Social Media Addiction

Social Media Addiction is generally defined as being overly concerned with social media, with a severe urge to log on or use social media, and committing so much time and focus to social media that it negatively impacts other important areas of life. It is estimated that around 75-80% of Americans use social media and that over 50% of them visit those websites at least once a day. In order to retain these users, social media companies, such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok, employ strategies that activate the brain's reward center in order for dopamine to get released in a sensation similar to the feeling one gets when gambling or doing drugs. This has raised ethical concerns about the effect Social Media Addiction can have on one's mental health, especially adolescents.

Source

The Rise of Social Media Use

Bulletin Board Systems

Many consider the bulletin board systems (BBS) to be the starting point of social media. A BBS was a software that permitted users from different computers to connect to the central system where they could exchange messages, upload and download software, and some even had online games that allowed users to play against each other. BBSes were mostly run by hobbyists and were not used by the majority of the American population at the time.

AOL

AOL (previously America Online) is a company that provided an online service that is commonly referred to as the precursor to modern social media. It provided a dial-up service to millions across America and was a big proponent in the adoption of instant messaging. In fact, about half of all American homes with Internet access, at the time, had it through AOL.

Social Networks

In 2002, with the launch of Friendster, it was realized that the internet could be used to bring people of common interests together to form a community. Social networks began to cultivate their websites with that goal in mind. They provided users with the tools to share photos, instant message, and create their own image online. MySpace was the first social network to reach a global audience and had over 115 million unique users at its peak in April 2008. The following year, Facebook achieved more unique users in the United States which marked the decline of MySpace. Today, Facebook has almost three billion monthly active users.

Shown above is an image of the MySpace founder's, Tom Anderson's, MySpace page

The Power of Smartphones

Smartphones allow people to connect to the internet/social media wherever they are, whenever they want. Not only that, they contain tools such as a video camera which enables people to directly upload a video as soon as they finish recording. In 2021, it was found that 85% of Americans own a smartphone. Due to these reasons, social media is created and updated with smartphone users being the target demographic. Some social media platforms, such as Snapchat and Instagram, have a mobile app that provides the user with a more complete experience, with a strong focus on taking and uploading pictures, than the website. This has helped contribute towards the massive rise of active users in the last ten years on platforms like Facebook (1 billion to 2.9 billion), Instagram (150 million to 1.5 billion), and Reddit (75 million to 430 million).

Addiction

Social media companies employ various strategies in order to retain users and keep them engaged with the platform. These strategies target the reward system within the user's brain and attempt to release dopamine, the chemical that causes people to feel pleasure. Dopamine is released when people do things like eat good food, have sex, and do drugs. Many platforms create a cycle of motivation, reward, and reinforcement through likes, comments, retweets, etc. This cycle makes users want to post on the platform, releases a wave of dopamine through the form of a notification that alerts the user that their post was interacted with, then leaves them craving more. Platforms also contain algorithms that show users content that would be deemed the most engaging for them, in order to keep them from closing the app or to persuade them to log back on sooner.

Platforms

TikTok

TikTok is the platform that is most notable for its algorithm that aims for user retention. TikTok uses its algorithm to show users short videos with maximum lengths of 15 seconds, each satisfactory video causes dopamine to get released into the brain. It has been revealed that TikTok open the app eight times a day, on average. The platform also uses a common technique in social media that is the "infinite scroll", where users just need one finger swipe to engage with the next piece of content. This induces a state that allows one to easily get immersed in the content, forgetting about their surroundings and increasing focus on the video that is currently playing.

Source

Facebook

Facebook uses a strategy for user retention that is based off of positive feedback such as likes and comments. MRI studies have shown that likes on social media are associated with increased neural activity in areas of the brain that are connected to with the reward system. This satisfies the desire that people have for acceptance by others. The release of dopamine from this keeps users coming back in the hopes that this pleasurable experience reoccurs. Likes also act as a way of investing in the platform. Similar to how the brain responds to receiving likes, it responds positively when handing them out too. This allows for the like button to act as instant gratification for both parties, attempting to strengthen that addiction through positive reinforcement.

Ethical Concerns

Recently, concerns have been raised over the ethics of social media companies using these strategies to exploit the human brain for profit. For example, children in Hong Kong are risking their lives to create interesting videos in order to be accepted socially. Recent studies have also shown that increased social media usage per day was associated with a decrease in overall mental wellbeing. Alongside these studies, there has been a growing influx of people who are getting their news from social media. Many believe that social media is a reliable source of information on various topics including, but not exclusive to, politics. Research has shown that almost 50% of Americans report that they get their news from social media at least sometimes, while falsehoods are 70% more likely to be spread on social media than the truth.