth of short videos. This is because dopamine makes the brain feel that repeating this behavior is valuable, so people will unconsciously repeat this behavior.

Short videos are like blind boxes and lottery tickets

Short videos are hard to stop watching because they use a "blind box mechanism" - every time you scroll the screen, you don't know what the next video will be, it may be interesting or ordinary. This uncertainty makes people unable to stop scrolling, just like opening a blind box, full of expectations and occasional surprises.

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If you explain it to your parents, you can use the analogy of "buying lottery tickets": "Watching short videos is like buying lottery tickets. You know the chance of winning is low, but you can't help but buy the next one. The same is true for short videos. Every time you swipe, you always feel that the next video may be more interesting. " This "random reward" mechanism makes people addicted by constantly creating expectations and occasional rewards. Although most videos are mediocre, every time you watch a new video, your brain will have expectations and think that the next one may be more exciting.

The platform will even deliberately push a particularly exciting video after several ordinary videos, giving you a feeling of "winning" and adding a sense of surprise. This irregular reward mechanism is called "intermittent reinforcement", which is similar to the reward mechanism in gambling or games. The occasional "good content" will make people feel that they can see more exciting content if they continue to scroll, making it more difficult to resist and unable to stop.

Through this occasional "good content" reward, short video platforms make users feel that it is worthwhile to keep watching videos because you never know whether the next one will surprise you.

So, it’s not that the elderly have “weak wills”, but that this type of product really hits the user’s heart.

Need to "confiscate" the elderly

Smartphone?

Although we have talked about the "addiction" problem caused by short videos for a long time, there is no need to regard short videos as a "disaster" that makes the elderly addicted, let alone completely isolate the elderly from the Internet.

After all, the information age is like a high-speed train, rumbling forward. We are all on the same train, including the elderly at home. It is neither realistic nor necessary to simply prevent them from using it.

On the one hand, digital products do bring some benefits to the elderly.

Some social and psychological surveys and studies have shown that the elderly can obtain rich information to a certain extent by using various digital products, which makes their lives healthier and richer, and also helps to alleviate depression, including watching short videos.

On the other hand, we cannot ignore the psychological needs of the elderly. Loneliness is an important potential cause of Internet addiction among the elderly. Due to leaving the work environment, declining physical functions, and weak real social networks, the elderly are more likely to experience negative emotions such as loneliness, making them tend to seek social interaction or entertainment through the Internet to alleviate loneliness.

In addition to the entertainment attributes represented by short videos and games, the attributes of network tools are divided into many aspects, including communication and social attributes represented by chat software and video calls.

We also have to analyze objectively that the mobile information age still brings a lot of convenience to life. Smartphones also provide a lot of help and entertainment for parents. Of course, we also have to guide and help parents use them in a healthy way. In particular, we need to help the elderly improve their information literacy and avoid all kinds of scams.

For example, one of the author’s methods is that if your parents are trapped in the “information cocoon”, you just need to “drag” them out - physically dragging them requires you to exert a lot of strength, but cyber dragging only requires you to raise your phone and move your fingers.

Since we already know that short video apps recommend different things to different people, you can force your parents to see the popular science, fresh and interesting knowledge, and news in your mobile phone.

"Look, this is so interesting. In fact, the videos on your phone are mixed with a lot of fake news. Many people deliberately make them to deceive the elderly. Short video apps are recommended for college students and white-collar workers in big cities. They contain more interesting and useful content. If you don't believe me, take a look."

You can tell your parents this to make them realize that the videos in their phones are not the truth of the world, nor are they everything in this world.

Of course, if you find that your parents use their phones, especially short videos, for too long, and it has affected their normal life, such as vision loss, long-term sitting and other health risks, then we should accompany them more, persuade them, and help them make their lives as rich as possible, and not always watch short videos. For example, you can take your parents to walk outdoors more often, firstly to get away from the WiFi network, and secondly, the outdoor natural environment can make people look at their phones less.

When communicating with the elderly, just like communicating with children, you cannot just blame them. After all, it is not their fault at all.

Looking in the mirror of rumors

The prejudice of "quitting mobile phones" ignores the positive effects of mobile phones on the elderly, exaggerates the negative effects, and lacks scientific basis. We should look at the problem of elderly people using mobile phones comprehensively and objectively, help them use mobile phones correctly and healthily, and improve their quality of life. Sometimes, the seemingly unreasonable behavior of the elderly is actually justifiable. We might as well put ourselves in the shoes of our elders and help them meet their needs instead of blindly blaming and forcing them.

References

[1]4. Cui, K., Zou, W., Ji,

[2]Wolfram Schultz. Predictive Reward Signal of Dopamine Neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 1998 80:1, 1-27

[3]Wang, D., Liu, X., Chen, K. et al. Risks and protection: a qualitative study on the factors for internet addiction among elderly residents in Southwest China communities. BMC Public Health 24, 531 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-17980-6

[4] Zhao X, Wang L, Ge C, Zhen X, Chen Z, Wang J, et al. Smartphone application training program improves smartphone usage competency and quality of life among the elderly in an elder university in China: A randomized controlled trial. Int J Med Inform. (2020) 133:104010. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.104010

[5]Jia Y, Liu T and Yang Y (2022) The relationship between real-life social support and Internet addiction among the elderly in China. Front. Public Health 10:981307. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.981307

Author: Mumu, a senior product manager majoring in mathematics at Beijing Normal University and an AI entrepreneur

Reviewer: Yang Xiaoyang, Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University