Research Question

To begin my research, I wanted to dive into the psychological component of exactly why is social media so addicting to young minds. When it comes to addiction, people often associate it with substance or drug abuse, but there is more than just drugs someone can be addicted to. The defintion of addiction is “the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity”. Social media falls under particular things or activity rather than substance.

According to a study created by Harvard University, self-disclosure on social media sites and applications light up the same part of the brain that also ignites when taking an addictive substance. This is the reward area in the brain and it’s chemical messenger pathways affects decisions and sensations. The brain recieves a rush of neurons to the dopamine-producing area which when acitivated the brain’s dopamine levels rise, and the brain recieves a “reward” and associates the activity with positivity.

When a social media user recieves a notification from their social media apps, the brain recieves the rush of dopamine causing the user to feel immediate pleasure and reward in the form of attention. This source of dopamine and pleasure requires minimal effort, therefore making it easy to continue to use social media.