Written evidence submitted by
Professor Phil Reed and Dr Lisa A. Osborne (SMH0136)
This submission presents summaries of peer-reviewed scientific evidence from our controlled laboratory experiments on the negative physical, psychological, and emotional impacts of excessive usage of digital communication devices.
Those who report excessive use of digital communications experience increased anxiety, negative mood, and depression when disconnected from their digital devices (psychological withdrawal effects), and experience positive feelings towards the first information that they see when reconnected to their devices (alleviation of withdrawal).
Individuals with excessive digital usage experience increased sympathetic nervous system activity (increased blood pressure and skin conductance), that is often associated with stress, on disconnection from their devices (physiological withdrawal effects).
The psychological and physiological withdrawal effects are correlated with one another.
High levels of digital usage are associated with increased numbers of physical illnesses, and worse self-reported health, linked to immune system problems.
High digital users display cognitive difficulties, including increased levels of impulsivity, decreased forward planning ability, and reduced motivation to study.
It is suggested that this cluster of problems results, in part, from the action of the stress hormone, cortisol, released during periods of digital withdrawal. This hormone reduces the effectiveness of the immune system, and affects brain regions, including the amygdala, implicated in depression, the hippocampus, implicated in memory, and the prefrontal cortex, implicated in planning and impulse control.
It is recommended that consideration is given to introducing health warnings with digital devices, similar to those associated with cigarettes, and to temper adoption of digitisation in the light of increasing numbers of well-controlled reports regarding serious negative cognitive and health implications.
2.1 Professor Phil Reed is Chair of Psychology at Swansea University, and Dr. Lisa A. Osborne is a Research Psychologist at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board and Swansea University. We have been working on a research project examining the psychological and physical impacts of digital communication and internet usage, led by Professor Reed, since 2012. The project is cross-European, and multi-disciplinary, and has involved close collaboration with Professor Roberto Truzoli, from the University of Milan and Luigi Sacco Hospital.
2.2 Based on a series of controlled experiments into the effects of excessive use of digital communication and the internet, summarised below, we have established a plethora of clear negative effects of such heavy digital and internet use, driven by addiction and/or compulsion. Socially, there are negative impacts on friendship, and increased loneliness. Heavy digital and internet uses interfere with the quantity and quality of sleep, and also with healthy-eating and exercise. Psychologically, there are increases in depression and anxiety, and reductions in motivation. Cognitively, there are negative impacts on attention span, memory, and impulse control – all related to executive function disorders, similar to those seen in many psychopathologies, such as schizophrenia and psychoticism. Neurologically, there are changes noted to the prefrontal cortex, and a decrease in cortical matter has been observed over the course of a year for heavy internet users.
2.3 These changes in brain structure may reflect the impacts of stress hormones, such as cortisol, which may be released as a result of continued episodes of connection and disconnection from digital devices and the internet – that is to say, as a result of withdrawal effects. Cortisol is speculated to impact the amygdala, involved in emotional control, in a similar way to that which occurs for those with depression; it reduces the function of the hippocampus, known to be involved in memory, and shrinks the prefrontal cortex, involved in higher functions, like impulse control, planning, and motivation. Finally, heavy digital and internet uses are associated with increased levels of physical illness and immune function problems, also associated with the influence of increased cortisol levels.
3-9. Evidence
3.1 Stopping heavy digital communication and internet use produces psychological withdrawal effects, including worse mood and heightened anxiety. It is also associated with long-term depression, autism-traits, and schizotypy.
3.2 Romano et al. (2013) explored the immediate impact of cessation of digital communication and internet exposure on the mood and psychological states of those with higher and lower digital/internet use. Participants were given a battery of psychological tests to explore levels of internet addiction, mood, anxiety, depression, schizotypy, and autism-traits. They were then given exposure to the internet for 15min, and re-tested for mood and current anxiety. Digital/internet addiction was associated with long-standing depression, impulsive nonconformity, and autism-traits. Higher internet-users also showed a pronounced decrease in mood, and increased anxiety, following cessation of internet use, compared to the lower internet-users. The immediate negative impact of internet-exposure cessation on the mood and anxiety of higher digital and internet-users may contribute to increased usage by those individuals in an attempt to reduce their low mood by re-engaging rapidly in digital/internet use.
3.3 Reference: Romano, M., Osborne, L.A., Truzoli, R., & Reed, P. (2013). Differential psychological impact of internet exposure on internet addicts. PLOS ONE, 8, e55162.
4.1 Digital and internet exposure reinforces preference for information presented on the first re-exposure to the internet after a period of withdrawal for problem users.
4.2 Osborne et al. (2015) examined whether exposure to digital devices and the internet creates a preference for colours associated with visited websites, and explored the possible relationship with self-reported problematic internet use and internet deprivation. Participants were divided into two groups; one group was deprived access to the internet for four hours, and the other group was not. After this, they were asked to choose a colour, and complete a series of psychometric questionnaires concerning their mood, anxiety, and depression feelings. They were then given a 15min exposure to the internet, and the websites that they visited were recorded. They were then asked to again choose a colour, and complete the same psychometric questionnaires. For internet-deprived, but not non-deprived, participants a reduction of mood and increased anxiety were noted in the higher problematic internet-users following internet cessation. There was also a shift towards choosing the colour most prominent on their visited websites for these participants. There was no shift in mood, nor toward choosing the dominant website colour, in the lower problem users. These findings suggest that the internet can serve to reinforce behaviour in higher problem users, and that the reinforcement obtained from the alleviation of withdrawal symptoms becomes conditioned with the colour and appearance of the visited websites, giving them a more positive value when the internet is first accessed following a withdrawal period.
4.3 Reference: Osborne, L.A., Romano, M., Re, F., Roaro, A., Truzoli, R., & Reed, P. (2016). Evidence for an internet addiction disorder: internet exposure reinforces color preference in withdrawn problem users. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 77, 269-274.
5.1 High levels of digital communication and internet use produce increased levels of sympathetic nervous system activity on their termination.
5.2 Reed et al. (2017) studied the physiological (blood pressure and heart rate) and psychological (mood and anxiety) functioning of participants, before and after an internet session. Individuals also completed a psychometric examination relating to their usage of digital devices and the internet, as well as to their levels of depression. Individuals who identified themselves as being high digital users displayed increases in heart rate and systolic blood pressure, as well as reduced mood and increased anxiety, following cessation of an internet session. There were no such changes for individuals with no self-reported problematic digital and internet usage. These physiological changes, after cessation of internet use, are similar to those seen for individuals who have ceased using sedative or opiate drugs.
5.3 Reference: Reed, P., Romano, M., Re, F., Roaro, A., Osborne, L.A., Viganò, C., & Truzoli, R. (2017). Differential physiological changes following internet exposure in higher and lower problematic internet users. PLOS ONE, 12, e0178480.
6.1 Problematic digital and internet users’ sympathetic nervous system activity (skin conductance), and psychological levels of anxiety, increase after exposure to the internet.
6.2 Romano et al. (2017) examined the impact of cessation of an internet session on skin conductance responses, and anxiety, of higher and lower problem digital/internet users, in order to explore possible physiological and psychological withdrawal effects. Participants were measured in terms of their skin conductance before, during, and after an internet session, and also they completed self-report measures of anxiety, at the same times. Higher, but not lower, digital/internet problem users showed increased skin conductance after their internet use was stopped, relative to before their internet session began. Higher problem users’ skin conductance increased as the time from the internet cessation became longer. Higher problem users also showed increased levels of anxiety, following the completion of their internet session, which correlated with their skin conductance scores. These results suggest that, following termination of an internet session, psychological and physiological withdrawal effects are observed simultaneously.
6.3 Reference: Romano, M., Roaro, A., Re, F., Osborne, L.A., Truzoli, R., & Reed, P. (2017). Problematic internet users' skin conductance and anxiety increase after exposure to the internet. Addictive Behaviors, 75, 70-74.
7.1 High levels of digital and internet uses are associated with increased levels of ill health.
7.2 Reed et al. (2015) investigated the relationship between problematic digital/internet use and physical illness. Participants were asked about their levels of problematic digital/internet usage, and depression, anxiety, social isolation, sleep problems, as well as their current health. The results demonstrated that around 30% of the sample displayed mild or worse levels of digital/internet addiction. Although there were differences in the purposes for which males and females used digital-communication and the internet, there were no differences in the levels of problematic usage between genders. The digital/internet problems were strongly related to all of the psychological variables, such as depression, anxiety, social-isolation, and sleep problems. Digital/internet addiction was also associated with reduced self-reported immune function. This relationship between problematic digital/internet use and reduced immune function was independent of the impact of the psychological and behavioural co-morbidities. It was suggested that the negative relationship between levels of problematic digital/internet use and immune function may be mediated by levels of stress produced by such digital/internet use, and subsequent sympathetic nervous activity, which is related to immune-suppressants, such as cortisol.
7.3 Reference: Reed, P., Vile, R., Osborne, L.A., Romano, M., & Truzoli, R. (2015). Problematic internet usage and immune function. PLOS ONE, 10, e0134538.
8.1 Higher impulsivity is found after exposure to digital communication and the internet for individuals with high, but not low, levels of self-reported problematic digital/internet behaviours.
8.2 Reed et al. (2015) explored the impact of digital communication and internet exposure on the impulsivity of individuals who reported higher, or lower, levels of problematic digital/internet behaviours. Levels of problematic digital/internet use in 60 individuals were measured, and participants were exposed to a choice assessment, in which they could choose between a small immediately-delivered outcome (impulsive), a medium-sized outcome with a medium delay, and a larger longer-delayed outcome (self-controlled). They were given 15min access to the internet, and finally were presented with the choice test again. Of the sample, 28% had internet-problems, with no difference being found between male and female rates of problematic digital/internet use. Those reporting higher levels of digital/internet problems displayed no greater impulsive behaviours, prior to internet exposure, than those reporting fewer problems. After internet exposure, higher-problem users displayed greater impulsivity, reflected by a move from self-controlled to impulsive choices. These findings suggest that individuals reporting digital/internet-related problems become more impulsive after exposure to the internet.
8.3 Reference: Reed, P., Osborne, L.A., Romano, M., & Truzoli, R. (2015). Higher impulsivity after exposure to the internet for individuals with high but not low levels of self-reported problematic internet behaviours. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 512-516.
9.1 High levels of digital and internet use reduce university students’ intrinsic motivation to study.
9.2 Reed and Reay (2015) explored the relationship between problematic levels of digital/internet use and motivation to study in a sample of university students. Participants were assessed in terms of their levels of digital/internet usage, anxiety, depression, emotional-social loneliness, and motivation for learning. Problematic digital/internet use was negatively associated with several aspects of the students’ motivation to study (i.e. intrinsic goal orientation, control over learning, and learning self-efficacy). These relationships were established over and above any impact that depression, anxiety, and social isolation had on motivation to study. The results suggest that increasing employment of digital learning technologies in higher education may be generating problems for students, which may negatively impact their academic experience and ultimate outcomes in higher education.
9.3 Reference: Reed, P., & Reay, E. (2015). Relationship between levels of problematic Internet usage and motivation to study in university students. Higher Education, 70, 711-723.
10. Summary and Recommendations
10.1 All of the above research suggests that the digital invasion of Society has produced a real set of problems that have not been addressed, and there is not any great evidence of digital technology dealing with the problems that it putatively was meant to cure. It could be argued that most digital/internet-related activity, engaged upon by most people, is entirely harmless, and that concerns about the impact on a subset of the population who are vulnerable (i.e. those with addictive problems) should not be used to berate the more general employment of the tool for the rest of Society. However, place this argument into context, for a moment. It may be true that some people can drink alcohol or gamble without showing ill effects; a few people can smoke cigarettes without apparent negative impacts on their health; and a tiny number of people remain unharmed from taking poisonous illegal substances. But, would we use these facts of escape from proven toxicity to allow unrestrained access to alcohol, gambling, nicotine, and illegal drugs? Given what we know about the internet and digital technology, should we similarly allow it to remain un-investigated and unregulated, and welcome it into our homes and institutions, where it provides little evidence of effectiveness, and strong evidence of harms?
10.2 This lack of enthusiasm about the possibilities of digital-communication and the internet should not be construed as a ‘Luddite’ response – although, to the extent that the Luddites were motivated to react against the “fraudulent and deceitful” use of technology, there is resonance with the current position. The issue, here, is how do we modernise and individualise communications within Society to maximise chances for all? Current digital technology is not a forward-looking answer – it has not provided strong evidence of positive change, and it appears to be holding back progress for students, as well as giving them a whole range of new problems. All of the above research suggests that digital technology is not a cost-effective use of public money, and a major rethink regarding any such drive is urgently needed, in the face of the mounting evidence.
10.3 As a parting challenge to those individuals who tend to favour the usage of digital technology, and who may see this argument as a manifestation of a reactionary view; if you also champion the need to address issues such as climate change, then consider that the internet takes between 8-16% of the power generated in the UK each day – almost half of the amount of energy production that needs to be reduced in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on combatting climate change. Given the above clear empirical evidence regarding the negative effects of digital technology, and the lack of clear evidence for its positive effects, can continued public investment in the digital world be supported?
10.4 It is recommended that consideration is given to introducing health warnings with digital devices, similar to those associated with cigarettes, and that the push to digitisation be tempered in the light of increasing numbers of well-controlled reports regarding serious cognitive and health implications.