Internet Addiction, Pigeons, and Us
By Ted Grudin
It is no secret among the psychology community that internet addiction is one of the most rapidly growing behavioral trends in the world. People simply cannot live without checking their email multiple times per day (you never know when that important email is going to show up!), checking those news websites (maybe there is important news that was just added!), or simply aimlessly wandering the annals of cyberspace. Recently it dawned on me that we are a lot like pigeons in our endless patience with the internet and its rare fruits.
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) was famous for his work with pigeons that highlighted the idea of “operant conditioning”: a kind of conditioning that differs from classical conditioning in that it operates with the modification of voluntary behavior through the use of consequences. In the experiment, Skinner offered food rewards to pigeons when they pecked at a little button in their cages. The study showed that the pigeons would peck over and over and over until, finally, a morsel of food would be offered to them.
What makes us so different to Skinner’s pigeons? The answer: not all that much. The primary difference is that when we compulsively check our Gmail Inbox or drudgereport.com, we are not waiting for food to drop from the screen; rather, we are waiting for tidbits of information that could, in some way, nourish or feed our minds and/or our social life. Our hunger feeds on information that can potentially nourish our social and psychological reality rather than mere bodily nourishment.
In conclusion, we can stand proud about our distinction from pigeons. We do not carelessly and compulsively click on things for bits of food being offered to us by some scientist. No, we are so advanced that we wait for bits of usually useless, superficial information. Now please excuse me while I regurgitate pieces of stale, rotten bread for my young.