Member-only story
The Ancient Behaviours We Think Are Modern
From gossip to status displays, our digital behaviours are ancient survival instincts dressed up in smartphone screens.
On a whim, Sarah decided to check her phone’s usage report. She checks her phone an average of 140 times a day it said. Her eyes opened wide, especially looking at her time on social media. What she doesn’t realise is that when she’s checking her Instagram and TikTok feeds feed at 2AM because her last post only got three likes, she’s experiencing the same neurochemical rush that kept her great-great-great (add about 7,000 greats to that) grandmother alive on the African savanna.
We hear much about the dopamine hits of social media, induced by algorithms. But that pounding pulse we feel? It’s our ancient alarm system screaming that we may be excluded from our tribe, our social group, left to be alone with the sabre tooth tiger on the hunt.
We may be living in the digital age and thinking that our thumb-swiping, racing hearts, dopamine hits, liking and engaging are all new habits. We talk about how technology is changing our behaviour, creating new forms of addiction, anxiety and social dysfunction. But perhaps we’ve got it backwards? What if these new behaviours aren’t new, but come from our ancient survival mechanisms, just…
