Attention Thieves
Attention and time are today’s currency. Straight Arrow explores how technology is built to capture both, using human psychology to keep us hooked.
When Derrick Kosinski arrives on set for MTV’s “The Challenge,” he clings to his phone, delaying the inevitable: the moment when he has to hand over the device before participating in what could be months of competitive challenges.
“You’re trying to hold onto it as long as you can,” Kosinski, a 15-time contestant on “The Challenge” and host of the “Challenge Mania” podcast, told Straight Arrow. “You’re trying to scroll as long as you can, and tell your loved ones, like, ‘I’m out. I love you, later, this is it. I’m giving my phone away.’”
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But once it’s out of his hands? Kosinski says it’s not so bad.
“The game kind of begins, and it’s almost like … I think it’s a relief,” Kosinski said. “Then, it’s like going back to what it was like back in the day when there weren’t all these phones, when you were a kid — I get to play this really dope game.”
For Kosinski and other reality television stars, competing provides an experience that few Americans can even imagine — a digital detox. It takes them away from the attention-sapping apps, websites, texts, emails, alerts, games and social media platforms that keep people tethered to their phones.
While letting go of devices may seem hard at first, experts say there are long-term benefits, even from merely limiting screen time.
The reality TV experience
Having to surrender phones and other devices is typical in the reality TV space, as producers and showrunners want to prevent spoilers before the show airs. Contestants on shows like “Love is Blind”, “Love Island”, “Survivor” and “The Challenge” are all required to hand them over for a portion of, or in some cases, the entire duration of production.
The level of technology exposure on set, however, varies from show to show. On “Love Is Blind,” producer Rebecca High says phones are only taken away during the pods segments of the show, when contestants meet, talk and date from separate, soundproof pods without ever seeing each other’s faces, and during vacation getaways, when couples finally meet face to face and take a trip together.
“I’d say they’re without their phones for about two weeks,” High told Straight Arrow. “When you land, the talent team will literally go through everyone’s luggage. Your phone is taken, and everyone’s things are put into a bag that’s sealed and sometimes locked.”
But former contestants say there’s a sense of relief.
“For the first time in a very long time, I just had two weeks of me time almost; I felt like it was a giant relief,” Juhie Faheem, a contestant on the second season of “Love Is Blind,” told Straight Arrow. “I loved having no one to talk to. No one blowing up my phone, no messages, no calls.”
Kosinski has spent even longer away from his phone.
On “The Challenge,” contestants can be without their devices for even eight or nine weeks, depending on how long they remain in the competition. Kosinski sees it, though, as just “part of the game.”
“For me, it’s almost like being a kid again, and you get to go and play your sports and socialize and not everything is caught on a phone,” he said.
‘I need more time’
Being without devices, however, is not without its challenges. At times, said former “Love Is Blind” producer Dennis Aguilar, contestants just wanted to talk to someone.
“I’ve seen them be like, ‘Ugh, I wish I could have my phone,’ or ‘I wish I could call this person,’ especially in special moments or more emotional moments when you want to call your bestie,” Aguilar said.
For Kosinski, the biggest trial was being cut off from his family. On “The Challenge,” contestants are allowed to talk with their families only 10 minutes twice a week.
“The hardest part is when you do get to talk to your family, you’re like, ‘F—-, that was short,’” he said. “I need more time; how do I get more time?”
Even during those calls, producers are watching to make sure contestants don’t give anything away that happened on the show.
Faheem found it difficult not being able to document her time on the show.
“I wanted my cellphone because this is something that you normally don’t get to experience every day,” Faheem said. “So for me, I was like, I want to take pictures, I want to, you know, capture those memories.”
Workarounds and technology exposures
Contestants on some shows who have struggled with the lack of devices find workarounds to get at least some exposure to the outside world.
On Season 4 of “Perfect Match,” one contestant began using Spotify to message someone outside the show’s bubble. Producers found out and had to take Spotify off all the participants’ iPads.
@netflix.reality.clips PERFECT MATCH SEASON 4 FINALE IS NOW PLAYING #PerfectMatchNetflix #RealityTV #PerfectMatch #DatingShow ♬ original sound – Netflix Clips
That also meant a loss of music — which High says can be hard.
“A lot of times what people miss the most is actually the ability to access music,” High said, adding that she takes steps to help out. “One of the things I have found fun as a producer … I’ll come in with my phone, with my Bluetooth speaker, and play some music.”
She recalled fun moments working on season two of “Love Is Blind” when some of the women on the show got excited when she played artists like Dua Lipa and Bruno Mars.
Kosinski had similar experiences on “The Challenge,” when producers played music on the show’s bus.
Detox from ‘dopamine bursts’
Detoxes like those experienced by reality TV contestants can have numerous benefits, according to research by Kostadin Kushlev, an associate professor of psychology at Georgetown University. It’s not a detox from the phone itself, Kushlev said, but “it’s all of those short dopamine bursts that we get from all these things we do on our phones.”
Limiting those bursts, Kushlev found, can lead to longer attention spans, better sleep and improved mental health.
For his research, Kushlev had participants download an app that essentially stripped their phones of everything that makes them smart — meaning they couldn’t access the internet. No social media, no gaming, no quick dopamine hits.
Just 25% lasted two weeks.
“We asked people to do something really difficult,” Kushlev said. “They did it for the most part. I think it’s amazing that a quarter successfully were able to not use the internet on their phones for two weeks.”
What happens when the dopamine hits return?
For reality show contestants, does the detox change behavior?
“Usually when they get their phone back, they’re like … let me check in,” High said. “People would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have 1,400 messages!’ Which is pretty crazy.”
“I was like, ‘Oh thank god, I have my phone back,’” said Faheem, the former “Love Is Blind” contestant.
But she realized that not having her phone allowed her to connect with the people she was on set with — even though those connections would continue only online after the show.
“We were more excited to get our phones back and everyone on Instagram and stay connected,” she said.
Some contestants, though, seemed less than enthusiastic about resuming their old connected lives, said Aguilar, the former producer.
“Some cast members felt a sense of dread because they’ve sort of become this public figure,” he said. “The device becomes this thing where you’re just seeing yourself scrutinized all the time.”
Kosinski went through an adjustment period, especially after going so long without knowing what’s happening in the world. Contestants, he said, really have no choice but to pick up their phones after the show.
“The sad reality is like, when you get your phone back, you have to go back to work,” Kosinski said. “It’s how you communicate. … The sad truth is you almost can’t live without it.”
And not only do contestants have to go back to work, oftentimes, they also have to promote the show they were on, the network and themselves. Hard to do that without a cellphone.
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