Ask yourself: Are you addicted to technology — any technology? Do you check email obsessively, tweet without restraint or post on Facebook during Thanksgiving dinner? Or perhaps you are powerless in the face of an iPad loaded with Angry Birds?
Many of the most popular technologies of our time tap into powerful reward mechanisms in our brains. And while most researchers stop short of calling video games and modern tech addictive, there's evidence that these technologies alter how our brains work and change how we behave.
Research has even demonstrated that gamers will get a boost of dopamine when they play.
Many techies and marketers are tapping, sometimes unintentionally, into decades of neuroscience research to make their products as addictive and profitable as possible.
A couple of weeks ago I got a pitch from Uber, the creators of the car service app of the same name. Every once in a while when you open the Uber app, you are greeted with a surprise, and the company will offer an unexpected service.
"We've done pedicabs in Austin," says Travis Kalanick, Uber's co-founder and CEO, "[and] we've done on-demand Texas barbecue. We've done Uber chopper and we've done on-demand roses on Valentine's Day."
Last Friday, the surprise was on-demand ice cream.
"It's not our core business; it's not what we do normally," Kalanick says. "It's just fun."
The thing about these PR stunts is that customers love them. Traffic to Uber skyrocketed Friday. The other thing is that you never know when to expect these little rewards, so it pays to check Uber's app and click, and then click again.
And something about that reminded me of a very old, very famous psychology experiment known as the Skinner Box.