Rat Park, Avoid the Void, and Breaking Tech Addiction
Meaningful Offline Moments are Key to Online Detox
Tearing away from the tethered devices feeding our bodies an endless supply of digital input is only part of the issue we’re dealing with in these glorious modern times.
Because once that feed is gone, what’s left?
Emptiness?
A void?
Back in the ‘80s, a Domino’s marketing slogan was “Avoid the Noid.” The Noid was this strange fictional character in a red bodysuit with red rabbit ears. He represented the obstacles drivers encountered when trying to get pizzas to customers. Why did Domino’s put a tiny guy in a red rabbit suit to help sell pizza? I have no idea.
While I’ve personally never had to avoid the Noid, I have learned to avoid the Void.
The Void is a fictional character of my design with dusty skin and hollow eyes, and he represents the obstacles we face when we try to break free of devices. Set down the smartphone? There’s the Void. Turn off Netflix? There he is again. He’s lingering, waiting to cover us in his gray dust the moment we log off. No one wants that.
When we attempt a digital detox, whether incremental steps or cold turkey fasts, it’s much easier when there’s something to fill that time. Something that helps us to avoid the Void.
We can help achieve our goals, and maybe even have fun doing it, when we fill that time and space with things we like, want to learn, or give us purpose. Things that make us forget to miss swiping and scrolling.
As a family, our goal is to fill our device-free time with trying new recipes, painting graffiti art on the garage wall, sports, playing card games, reading, volunteering at a food shelf, hiking together, and on and on the list goes. It’s even better than an endless scroll because we get to fill it with all the things we love.
Avoiding the Void helps us pull away from devices and apps that were created to be addictive. When we succumb to their power, we’re living in someone else’s experiment. We are the lab rats of big tech.
I’ve read studies of lab rats compulsively returning to drugged water over clean water until it kills them. It’s because they’re addicted, and, let’s be honest, there’s not much else to do in those cages.
Bruce K. Alexander, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University Burnaby, looked at these same experiments and was curious if a change in the rat’s environment would produce a different outcome. What if the creature wasn’t alone in an empty cage with nothing but clean water and drugged water?
If it were Pinky and the Brain, they would try to take over the world, but what about real rats? What if, instead of being alone with this addictive material, rats were given friends, food, activities. What if, Bruce wondered without realizing it, we could avoid the Void?
In a 1978 article published in the scientific journal, Psychopharmacology, Alexander, along with Barry L. Beyerstein, Patricia F. Hadaway, and Robert B. Coambs, attempted to answer this question. Now, normally my interest in rats is limited to Remi in Disney’s Ratatouille. However, their article, succinctly titled, “The Effect of Housing and Gender on Morphine Self-Administration in Rats,” (along with many articles and similar experiments) presents a new and interesting outcome.
In the experiment affectionately known as Rat Park (and masterfully illustrated by Stuart McMillen), the researchers discovered that rats chose the drug water much less often and fought compulsion when they were given everything that made life meaningful to them. Relationship. Community. Activity. Food. Fun.
Of course there’s so much more depth to this experiment (and likely further experiments done to validate or invalidate this work), but it satisfies the need for this point…
When you remove something, you’ll diminish its loss if you fill the space with something meaningful.
In other words, avoid the Void.
Driver’s Training for Social Media is accessible to “Behind the Curtains” annual subscribers. What’s included in the online course?
Four Modules with Twelve Videos
Reflection/Discussion Questions
Action Ideas and Additional Links and Resources
Printable Companion Guide with a Screen Time Tracker, Case Study Activity, and Media Plan.