Social media, Society and Dopamine

Last week we talked about food habits and health. You all must have an ideal meal plan for you(prepare it today if you dont have). Today we will talk about a slightly different topic. About a modern addiction- Social Media.

Social media addiction is a behavioural addiction that is characterized as being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable urge to log on to or use social media. And also it makes you devote so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas. Psychologists estimate that as many as 5 to 10% of Americans meet the criteria for social media addiction today. Many more are not addicted per se, but spend significant hours over social media. And why not, these social media giants spend millions to hire best minds out there who sit in a room and think about ways to increase the time spent by you on social media. More time you spend on social media more revenue they get. So know that this social media isn’t here to entertain and ‘refresh’ you but to fill their pockets.

How social media addiction is similar to substance use disorder(i.e. illegal drug addiction)

1. Mood modification: Social media is known to elevate the mood for the moment you are using it.
2. Prominance in life: Behavioural, cognitive, and emotional preoccupation with social media
3. Tolerance: Ever increasing time spent on social media to get the same pleasure.
4. Withdrawl symptoms: Experiencing unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms when social media use is restricted or stopped
5. Conflict: interpersonal problems arising because of excess social media usage
6. Relapse: addicted individuals immediately revert back to their excessive usage after an abstinence period.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram produce the same neural circuitry that is caused by gambling and recreational drugs which keep consumers using their products as much as possible. Studies have shown that the constant stream of retweets likes, and shares and never ending scroll of the social media sites produce dopamine in the brain which is a pleasure hormone. And it has addiction forming potential.

How social media is affecting the society we live in.

There are many good things that social media has brought in. Communication has become easier, cheaper, and more elaborate. But here we will be talking about how it has adversely affected our society.

• We have gone from ‘information age’ to ‘misinformation age’: With tremendous load of fake news and hoaxes created, we have been sold lies for vested interests of anti social elements. We now have less control over who we are and what we believe.

• It has significantly affected mental health of many, specially teens: Comparing their ownself with unrealistic online filtered standards of materialistc beauty is one of the leading causes of anxiety and low self-esteem among teens. People have started using social media as a mechanism to relieve stress, loneliness and depression, which is further adding fuel to the fire. Pictures of party they didnt attend/could not attend due to some obligation will make them feel more anxious and regretful that they otherwise wouldn’t have minded.
• Excessive social media usage has adverse effect on brain too: Attention span of those who excessively use social media decreases. Their performance at work or school decreases. They lose connection with the present. They lack feeling of being present in the moment. A constant fear of missing out on something lurks in their hearts, when they are not using social media. 

How social media works and earns?

Social media is more or less an advertisement based industry. It traces and records each and every action of it’s users. This information of users is called data. It includes who are you? What you do? Which college you went to? Who are your close friends? Whom do you go out for dinner with? What type of posts/images/videos you like? Which brand you like? What is it that you are currently looking for? And much more. And they harvest this data to manipulate you to spend more time on their site. All these social medias are basically competing for your time. And they take special classes and brainstorming sessions on how to make their social media more persuasive.

They want you to keep scrolling. You pull down, refresh the page and boom- a new thing will come up with a dopamine dose.

Why is it bad afterall?

World has come to a place where we have deciet and manipulation at the centre of everything we do online. We think that we are actively choosing when we are buying something. But maybe social media algorithm had already sensed that you were searching for a particular thing and then bombarded you with ads of a particular brand, and that made you chose that brand ultimately. The algorithm is getting smarter and smarter everyday. So it wont just make you chose a particular brand at supermarket, but may also persuade your political and social beliefs. One research was done at Facebook. They used subliminal cues to see what effect it can have on elections held that year. It was concluded that they significantly influenced the number of voters that turned up for voting. This made them realise that they can influence real life decisions of humans. Influence of Facebook on US general elections of 2016 is well known. It proved that one country can manipulate other country without actually breaching the border. 

Why I call FB comment section as ever-flowing spring of hatred?

Look at any comment section fight. People with two views will try to shout out their opinions on one particular issue/event. This will soon escalate to an ugly fight. Others will join and this will keep on going. The conclusion is never going to be peace and understanding and consideration for other’s view. It will just end up widening the gap and deepening the hatred. So now think of millions and millions of comment section fights happening at every moment throughout the world. We as a humans are continously falling apart with increasing hatred for others. Creating two sides who don’t want to listen to each other anymore. This will manifest in the real world as discrimination, riots and violence. And indirectly this will make those victorious in elections who breed on difference of people’s views, which will again promote this difference.

Dopamine detox:

Dopamine is the driving force of social media addiction. It is the one who instils the desire of one more post, one more page, one more meme, one more episode. So to come out of clutches of social media, plan a dopamine detox:

Deprive yourself of all the activities that give you dopamine for 24 hours: Social media, television, series, movies, songs, youtube, junk food/fast food/sugary food, video games, etc. You can read books, exercise, and eat simple food. Just experience boredom, and try to enjoy it. Believe me this is the simplest way of getting you off the social media addiction.

Practical solutions:

1. Turn off all the notifications on your phone. You can easily do that in settings.
2. Dont take your phone to your bedroom/reading room/workplace
3. Try the app- ‘ActionDash’ to assess your screentime and plan ways to reduce it
4. Many CEOs of various social medias don’t allow their kids to use smartphone before the age of 16. They know well what they have created.
5. Plan Dopamine detox once in a month.

Next week we will talk about Corona. Till then plan your dopamine detox! 

The problem with quotes on the internet is that no one can confirm their authenticity.

Abraham Lincoln