Information addicts

I am forever being frustrated by my own ability to spend waste huge amounts of time ‘reading’ the internet believing that this is productive. And so it seems are many others, for example, here and here

From time to time I get “motivated” and re-organise my reading habits. Sometimes I cull my regular feed lists, sometimes I limit reading to certain hours of the day, sometimes I attempt to disconnect completely for a day or more, sometimes I make a conscious effort to substitute ‘doing’ for ‘reading’. All of these are worthwhile, and work for a while…. but inevitably, like some sort of drug, it creeps its way back into more and more of my online time.

I think this experience is pretty common, and I know many have written strategies to help address this (I have read them after all!!). But what I haven’t seen discussed much is why it is such a powerful force. What is the neurological/psychological basis for this ‘addiction’. And it does seem to feel like it is some form of addiction. I am reminded of some research into ‘random rewards’ creating addictive behaviours. Does that help explain what is going on? If so, what is it about ‘reading online’ that triggers the shot of serotonin in your brain. Food, or physical drugs I can understand…. but why reading?