Anti-Social Screen Obsession is Actually Due to Hyper-Social Need to Connect with Others Says New Study

While it's no secret that we, as modern people, have an unhealthy fixation with our various electronic screens, a new study suggests that our obsession with technology actually comes from a pro-social desire to connect with others.

According to the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, Canada's findings which were recently published in Frontiers in Psychology, our anti-social proclivities to bury our face in our screens are not anti-social in nature at all, but rather, "hyper-social."

More specifically, the study, led by Professor Samuel Veissiere, explains that the desire to monitor ourselves and others - aka, addiction to social media, etc. - actually 'runs deep in our evolutionary past.'

According to Veissière, human social development evolved in a unique way:

"Humans evolved to be a uniquely social species and require constant input from others to seek a guide for culturally appropriate behavior. This is also a way for them to find meaning, goals, and a sense of identity."

With the help of his team, Veissière, a cognitive anthropologist, was able to conclude that the most addictive aspects of smartphone functionalities all share one thing in common: 

"They tap into the human desire to connect with others." 

To read more about this groundbreaking study, please click the link below: 

A new study of dysfunctional use of smart technology finds that the most addictive smartphone functions all share a common theme: they tap into the human desire to connect with other people. The findings, published in Frontiers in Psychology, suggest that smartphone addiction could be hyper-social, not anti-social.

"There is a lot of panic surrounding this topic," says Professor Samuel Veissière, from the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, Canada. "We're trying to offer some good news and show that it is our desire for human interaction that is addictive -- and there are fairly simple solutions to deal with this."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180307141337.htm