Golden Flow and the Social Dilemma
What we can learn from the Vietnam War to combat the biggest addiction of the 21st Century.
When Richard Nixon got elected as the 37th President of the United States of America, it was built on a narrative that promised to end the by-then much dreaded Vietnam war and get the troops back to the country. But Nixon faced an annoying problem as he went deeper into the rabbit-hole that the War had become. 15% of the active US soldiers in Vietnam were heroin addicts. The White House feared that getting these soldiers back in that condition is only going to aggravate the other challenge faced by the country - the rising domestic crime rate.
What followed is the launch of Operation Golden Flow in 1971. Aptly named, the Operation meant that soldiers in Vietnam would not be permitted to board a plane home until they passed a urine drug test. And if they failed, the soldiers would be forced to stay in Vietnam, detox and try again. The mission was greeted with grave skepticism and hopelessness considering the extraordinary addictiveness of heroin. Thanks to the work by researchers in John Hopkins and other Universities, it became apparent in 1972 that heroin was the most dangerously addictive drug on the planet, in terms of dependence, withdrawal, tolerance, reinforcement and intoxication.
Naturally there was worry about the chances of relapse after the soldiers come home. But what transpired with Golden Flow was nothing short of a miracle. Only a meagre 5% of the men relapsed within a year after coming home and just 12% of relapse was recorded within a time span of 3 years.
A deeper retrospective of the mission threw light on why it worked like a charm and the top reason was understood to be the dramatic transformation of environment for the subjects (soldiers). As explained by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, “In Vietnam, not only was the location and culture wildly different than what the soldiers would experience back in the United States, they would also no longer endure the psychological whiplash of stagnant boredom and atrocious horror characterising a battlefield. They would be re-immersed in a more mundane civilian life. That fact alone would tremendously impact their success in overcoming addiction.” Operation Golden Flow taught us one of the most important lessons in addressing addictions: any habitual or environmental change that disrupts the status quo can go a long way in reducing chances of addiction relapses.
As psychologists David Neal and Wendy Wood explained in their study, if you are trying to cut down on your tendency to binge on ice cream, try using your left hand if you are right handed, or perhaps eat it only while standing up. These environmental changes would gradually cause you to break the behavioural cue and be aware of the fact that you don’t need more of it. But the question remains - how can we leverage this learning to fight the very dangerous yet most subtle addictions of our times: social media.
Fighting the Social Media addiction
Wikipedia defines social media addiction, also known as Internet addiction disorder, as a form of psychological or behavioural dependence on social media platforms and other forms of digital media overuse. A 2017 study estimated that 210 million people around the world could be affected by the adverse effects of social media dependence. Netflix’s documentary Social Dilemma, released this year, touched upon this problem at great detail explaining how social media platforms are engineered and designed to give its users dopamine rush that initiates a vicious addiction cycle. It covered perspective from some of the most ardent advocates against social media’s pervasive reach and it’s hard to shake off the typography frame in the film that quotes Professor Edward Tufte, “There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software.” The resemblance is uncanny.
Russell Brand, an English activist, voiced his opinion on the topic recently that you can’t expect social media companies to wield their power responsibly nor can you expect regulatory bodies or governments to act on this problem any time soon. I think so too and that would mean that it’s on each of us to make use of the simple lesson from Operation Golden Flow. We need to develop our own set of habits, triggering an environmental or behavioural change, to cut down on usage of smartphones and social media. One of the most actionable resources I came across recently in my effort to cut down on social media usage is the book “How to break up with your phone”. It helps you discover how phones and apps are designed to be addictive, and learn how the time we spend on them damages our abilities to focus, think deeply, and form new memories. The book also focuses on assisting the reader to make changes in behavior and mindset to take back control of your life, with the help of a 30-day plan. The author Catherine Price says, “The goal isn’t to get rid of your phone; it’s to create a long-term relationship that feels good.”
But it all starts with acknowledging that there is a problem and trying to understand social media addiction for what it is and reflect on how it impacts us today. As Chinese General Sun Tzu said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”