Check Email and Social Media Obsessively? It’s Basic Biology | Tim Wu | Big Think

You know, one of the most important chapters in establishing our present existence, so to speak, our present media existence, was the realization of the power of the check-in. That is, that urge, maybe you’ve felt it: “I’ve got to check my email,” or “maybe I should see what’s going on in my Twitter stream,” or “it’s time to go to Facebook.” That’s kind of an unusual thing. I don’t know how you’d explain it to another generation, but it’s kind of almost like a biological feeling that you need to check in.

I would say it was invented sometime in the 1970s with email, the first emails. In fact, the first email addict, in my reading, was a man named Stephen Lukasik, who was the head of the ARPA agency in the Pentagon in the early 1970s. And he was an interesting guy because he carried around what was then a portable computer in the 70s. This huge terminal, and he would plug it in everywhere he went, and he would check his email. And he insisted everyone do it, and he was the first guy who had what many of us have right now, which is just this almost addiction to checking in.

Now, the psychology behind it is interesting. It is very reminiscent of what B.F. Skinner described as operant conditioning. That is to say that the tendency of all creatures—not just humans, but pigeons and other animals—to take actions that will lead to rewards, you know, pecking at a little button to get a little snack. But one of the things that Skinner noticed that I think is very relevant for our lives is that the most addictive forms of rewards are those that are unpredictable.

And so, for example, if you peck every time and out comes a little prize, that’s not that interesting. It’s the things that you can’t predict, whether they’re slot machines, whether it’s fishing, whether it’s playing golf. All the things that like actually really capture our interest are things where the reward payout is quite unpredictable. And email obviously has that quality. So does Facebook. Most of the time you show up, there’s nothing much there. But occasionally, you might see something extraordinary in email with great news or maybe a very meaningful message.

You know, you log into social media; most of the time it’s kind of a bore, but occasionally something quite profound is there. And this turns out to be the most addictive kind of thing—these unpredictable reward schemes. And I think there’s a sense in which we’re little pigeons sitting inside our boxes, pecking away. I mean, this is not the most inspiring model of humanity, but sometimes it’s all like that. Pecking away and waiting to see what rewards come to us, and that has proven to be a very addictive—I don’t know if that’s the right word—but a very compelling scheme and one which I think many of us have gotten involved in.