Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Yahoo, MySpace?, ETC!
The constant question getting asked around is: “What is up with the consistent usage of Social Media?” WHY.
I was just hitting my teenage years when apps and phones starting becoming a huge deal to us younger generations. It was of no importance to me, my family or my friends. However, as I grew just a couple years older, it hit society like twenty tomahawks on a dark night. BAM! SOCIAL MEDIA it runs the world! Everyone is so concerned about how many likes they get! How often they post! How good the pictures look! – (though I am guilty of that one.)
This day and age is obsessed with their phones and cyber lives that they hardly focus on the real physical ones in REAL LIFE. It even affects relationships these days. You’ll find couples who try so hard to make their lives on the internet look outstanding, however if you take a closer look to them in person, they’ve got it rough.
This blog is here not to tell everyone JUST how bad this generation has it, because we already all know that. But it’s to show you the science behind it. The true medical reasoning behind WHY the teens and kids are so addicted to social media…
According to a study of Australian consumers by the media firm RadiumOne, getting likes and posting photos raises a persons Dopamine – the chemical in our brains that make us happy, so much so that it’s the main cause for addiction. According to the studies, the consistent likes creates a ‘Dopamine High’. One that causes the younger generation’s addiction to any form of Social Media. That “feel good feeling” is directly related from opening up your social media app and seeing lots of activity. This repeated activity will establish the addiction.
Furthermore, this could also create a reverse affect. Imagine opening up your media, and seeing absolutely no activity. No likes, no comments from friends, no one hyping up your online life. This drastically also affects the mind once addicted to that “high”. Depression. It sounds absurd, but is naturally the scientific truth.
My personal opinion on it all: I feel as though one or two forms of social media is completely acceptable. It’s how people communicate now. It’s our ‘dating pool’, our ‘social lives’. However, when you’re spending over 6 hours online a day, that’s when you need to come to the realization that you could be just as addicted to the cyber world as the spoiled 9 yr-old kid with an iPhone 8 sitting next to you on the bus.
Find out about yourself! See how much time you’re actually spending on the list of apps I started this blog with! If you have an iPhone, go to:
Settings>Battery>Last 24 Hours>>> Check out how much battery goes to your most used apps!
The Journey of a Female Sailor 