Cybersecurity Book Club: “The Cyber Effect” by Dr. Mary Aiken
Introduction
In today’s digital age, people are beginning to question the true impact of technology and its “real world” implications. The Internet has changed human behavior in profound ways, yet there remains uncertainty regarding the nature of this change and how it will manifest. In her book, The Cyber Effect: A Pioneering Cyberpsychologist Explains How Human Behaviour Changes Online, Dr. Mary Aiken seeks to address this uncertainty and explore how technology has affected the human experience. This book not only highlights the impact of gaming, social media, and online dating, but Aiken also addresses criminality and child safety concerns on the Internet. The Cyber Effect serves as an excellent starting point in understanding how technological advancement is molding our worldviews, behaviors, relationships, and morality.
Aiken’s Answers to Our Questions
Why is technology so addictive?
The addictive and immersive qualities of technology include: artificial fulfillment of our human needs and time distortion. Additionally, Aiken shows us that addiction tp technology is an atypical addiction which cannot be cured by simply quitting “cold turkey.”
Artificial Fulfillment of Our Human Needs: According to psychologist Abraham Maslow’s famous “hierarchy of needs,” human beings require specific things in order to live a fulfilled life. This hierarchy first prioritizes physiological needs, such as food and shelter, and then includes less tangible needs, such as love and self-actualization. The Cyber Effect argues that the Internet can fulfill many needs within this hierarchy. Technology can help users to satisfy their emotional, cognitive, esteem, and aesthetic needs – all through accessing single device. However, a drawback of this is that we are required to spend more time in front of a screen and this sense of fulfillment is artificial compared to real-world experiences. Chatting online with a romantic partner cannot compare to the physical embrace of a loved one.
Distortion of Our Perception of Time: Have you ever sat down to check your text messages and suddenly, 2 hours have passed and you find yourself looking at your cousin’s boyfriend’s friend’s wedding cake on Instagram? Pulling oneself away from a device can feel a little like waking from a dream. Aiken calls this the time distortion effect– the process of losing track of time while immersed in the digital world. When spending time online, people are generally unaware that they have entered a new environment – it is difficult to perceive cyberspace as “going” somewhere else because users do not physically enter it. Digital tools are accessed from the comfort of one’s home or other familiar spaces, so it is often forgotten or overlooked that the cyber world encompasses a different set of rules and norms compared to the physical world. This is why one’s real-world instincts tend to be ineffective in the cyber world.
Treating an Atypical Addiction: Traditionally, treatments for addiction have mandated abstinence from the problematic activity. Rehab facilities for those dependent on drugs or alcohol aim to help patients completely halt their substance abuse, survive through symptoms of withdrawal, address underlying mental and emotional stressors, and eventually overcome bad habits. With technology, abstinence is not an option. One who is addicted to gaming cannot simply quit the Internet. The modern-day treatment plan for technology addiction, Aiken argues, is adaptation. Users need to stay informed of the dangers of the Internet, particularly with regards to how the cyber world affects our individual behavior. This level of awareness is especially important for users who are prone to impulsivity.
Does technology hinder child development?
It can. While research on the long-term psychological impact of technology is still in progress, Aiken shows that parents must make thoughtful choices when determining which online material children should be allowed to access.
Confusing Stimulation with Absorption: The iTunes store has a plethora of “educational” apps for parents of young children. These apps are marketed as tools to help children develop crucial skills in literacy and comprehension at uniquely early ages. As a bonus, these apps can keep kids occupied for hours! Indeed, some of these products certainly have shown to increase vocabulary, develop word recognition, and promote reading comprehension. However, The Cyber Effect highlights that many of these apps are actually just stimulating their intended audience, without actually teaching anything. Aiken states that the features of learning apps designed to engage children, such as bright colors and sound effects, are actually distracting them from truly absorbing and processing information.
“Immersive” Technologies Cause Shorter Attention Spans: Teenagers who own smartphones have an endless supply of stimulation at their fingertips – apps, games, social media, messaging, ecommerce, just to name a few. These features are often referred to as “interactive,” but they are really just hyperactive. Aiken opines that the term “interactive” implies that these devices provide mutual interaction, but we know these products do not have authentic reactions to user activity. However, they do provide immediate gratification. The hyperstimulation and unlimited entertainment available on screens causes users to become accustomed to fast-paced excitement. This makes a teenager’s real-world experiences, especially in the context of a classroom, seem especially slow and boring. The book explains that the constant sensory arousal in cyberspace leads young users to show higher rates of inattentive behavior, which has resulted in more diagnoses of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Why does criminal activity increase online?
Users tend to feel much more emboldened to commit crimes online, as compared to real-life crime. According to Aiken, this tendency is largely informed by a privacy paradox, lack of online authority, and something known as the Triple A Engine.
We Think We’re Safer Than We Really Are: Why do people tend to be so trusting online? The Cyber Effect answers this question by describing the privacy paradox of online activity, which determines that users are much more concerned about privacy in the real-world compared to the cyber world, despite knowing the associated risks. In other words, there is a false sense of physical removal from our online actions, which results in emboldened behavior. Consider the amplification of cyberbullying among teenagers and adolescents – would most of these aggressions occur in a face-to-face, physical environment? Probably not. But when people sit behind a screen, their real-world instincts tend to fail them. And it is precisely this disinhibition, coupled with the lack of online authority and enforcement, that causes the privacy paradox of the Internet.
The Triple A Engine of the Internet: Criminals are more attracted to the Internet largely due to the secrecy provided online. But how exactly does technology facilitate crime? To answer this question, Aiken discusses the Triple A Engine: affordability, accessibility, and anonymity. Affordability – Internet access these days is relatively cheap. Accessibility – any user in cyberspace can be considered a potential victim. Anonymity – nobody will know. The Cyber Effect shows how this Triple A Engine is what motivates criminals to visit sites that solicit prostitution, illegal drugs, and other illicit services. For example, after the 2014 arrest of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the online black marketplace Silk Road, research showed that drug sales made via the Dark Web actually increased. Aiken explains this lack of deterrence by citing the Triple A Engine, arguing that as long as illicit goods can be sold online in affordable, accessible, and anonymous ways, there will always be buyers.
Why This Book Matters
Aiken’s book represents an effort to understand the effect technology has on our socialization, our psyches and our humanity. It is no novel observation that the Internet can have truly damaging and real-world implications. From issues of online mis/disinformation to insidious cyberbullying to rampant criminal activity and exploitation, technological innovation has truly changed the nature of important global problems.
However, The Cyber Effect strikes far beyond these widespread perceptions of the Internet. This book seeks to determine how our position behind the screen has affected and will continue to affect every cornerstone of the human experience. Aiken presents actionable information about how technology has altered visual acuity in infants, social attitudes in teenagers and young adults, as well as family- and health-related dynamics in older populations. An easy scapegoat for these psychological challenges would be technology itself. An easy solution would be to rid the world of digital tools. But realistically, technology is not the problem. As Aiken correctly highlights, the true problem is the lack of certainty regarding the long-term impact of the cyber world and where it will lead us.