Are We Addicted? A Digital Dinosaur Walks Into The Townsquare

I didn’t grow up with the internet, social media, or any of this digital circus. While everyone else was rolling, texting, posting, and scrolling, I was… not. I didn’t understand any of it.

Now that I’m campaigning, I’ve had to learn it fast and I've had a great time interacting with people online. I now understand why people spend a lot of time on social media and how it can become such a huge part of our lives. I Once thought that people were "addicted" to their phones but now I see the bigger picture and here's my analysis for what it's worth.

We’re not addicted to our phones. We’re addicted to what they give us. Connection, validation, stimulation, escape, identity, and the neurological rewards that come with them.

The phone is a slot machine in your pocket.

Every notification, like, comment, or message triggers a dopamine spike, the neurotransmitter that drives anticipation and reward.

Unpredictable rewards (maybe there’s a message, maybe not) are the most addictive form of reinforcement known in psychology.

The brain learns: check phone → maybe get reward → check again.

This is why people reach for their phones without thinking.

Humans are wired to seek social approval because, historically, acceptance meant survival.

Phones give: Likes, Comments, Shares, “Seen” receipts, Quick replies

Each one is a tiny hit of “you matter,” “you’re seen,” “you’re included.”

People aren’t scrolling for entertainment, they’re scrolling for connection.

Phones give: Group chats, Community threads, Shared memes, Inside jokes, Political tribes, Church groups, Family updates

It’s the digital version of sitting around the village fire.

Except now the fire is 24/7 and never runs out of wood.

Plenty of people will say it’s unhealthy to spend a lot of time on our phones. Maybe they’re right. But if this is the new "town square" , the new place where people gather, argue, laugh, share ideas, and build community then we have to reconcile that reality. Things change. The world has changed. The world is changing. And who knows… give it a few years and we might not even be arguing with real people online anymore , we’ll be debating with robots who type faster than we do. At least they won’t take things personally!