Sandpoint Reader
Sandpoint Reader
August 20, 2026
By Brenden Bobby
Reader Staff
My partner and I recently had a jarring revelation that spawned from an awkward situation. She and a friend of hers had silently drifted away over the course of about six months — no explanation, no fight, just a quiet separation punctuated by awkward, cut-to-the-chase interactions. Ghosting is fairly common; but, given their closeness up until that point, the distance felt off, so she decided to confront him about it.
We imagined several possible explanations for the increasing lack of connection. Maybe he was moving on to new friend groups. Maybe he had feelings for her, and the fact that she was in a long-term relationship was difficult for him.
Once she confronted him about it, the real reason was even more unsettling and perplexing for us. 
“Once you left social media, I just didn’t know how to talk to you anymore,” he said. “My friends just tell me what’s going on in their lives based on their feeds.”
I haven’t used social media since 2016, and I’ve admittedly felt fairly isolated from other human beings since then. Over time, I came to enjoy the solitude (to a degree), though I admit to having felt that everyone moved on and left me in the dust. Instead, it seems that development for the largest portion of humanity has halted and I’ve moved on. Now, after about half a year, so has my partner, which has been a revelatory experience.
We noticed that people seemed quick to end and/or detour around conversations that held any emotional or intellectual depth. Particularly difficult conversations and confrontations were quickly placated, and only after the fact — through text — did the other side want to speak their piece and end the discussion… on their terms.
My partner’s friend showed us that we weren’t really the problem. Digital dependency and social media addiction were the problem, and it has been silently reshaping human psychology for almost two decades now.
We live in an age of instant gratification and an endless barrage of notifications and online drama. Complex moral subjects are distilled into “good” camps and “bad” camps, with no nuance tolerated from either “side.” The simplification is intentional and designed, and studying it revealed shocking facts that few people seem to be talking about.
Digital dependency is an umbrella that covers our dependency on technology into a number of forms, all of which share core design principles that feed into the others. However, subsets of addiction fall into each of these. A gamer may be heavily into watching streamers, but not really that interested in posting on social media. A seemingly well liked and influential individual living the perfect life on social media could have a critical social media addiction, but not be very invested in video gaming, streaming or other online content.
In this week’s columns, we’ll be taking a brief look into a topic I’m quite familiar with: video game addiction.
Video games were an integral part of my life for a very long time. I grew up playing Super Mario Bros. on my NES, explored the fantasy world of Gielinor in RuneScape in 2001, then found myself gripped by a chronic addiction to World of Warcraft from 2009 until 2021 — that is, until my sense of moral obligation forbade me from supporting a company as morally bankrupt as Activision Blizzard in the wake of the 2021 California lawsuit, California Civil Rights Department v. Activision Blizzard.
Video games were part of my identity for much of my life; but, by 2010, they had become something considerably more sinister: an addiction. Video game design during that period borrowed psychological research that casinos had used for generations: give a player shiny flashes of light, small and incremental bonuses, but keep the good stuff hidden behind one more pull of the slot machine arm. Great wealth and power could be yours, if you are willing to pay another $12.99 to get there!
That predatory nature of design has now permeated the entire gaming industry, particularly with mobile games. This was highlighted by Activision Blizzard, with the release of Diablo Immortal in 2022 — a mobile action roleplaying game that would indirectly reward players with more power if they were willing to pay for a chance at it through purchasable loot box items. 
Experiments by streamers and analysis by longtime fans of the Diablo franchise revealed that in order to remain competitive, a player would need to spend between $21,000 and $500,000 every six months on Diablo Immortal. That range is exclusively because of the gambling nature, borrowed directly from the casino floor.
The psychological effects of video game addiction go far beyond financial ramifications — they’re designed to give quick dopamine hits, flooding your system with feel-good chemicals to chase more doses. Over time, your brain becomes desensitized to these dopamine hits, pushing the user to chase bigger and better highs. It creates a habit of dopamine deregulation that leads to a higher risk of depression, irritability and loss of focus.
Additionally, longform games designed to keep players engaged with short tasks over vast periods of time, such as World of Warcraft, lead to sedentary lifestyles that can cause weight gain, musculoskeletal strain and a heightened risk of diabetes.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with playing a video game — it can be an effective and sometimes inexpensive hobby, or a way to relieve tension after a long day. Moderation is key, as is true of most things.
Next week, we will look at the effects of social media addiction including its symptoms, effects and steps individuals can take to break free of a negative habit they may not even realize they have.
Stay curious, 7B.
The Sandpoint Reader is our town’s local, independent weekly newspaper. “Independent” means that the Reader is locally owned and operated by people who were born and raised in Sandpoint. The Reader is owned by Publisher Ben Olson, Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone and Senior Writer Soncirey Mitchell. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers – so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.
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TIMBER WARS: Six-part series, February-November 2022. GO READ IT»
WHERE ARE THE WORKERS?: Five-part series, September-October 2021. GO READ IT»
THE AMERICAN REDOUBT: Seven-part series, November-December 2017. GO READ IT»
STANDOFF AT RUBY RIDGE: 25 Years Later. Five-part series, August-September 2017. GO READ IT»
Curious about what media the locals use? Check our 2018 Local Media Survey. GO SEE »

Filmmaker Jimmy Matlosz of the Idaho Film Company has made a series of mini documentaries about influential Sandpoint locals, including the late Dann Hall and  Erik Daarstad as well as icons Diane Michaels and Dan Shook. He is currently working on a series of interviews connected to the history of the Panida Theater.  Jimmy is a 30-year veteran filmmaker who’s work can be seen at dpmatlosz.com.
Ever wonder who makes the Reader happen? Here’s a behind-the-scenes look pieced together by summer 2017 intern McCalee Cain in which Ben, Cameron and Lyndsie explain what exactly about the Reader keeps them coming back to their shabby (but well–loved) office each week.
The Sandpoint Reader is our town’s local, independent weekly newspaper. “Independent” means that the Reader is locally owned and operated by people who were born and raised in Sandpoint. The Reader is owned by Publisher Ben Olson, Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone and Senior Writer Soncirey Mitchell. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers – so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.
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