What causes social media addiction?

Image: Gerd Altmann

What is social media addiction?

Image: Jonathan Borba

Our brain releases dopamine each time it thinks we’ve done something worthy of reward, reinforcing activities and behaviour that stimulate the dopamine neurotransmitter. Ten arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now Our craving for dopamine is so strong that it rewards us just for seeking out stimuli, creating a dopamine seeking-reward loop and that can quickly morph into addiction. The Dopamine Seeking-Reward Loop, Social media addiction is real, powerful and worse than alcohol, but you can fight it with the right tool The American Marketing Association reports, “The same brain areas that are activated for food and water are activated for social stimuli.” Is social media bad for you Although social media addiction isn’t listed in the manual for mental health disorders, internet addiction (which it is a subset of) is. Is social media bad for you? Social media addiction creates significant difficulties in users' offline lives, such as disruption in sleep patterns, work productivity, daily routines, and social life. The Social Net: Understanding Our Online Behavior

Why is social media addictive?

Quite simply, because it is designed that way. The addictiveness of social media is not a byproduct, but rather the keystone of its creation and success. Facebook's like function was created to give users a small dopamine hit and encourage them to post more and increase engagement. Ex-Facebook president Sean Parker: site made to exploit human 'vulnerability'.Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, created a four-step plan to entice and keep people on apps with variable rewards at unpredictable intervals, his idea is modelled off of slot machines. Addicted to Screens?  The tech giants such as former Facebook president Sean Parker and former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya are sounding the alarm about the danger of social media, acknowledging that the pleasure reward patterns (which are the basis of social media addiction) were and are fundamental to Facebook's business model and is damaging to society through behaviour modification. Even the Tech Elite Are Worrying About Tech Addiction, Ten arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now, Ex-Facebook president Sean Parker: site made to exploit human 'vulnerability' 

Image: Daria Nepriakhina

How is social media addictive? 

Media theories can help us to understand how social media is so effective at consuming its users. Media richness theory (MRT)can explain why we are more susceptible to addiction to social media than traditional media sources. It assesses a medias richness based on its:

• Feedback capability
• Number of channels used
• Personal or impersonal nature
• Language variety (verbal or non-verbal) 

Extending media richness theory to explain social media adoption by microbusinesses
Social medias richness is dynamic, from static text-based posts to non-verbal direct communication. It allows us to interact in real-time (via its communication features), respond to and comment on posts. Instant and direct contact creates a social expectation to be constantly engaged, a fear of missing out (FOMO)  and an increasing need for validation, a “social-validation feedback loop'', as Sean Parker puts it. Ex-Facebook president Sean Parker: site made to exploit human 'vulnerability'. This was not a feature of traditional media. If dialog was possible, such as responses to newspaper stories, it was one-way, delayed and in-direct. Social media platforms utilize a wide array of channels, from the lean (posters, info-graphics and text-based posts shared on Instagram, Facebook, Imgur, Pinterest or Twitter) to rich ( video conferencing and live streaming on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok.) The variety of its channels and its ability to promote both verbal and non-verbal communication helps to randomise its content, helping to keep users engaged for longer. Social media can be used in personal and impersonal manners, both an impersonal matter (such as a local council posting information)  or a personal matter (someone posting photos of a happy event) can still trigger a dopamine hit as the acknowledgement of the message is social validation. Social medias ability to create variable rewards (through its unknown content element) and stimulate our dopamine neurotransmitters (through social validation) makes it a much more powerful medium than traditional media.


The Uses and Gratification Theory (U&GT) explains:

• How media use is motivated
• How It satisfies needs and desires
• That media use and interpersonal communication are related
• That social and psychological factors mediate its use. 

Uses and Gratifications of Problematic Social Media Use Among University Students
Reflecting on social media use with the U&GT can help to assess how prevalent and invasive it is in our lives. A Whiting and Williams 2013 study identified that social media fulfils the following 7 motives:

• Social interaction
• Information seeking
• Passing time
• Entertainment
• Relaxation
• Communication
• Convenience 

Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach  

These motivations along with, interpersonal communication (which is core the offering of social media networks) a sense of belonging, social interaction, friendship and intimacy (which are third on Marlow's hierarchy of needs) are the sirens song that lures us in.  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Explained  While U&GT explains social media allure it does not meet some of U&GTs core principles; that users are aware of why they are selecting media and that are active in their choices. What Is Uses and Gratifications Theory? Social media (by design) corrupts normal behaviours of accessing and selecting media. When addiction is present the goal of the user is not to achieve a motivation or fulfil a specific need, but rather to trigger a dopamine hit. Users are not active agents who have control over their media consumption. What Is Uses and Gratifications Theory?

Social media networks are rich multi-media platforms that fulfil users motivations more than any of their media predecessors, but at what cost?  They have been formulated to create a dependency which modifies users behaviour to obtain maximum engagement. This often has detrimental effects on the users and can lead to addiction. As with all forms of addictions, some users are more susceptible than others, but all of us need to be aware of the behaviour modification we are undergoing when using social media.