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Posts Tagged ‘attention economy’

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Rising AI Addiction

In Opinion, sociology, Technology, Uncategorized on June 14, 2026 at 8:48 am

Deer In Headlines

By Gery Deer

A few years ago, people worried that artificial intelligence would eventually replace human workers. Today, another possibility is emerging, and it may arrive long before robot uprisings or mass unemployment. More and more people are becoming emotionally and psychologically dependent on AI systems that never sleep, never argue, never get bored, and never stop responding.

That dependence does not always look dramatic. It rarely begins with obsession. It starts innocently, usually disguised as productivity or curiosity. Someone asks an AI chatbot to summarize an article. Then they ask it to explain a difficult topic. Soon, they are discussing politics, relationships, career frustrations, or private fears with software designed to keep conversations going as long as possible. Hours disappear.

People increasingly report losing track of time while interacting with AI tools. A quick question becomes an evening of conversation. A work assignment turns into endless prompt refinement. Students claim they are researching while actually drifting through AI-generated distractions that feel productive without accomplishing much. The machine always has another answer, another idea, another response waiting instantly. Human beings have never encountered technology quite like this.

Television entertained audiences. Social media captured attention. Smartphones made distraction portable. Artificial intelligence combines all of those features while adding something far more powerful: interaction. AI responds directly to emotions, language, interests, and insecurities. It creates the illusion that someone is listening carefully, even when no actual understanding exists behind the screen.

That illusion matters because people are wired to seek validation, reassurance, and escape from discomfort. AI delivers all three immediately. Feeling lonely? The chatbot responds warmly. Feeling insecure? The chatbot encourages you. Feeling overwhelmed? The chatbot simplifies complicated decisions. Real human relationships require patience, compromise, and emotional effort. AI companions require almost nothing. For some users, that convenience can quietly become dependency.

Teenagers may be especially vulnerable because their social identities are still developing. Adults facing isolation, anxiety, or depression may also find AI interaction easier than navigating difficult human relationships. Employees working remotely can spend entire days communicating more with machines than with coworkers. Over time, the distinction between healthy use and compulsive reliance becomes increasingly blurred. There is another concern receiving far less public attention: the erosion of silence and reflection.

For generations, boredom served an important psychological purpose. Quiet moments allowed people to process emotions, reflect on problems, and develop independent thoughts. Waiting rooms, walks, and long drives once provided mental breathing space. Today, every pause can instantly be filled with AI interaction. Questions no longer remain unanswered. Uncertainty no longer lingers. The machine is always available to entertain, reassure, or distract. That may sound harmless, but constant stimulation changes behavior.

Researchers already know excessive social media use can affect sleep, attention spans, anxiety levels, and emotional health. Artificial intelligence could intensify those effects because it feels personal. Unlike scrolling through videos or reading random posts, AI systems simulate conversation and emotional engagement. They can mirror language patterns, reinforce beliefs, and encourage users to continue interacting. The long-term consequences remain largely unknown.

That uncertainty alone should concern parents, educators, employers, and policymakers. Society embraced social media long before understanding its psychological impact, particularly on younger users. By the time researchers recognized the extent of the damage, billions of people had already integrated those platforms into daily life. Artificial intelligence is advancing even faster, while public understanding remains dangerously limited.

None of this means AI should be feared or rejected entirely. Artificial intelligence can improve medical research, education, accessibility, and workplace efficiency. Used responsibly, it can become a valuable tool. The problem begins when tools evolve into substitutes for attention, relationships, creativity, or emotional resilience.

People should begin setting boundaries now rather than wait for future studies to confirm the obvious. Limiting recreational AI use, protecting device-free time, encouraging in-person relationships, and teaching digital self-awareness may become essential habits in the years ahead.

The greatest danger may not be that artificial intelligence becomes more human. It may be that humans gradually become less connected, less reflective, and less able to exist without constant digital reinforcement. Such existence diminishes us. Getting lost in a digital world only makes the real one harder to deal with if and when you ever come out of it.

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Slow Down

In Children and Family, Opinion, Uncategorized on January 27, 2026 at 8:42 am

Deer In Headlines

By Gery Deer

Every day I hear people comment about the exhausting pace of modern life. Most of us have felt that strange acceleration where time seems to pick up speed as birthdays pile on. It’s the moment you’re pulling holiday decorations from the attic and swear you just put them away. Of course you didn’t. A full year passed while you were looking at your phone.

Some of that is age, sure, but some of it is engineered. Modern life has a way of nudging us forward faster than we’re built to move, and the most persistent nudge lives in our pockets. The internet, and especially social media, has turned time into a moving sidewalk that never stops. You can stand still, but you’re still being carried somewhere.

I remember my first cell phone that could send text messages and, if memory serves, receive email. At the time it felt revolutionary. I worked outside an office most days, and suddenly important updates could find me without firing up a laptop. It was convenient, efficient, and undeniably useful. This is usually the part of the story where someone asks, “What could possibly go wrong?”

Then the iPhone arrived and the rock started rolling downhill, with all of us sprinting after it. Today we’re permanently connected. Texts, emails, alerts, pings, buzzes, banners, and badges stack up like unread magazines on a coffee table. Studies now link constant device use to anxiety, high blood pressure, and other ailments. The bigger question is why we tolerate it. The answer is uncomfortable. We asked for it.

The more we demand speed and convenience, the more manufacturers and app developers provide. They’re not just selling phones. They’re selling attention, collecting data, and turning it into a high return product. That data fuels more selling, more targeting, and more noise aimed right back at us. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s the business model, printed in very small type.

The byproduct is a permanent state of urgency. Time no longer feels as it once did. Information arrives in six second micro bites, and our brains are expected to digest it like a full meal. But they can’t. We skim, react, and move on. We mistake motion for understanding and speed for knowledge.

We’re all worried about so much – insane politics, societal division, jobs, kids, and the high cost of – well everything. The pressure never lets up. Instead of slowing down to understand what’s happening, we consume only fragments of information and make decisions about our lives with incomplete – or false – information. We don’t reflect. We react, often loudly, and too quickly.

As technology grows more invasive and we become more dependent on it, our reaction time decreases. Important decisions are made without context, sometimes without consideration. That should worry us. I’m convinced it’s one of many contributors to the unsettled mood of the country right now.

So, what do you do? I wish I had a good answer for you. Personally, I’ve been increasingly drawn to the analog and just setting the phone aside whenever I can. Unfortunately, the demands of my work prevent a complete disconnection from social or other digital media. But I write on a manual typewriter at some point in my workday, listen to vinyl on a turntable in my office, and just try to be aware of it all.

Occasionally, I’ll buy a print newspaper and spend several days reading every article. Cover to cover. It’s my way of appreciating the work the writers put into it while absorbing each story. It might seem a bit excentric, but I get the complete picture – without the anxiety that comes with doomscrolling. Plus, I can put it down, then go back to it whenever I want without feeling like I am missing something.

This isn’t about technology, but our resignation to life at a fever pace. Our techno-crutches are just symptoms of a more pervasive problem. We need to slow down. When everything is urgent, nothing is important. And slowing down isn’t quitting. It’s a choice about when to move, listen, or think. That small choice can quietly change the tone of a day, and sometimes an entire life if you let it.

Gery Deer is the editor and publisher of The Jamestown Comet.com and a regional columnist for several other publications.