Hooked on Likes: How Social Media Rewires Our Brains

Social media can be defined as websites or applications that are fixated on communication and content-sharing which are interactive and community-based. While some people use social media to keep in touch with their friends and family, many people make use of these websites and applications in business nature. In the business sector, social media can be extremely useful, giving small businesses some major opportunities to market their products, promote their brands, and connect to their customers easily and swiftly. In addition, social media can be used for crowdsourcing, which is the gathering of services, ideas, or content by asking for commentary from a large group of people. On the other hand, personal usage of social media has been skyrocketing since the beginning of the decade. According to the Pew Research Center, which is a fact tank that informs people about the current issues that were founded in the USA, 69% of adults and 81% of teens in the U.S. use social media. The latest findings show that 3.78 billion people use social media actively worldwide, which soared 32.2% in just half a decade. 210 millions of these 3.78 billion people are suffering from addiction to social media and, 40% of adolescents, that is around 18-22, think they are not addicted to social media, while according to a GlobalWebIndex report that was issued in 2018, people ages 16 to 24 spent approximately more than three hours using social media every day. Using social media excessively has inevitable and detrimental effects on the mental and physical health of adolescents. 

Biologically speaking, the brain releases dopamine from the brain’s reward center when individuals feel pleasure. It is evident that social media has a reinforcing nature, and these platforms are designed to give its users the “feel-good chemical” and make them addictive, causing both mental and physical ailments. The longing for the “hit” of dopamine, and getting immediate satisfaction from the likes and comments encourage individuals to refresh their social media feeds almost nonstop. They search for validation and meaningful connections that they cannot find in real-life on social media platforms. According to McLean Hospital’s website, Jacqueline Sperling, Ph.D., is a psychologist at McLean Hospital who works with youth who experience anxiety disorders. She explains the instant boost social media users get as “Think of a slot machine: if game players knew they never were going to get money by playing the game, then they never would play. The idea of a potential future reward keeps the machines in use. The same goes for social media sites. One does not know how many likes a picture will get, who will “like” the picture, and when the picture will receive likes. The unknown outcome and the possibility of the desired outcome can keep users engaged with the sites.” When users do not get this gratification or the connections that they were actively looking for, some may drift into mental disorders such as depression or anxiety. A journal called JAMA Psychiatry found that adolescents that utilize social media platforms more than three hours each day “may be at heightened risk of mental health problems”. Research which included students from Canada, that was done in 2017, revealed that the ones who use social media more than 2 hours daily rated their mental health worse than an average user.

Additionally, symptoms of depression are twice as likely to appear in teens who spend more than 5 hours a day on their smartphones. Addiction to social media can easily be seen with these statistics as well, 20% of people who have at least one social media account feel they have to check them at least once every three hours to avoid feeling anxious. Being able to reach photos of “perfect” lives and women at any given moment may cause teenage girls to feel invalidated and this can lead to poor self-esteem and a distorted self-image. When there is a filter applied to a photo, it can be hard for teens to tell what is real and what is not, which can lead to physical and emotional distress. Supporting this point, the Royal Society of Public Health found out that 9 of 10 young females are unhappy with the way they look. On the other hand, social media not only has negative effects on mental health but also on the physical health of the users. According to a 2018 British study, an unavoidable correlation between an excessive amount of usage of social media platforms and irregular sleep schedules, which might cause depression, memory loss, and poor academic performance. Supporting this statement, the University of Glasgow discovered that adolescents found it more difficult to unwind at night time after spending multiple hours on social media. In addition, the term FOMO, fear of missing out, should be mentioned. The term refers to “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent”. Basically, if the majority of people are using social media sites and posting on them, the one who does not join in gets anxious about the jokes, connections, likes, comments, and invitations that they will miss. FOMO is no joke; it could lead to depression, lower mood, and life satisfaction with 34% of young adults going through this anxiety-provoking fear every day. Last but not least, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) recently reported a new disorder: Social Media Anxiety Disorder. The symptoms may include, cutting short a conversation solely by checking the social media accounts, spending more than six hours each day on social media, refusing to accept how many hours spent checking social media platforms, not communicating with friends and family, not being able to supervise the amount of time spent on these platforms, and losing interest in school, work, and favorite activities. 

To sum everything up, utilizing social media platforms disproportionally has predictable and destructive effects not only on mental health but also on the physical health of the youth. With the soaring number of users on each social media platform and teenagers approximately spending 3 hours each day, 210 million people suffer from the addiction that is caused by excessive usage. Using said platforms for more than 2 hours might cause anxiety, while using more than 5 hours may result in depression. In addition, it is proven that addiction to smartphones and social media reduces the quality of sleep which leads to poor academic outcomes and ultimately depression. Even though the harmful effects of social media platforms can be minimized if they are used with responsibility, adequate education should be given to teenagers.