How Social Media Affects the Brain's Reward System

In the last few decades, humans have entered a technological age and have made massive advancements in technology that have altered the frameworks of society. For instance, one of the most impactful advancements was the creation of the smartphone. The earliest phones made interpersonal communication possible without the need to be face-to-face. This eliminated the need to travel long distances or the need to use alternative methods of communication, in essence, communication had become easier and more convenient than ever before. With the development of the modern smartphone, fast access to the internet became attainable, in addition, the first social media companies were born. Social media companies are interactive websites that are available on any handheld device that enables users to create and share content across a network of databases. For example, some of these platforms include; Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, and many other resources. The invention of social media was an accomplishment worth celebrating but we have got lost in the glories of achievement and have ignored the drawbacks. In our modern society, social media has taken over our collective consciousness and operates behind a veil of ignorance that continues to let it gain influence. Social media has thrown human evolution and biology for a loop giving way to a society absorbed with the artificial.

Let me preface this by saying that I struggle with inappropriate social media usage, and I sometimes find myself spending more time online than creating real-world experiences. In addition, I have altered my brain chemistry to prefer constant distraction over the gradual and beautiful flow of time that brings about great ideas and actualization. By operating with some perspective, I have been able to see how social media has negatively affected me and it is something I am working to improve every day. I hope some of the information that follows can help you understand more about how social media affects us.

First and foremost, it is crucial to understand that social media has fallen victim to the constraints of modern business and marketing schemes that prevent the whole-heartedly connection that it was created for, instead, social media has taken an unfortunate turn in which members have now been lessened to numbers. Social media companies have consoled top neuroscientists in their respective fields and through keen planning have made social media rooted in addictive impulses that liken it to the feeling a drug addict gets when they take their first bump. In other words, social media was designed for you to spend hours scrolling through its boundless stream of content media, and want more and more even though it makes you feel terrible and can be detrimental to your health. In an article written by Voxdotcom of a youtube video titled, It's not you. Phones are designed to be addicting, Tristan Harris, a leading technology ethicist likened social media to “2 billion Truman shows” (Haubursin, 2018). The Truman Show follows a man who was born into a television show, without prior knowledge Truman is unaware that the events of his life are being relayed to a large audience and that everybody around him is an actor. Harris makes this comparison by eliciting that similar to the sitcom, social media is coordinated to entertain and captivate you without your awareness. A lot of these apps are designed to induce certain reactions in their users and they have taken advantage of and leveraged a full range of behavior and motivational desires that keep you always coming back. It is obvious at this point that social media is very addictive, but how exactly does it take advantage of our biological systems?

Well, let me explain. To better understand these addictive implications of social media, it is best to get some knowledge on the human nervous system and how our reward circuitries are easily manipulated. Andrew Huberman, A neuroscientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, regularly preaches the importance of the dopaminergic system and how in reality, it is the only true reward system. For example, what he means by this is that contrary to common belief, money is not what truly drives the world but rather it is the dopamine release that motivates success and the large accumulation of money. Furthermore, in one of his featured podcasts with Chris Williamson, titled What Overusing Social Media Does To Your Brain, he mentions and explains that social media companies have set up an algorithm that takes advantage of intermittent random reward (Williamson, 2022). This is the same reward system that is used anytime you face unpredictability, which happens to be very exciting. It encourages usage on the basis that we don’t know when we will hit the jackpot and to compare it to social media, it is when you have been scrolling for a while and despite not getting any enjoyment, you continue scrolling. At this point, for many users what was once a simple dopamine rush now has the likability of OCD. This is all unimportant though if we don’t understand the functionality of the brain's feel-good chemical dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical released in your brain that is responsible for all the feel-good sensations you get in your body, it is regularly produced when individuals are in search of new and exciting experiences. Subject to common misconception, Dopamine is not typically fired off when you participate in desired activities but rather it is an anticipatory chemical signal. In Jordan Peterson’s podcast titled, Neuroscience Meets Psychology, Andrew Huberman additionally illustrates that Dopamine is released when we believe we are going to get a reward. Further explanation shows that dopamine is released in pursuit of the reward and all the way up until the moment we get it. After we get what we so desired, Dopamine actually falls below baseline which leaves us wanting more. This is the reason for addiction. In order to subjugate this lost dopamine and return to overstimulated levels, we seek further trysts with our reliable social media platforms. Over time this builds our neuroplasticity to favor the enjoyment we get from a telephone screen and is what makes many prefer the comforts of their cell phones to real-life interaction.

Due to these reasons, social media has taken leverage of innate biological systems to keep you coming back for more. This has resulted in a society that favors a pseudo-reality that has led to many adverse effects. I hope this information was interesting and has inspired you to build a better relationship with social media.