Extreme Social Media Users

We live in a world where everything is documented these days. It’s more than just selfies and a few status updates. There are social media users that update their followers from the time they wake up, until the time they go to sleep and everything in between. People on social media are actually making money off of constantly updating what they are doing. They are making money promoting what they are wearing, what they are eating and where they are going. That’s great that these people have found a way to make money off what they are using and posting to social media. But what about average people who don’t promote but repetitively post and share every tiny detail of their lives. Does this seem like an addiction to you? Science has proven that there is a biological and psychological reason for excessive social media use. “It has been found that social media navigation is associated with a surge of dopamine; dopamine is stimulated by unpredictability, by small bits of information, and by reward cues, all of which are characteristics of social media use”. Research also suggests that social media use “causes a release of oxytocin, the “cuddle chemical” of the brain. It has been shown that oxytocin levels can rise as much as 13%—a spike equivalent

to the spike people get when they are getting married to their love”. Social media is having the same effect on the brain as some drugs. This is actually pretty scary if you think about it. All in all, social media can be a great way to stay connected to the world but there has to be a healthy limit on what we share. The only person who can decide what that limit is, is the user.

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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biological-psychological-reasons-for-social-media_b_58c279a7e4b0c3276fb78388?guccounter=1