FROM GUTTER TO GOOGLE –
April 9, 2025 – Addiction is not limited to substances like alcohol and drugs but extends to behaviours such as smartphone use, gaming, gambling and pornography. The essence of addiction is escaping and avoiding emotional discomfort, which can lead to habitual behaviours turning into addictions.
Research from Cybersafe Kids has found that 25 per cent of Irish six-year-olds have a smartphone while more than 80 per cent of 8-12-year-olds have unsupervised access to smart devices in their bedrooms.
Addiction changes the brain, particularly the reward pathway, which is grounded in the older part of the brain.
Dopamine, a motivational neurotransmitter, drives people to seek more rewards, leading to addictive behaviours. Smartphones and other technologies hijack this part of the brain and can cause structural changes over time.
In our series, Professor Anna Lembke compares smartphones to drugs, a scary proposition for parents.
