The rise of social media screen time has increased from 90 minutes per day in 2012 to 143 minutes per day in 2024. By just clicking one button, social media enables users to satisfy their fundamental needs such as connecting with others, building relationships and crafting one’s reputation. However, with websites such as Facebook and its 1.5 billion regular user base, there has been a rise in concern over social media and its addictive properties to adolescents, young adults and even working adults.
A question we must now consider is: Why is social media addictive, and how does it lead to addiction?
Motivations Behind Social Media Usage
Two common drivers for social media usage are mainly:
- To connect with others;
- To manage the impression they make on others
These motivations were present long before social media was popularised. Social media takes advantage of our basic human needs, such as the need to feel connected and belong to a social group. This is because, as a continuation of human evolution, belonging in a group helped people stay safe from danger and find partners, which then improved their chances of survival and having offspring. By managing the impression we make on others, we are more likely to be accepted by the group, and furthermore, more likely to survive and thrive. Social Media use can also create a strong connection with others, which enhances psychological wellbeing and can help reduce the risk of loneliness and depression.
Social media has provided us with a platform to not only connect with others but also build up a positive image among our social circle through strategies as follows:
- Users broadcast information
- Users receive feedback on broadcasted information
- Users observe information broadcast by others
- Users provide feedback on others’ posts
- Users engage in social comparison, by contrasting their own broadcasts and feedback to others.
It is through these key behaviours where we can satisfy our basic social needs. However, while these motivations can give us a good idea on why we take part in social media, a good question to ask now is, how does social media interact with our brain and why do we keep coming back to it?
Social Media and the Brain
As with all things, we must first begin with the brain and the millions of neural networks that interact with one another to make up our brain. A large part of why we keep using social media has to do with the reward system in our brain. With constant notifications regarding new comments, tags, and likes, social media provides users with a constant supply of social rewards which, in turn, activates our brain’s reward system and keeps us coming back for more.
The main players in our reward system are the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), the ventral striatum and the ventral tegmental area. When receiving feedback, or in this case, ‘Likes’ on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, this leads to the activation of this network and neurons in dopamine-producing areas in the brain are activated – therefore, increasing dopamine levels. The same reward area in the brain is activated when using addictive substances, highlighting how addictive social media can be, particularly when used excessively.
Now picture this – when you get a notification, such as from a like or mention, what happens is that your brain receives a rush of dopamine and sends it along the reward pathway, causing the feeling of pleasure. Research has shown that when receiving ‘likes’ on Facebook, it was discovered that there were more areas of the brain that were activated when participants received many ‘likes’ compared to fewer ‘likes’ previously. Interestingly, when giving out ‘likes’ on the same social media websites, the same areas of the brain were also activated. These results indicate that receiving and granting feedback to others has remained evolutionarily important, as seen through the activation of the reward system. This continuous stream of receiving and giving out positive feedback has rewired the brain to desire likes, shares, retweets, and emoticon reactions.
Everyday Use vs Addiction
Everyday use of social media initially starts as a habit, however, increasing reliance and engagement with these platforms can cause daily use to turn into an addiction. With so much dependence on social media, how does this happen? Scholars globally attribute social media addiction to specific addiction criteria that is usually associated with substance abuse in the following order:
- Salience: Being preoccupied by social media,
- Mood modification: Using social media in order to reduce negative feelings,
- Tolerance or cravings: Gradually using social media more and more in order to get the same feeling of pleasure from it,
- Withdrawal: Suffering distress if prohibited from using social media,
- Conflict or functional impairment: Sacrificing other obligations and/or causing harm to other important life areas because of social media use, and
- Relapse or loss of control: Desiring or attempting to control the use of social media without success.
While social media use can become a habit, not all habits develop into addictions. Some individuals are at a higher risk of developing social media addiction due to pre-existing conditions or symptoms, such as heightened depression, low self-esteem, and narcissistic personality disorder, among others. Therefore, it is important to recognize the risk factors for social media addiction and remain mindful of our own and others' social media use.
