Although we often try to use social media as a way to relax, it is not relaxation in the way that your brain actually needs.
I think what the brain needs (actual relaxation - time to just space out like meditation or go for a walk) gets overridden by what other parts of the brain WANTS thanks to the reward centers and dopamine, which social media exploits hardcore
Lately, I have been actively trying to minimize my time on my phone and especially on social media, which has lead to me thinking about phone and social media (SM) addiction and how it affects our brains
I haven't spent the time to read too many actual studies yet, but from what I have read and my own personal experience, I've been growing more and more concerned about all the time we spend in front of screens, especially on SM
I'm also making an assumption (but I think a fair one) that I'm not alone here, and a lot of people experience what I'm going to talk about
I constantly find myself reaching for my phone, unlocking it, and mindlessly scrolling through SM even if I only have a couple idle minutes
If I'm stressed or just spent time in deep thought working through a tough problem, I find myself reaching for my phone to check SM or play a game as a quick break
The problem is, scrolling through social media or playing a mobile game for a few minutes is not the kind of break our brain will actually benefit from
In the moment, it feels like it helps. But that's because of dopamine and our reward centers getting what they want
What our brains need in those moments & when we have an opportunity to be bored is to truly relax. Our brains need that time & boredom to sort our thoughts, process recent events, & allow us to think clearly, make connections, & sustain focus
Constantly reaching for our phones not only deprives us of the time for our brains to sift through everything, but it also makes us more and more likely to keep reaching for our phones by training our brains to want and expect those quick little dopamine hits
Like any other form of drug or addiction, we will build a tolerance, and it will get worse.
Most of us dealing with it are adults. Imagine how bad it must be for a child or teenage brain that already struggles with impulse control
I am becoming more and more conscious of every minute my kids are behind a screen because of how hard I'm finding it to pull myself out of these habits
Not that SM or mobile games are inherently evil, but they are designed to essentially be ultra-processed food for your brain; unhealthy and designed for maximum consumption and NOT for satiety or improving your life. It won't make you feel full. You'll always want more.
I'm not saying it can't be had in moderation. Of course it can, but I think many of us are beyond "having just one cookie" and leaving the rest be. Even if we don't see it. I think many people would be unpleasantly surprised if they actually checked their phone's screen timer.
This was all invented in the last 30 years. We do not need it. We do not need all this information in our face. We don't need to know what everyone thinks about everything conceivable thing. We don't NEED to watch that YouTube video or that IG story.
We are gaining nothing from these things regardless of what we try to convince ourselves of - "well, I only watch educational content, even on TikTok" - "I only check it to see what my family is up to" - I would bet you use it a lot more than you realize
Even w/ educational content, we often lie to ourselves about how useful that knowledge actually is to us. It's often surface knowledge at best. YouTube and Wikipedia have done an amazing job of spreading knowledge for free, but often we don't consume it to truly, deeply learn
We survived all of human history without these things. It's information and stimulation overload for our brains. We like to think that we as humans are above it all. We're so evolved. But we're just lucky. We happened to evolve the ability to do some advanced thinking, but...
That advanced computational power is built on top of the same basic brain functions and hardware that other animals are using. The same basic brain functions we started out with 2-6 million years ago. We are not designed for constant overstimulation.
Again, SM, phones, and mobile games are not the devil, but I think that we often underestimate our level of obsession and the effects they have on us
As an experiment, why not try to avoid SM or mobile games at all for one week or a day? Just to be more conscious of how often you do reach for your phone. See if it surprises you. And compare your numbers for the previous weeks screen time to the experimental week
I previously posted this section as a thread on Twitter
[[twitter-threads#Social Media and Phone Addiction]]
So everyone talks about how all this screen time, especially with games and social media, we are flooding our brains with more dopamine than ever before.
Well, there's another side to that which is not talked about as much, which is that our brains' pain and pleasure centers are linked. And our brain uses that close link to try and maintain a balance.
So like you get a big dopamine rush, you feel a bit of a low later on, which is your brain naturally balancing you out
Well the problem is, we have such easy access to the things that give us little doses of pleasure that as soon as start to feel that come down, we seek another hit, and again and again. Eventually, we have to come down, but now we've built it up so high that the come down is much worse.
And eventually we throw the system out of wack leading to all kinds of problems, like anxiety, depression, and addiction to the tech and screens that are causing the issues