You are planning to get some work done, or do something as simple as sleep when you decide it would be best to check your phone first before doing so. You start off by maybe checking your texts or emails, and then you decide to check your social medias such as Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. And before you know it, you have refreshed each social medias’ newsfeed at least three times, and it has been over an hour since you started. This scenario is a familiar one for this generation (especially to us procrastinators), as we are practically glued to our phones on a daily basis. I feel the biggest culprit of this is not the phone itself, but the social medias that are downloaded onto our phones, which causes us mindless hours of staring at a screen. Is it just because we are hiding from the world and living through our phones, or is there a more scientific reason behind it?
According to cmswire, we are addicted to social media because of psychology. As Dr. Pamela Rutledge explains, social validation is an important factor in human nature because it affirms our existence. Thus”it’s not how social media works that drives people to use it how they do- it’s people who are driving how social media works for us”. And according to this same article, there are some psychological traits that drive us to use social media as often as we do. The first one emphasized is the fear of missing out. If we do not check our social medias, we fear we will not be updated and involved in the lives of others and may feel like we are missing out on something big (56% admit they check social medias regularly due to this). Secondly, social media feeds our ego, therefore in most cases it is more about having an audience rather than socially connecting because humans are self driven. Lastly, psychologically we are inclined to compare the lives of others with our own when we are uncertain about something (how to behave etc.). So by using social comparison, we are able to boost our self-esteem. Also in getting good feedback from an audience on social media, self-esteem also boosts which on psychological terms causes the want to use it more in order to feel self-secured.
A recent Harvard study showed evidence of why social media is addictive when they conducted two main experiments. In the first experiment, researchers asked their test subjects questions about their and other’s opinions while hooked up to an MRI machine. The MRI’s showed that when people would talk about themselves, the regions of the brain associated with reward were strongly engaged, and less engaged when talking about others. Researchers then performed a second experiment in which they found when people got to share their thoughts with a friend or family member, there was again a large amount of activity in the reward region of the brain. Although when asked to keep their opinions to themselves, there was less of a reward sensation. Therefore the conclusion of this study is that one of the reasons people are so “addicted” to social media, and utilize it so often, is because using it activates the same part of the brain that is associated with pleasure (same pleasure we get from eating food, receiving money, or having sex).
I feel researchers could take this study even further, and set up a trial where a large number of adolescents is persuaded to live without any social media use for an entire month by paying them a certain amount of money. During this time period, a participant can choose to drop out at any point but they must give the money back. I think it would be an efficient way to see how social medias have effected this generation, and if we can actually go without it. Doing this by charting how many adolescents stuck with it and how many dropped out of the study. I feel it would be a good correlation to the previous studies done, because it does not seem like social media is going anywhere soon.
I definitely agree with your article. I recently did a research paper on the extreme use of cell phones. From my research, I found a lot of information on social media. Social media has caused bullying, privacy, and safety problems over the past years. Cyber-bullying is a major problem in our society, mostly occurring in middle and high school years. These online attacks can happen on all forms of social media. Bullies post pictures or nasty comments about someone on social media for all of their peers to see. A recent problem that has been noticed is called “text bullying.” According to Kathy Brock, ABC News, “Text bullying is sending mean, embarrassing, untrue, or hurtful messages to or about someone using cell phone text messaging. This can also include sexting, or sending sexually suggestive text messages to someone or about someone.” Brock reports that about, “9 out of 10 teens have a cell phone, and about 1 in 5 will be victims of a text bully.” It’s not very clear to parents and other adult figures when someone is being bullied because it is all virtual. Most teens are not closely watched when using their cell phone. I believe that parents should monitor the use of their child’s cell phone and always know what their child is doing on their phone.
I enjoyed reading this article, and agree with some of the points you have made, especially about how people feel like they’re missing out if they don’t check their “newsfeed”. To add to your article, I believe that people are addicted to social because they have cell phones, which is so convenient for people to take out at any moment without having to go through much trouble. Also, here’s an article that argues that addiction to social media may not be real/that prominent but rather just a form of communication.