Emily Kwong
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In preparing for this conversation, you also sent me an interesting study looking at empirical evidence from China.
It's titled, Understanding Older Adult Smartphone Addiction in the Digital Age.
and it looked at a survey of 371 subjects.
What'd you make of that paper?
That is so fascinating to me because it suggests that it's the social factors that drive people into the arms of technology.
But the thing that's so hard about tech is it's hard to leave.
Like we've all been caught doom scrolling.
So are you seeing older folks having just as a hard time putting their phone down as we younger people are?
And I mean, how does this square with other with what we know about how the brain just gets hooked on things, period, regardless of age?
Like what happens when we pick up our phones that makes it sometimes so hard to put down or you pick it up mindlessly where you didn't even intend to pick it up?
You're just like it's almost automatic.
Like what is our brain doing in that moment?
Like when a kid eats like too much candy and they're just like...
And then they crash.
It's a sugar rush, yeah.
What I'm hearing is there's a real risk for overuse when it comes to screens.
But I also hear you saying there are benefits to technology, including technology use among the elderly.