Brain-Computer Interface Addiction Study Published: Long-Term BCI Users Show Novel Attention Dependency Symptoms

The Lancet Psychiatry published online on June 1, 2029 the world's first systematic study on consumer brain-computer interface (BCI) device addictiveness. Led by Johns Hopkins University's psychiatry department, the study tracked 4,200 users who continuously used BCI devices for over 6 months.

The study found that 8% of long-term users developed symptoms the research team named "attention dependency syndrome." These users showed marked attentional deficits, irritability, and cognitive efficiency decline when not wearing BCI devices — an escalation of smartphone "separation anxiety."

The researchers note that BCI devices establish a deeper level of interaction with the brain than traditional devices by directly reading and providing real-time feedback on brainwave signals. When users become accustomed to the cognitive enhancement BCI devices provide, the "cognitive gap" after removing the device may be significantly more pronounced than removing ordinary AR glasses.

Sara Williams, Johns Hopkins psychiatry professor and paper's first author, urged BCI device manufacturers to incorporate "usage duration reminders" and "gradual removal" features to help users avoid cognitive dependency on devices.