Social media has become tightly woven into our lives. Smartphones have made Facebook, Twitter and the rest constant companions; windows through which we can gaze at any time, mirrors into which we can speak whenever we want. The apps are so instinctive and well-designed that we are experts within minutes. They are always on and, collectively, we use them constantly. The question users are increasingly asking, however, is how are they using us?
Many millions have been spent figuring out how to engineer social media use, whether to influence popular opinion or even to influence the outcome of elections. While that may seem a little rarefied, it’s worth paying attention to. If whole groups of people can be manipulated, then so can individuals and its happening to you and me. If you’d like to continue using social media with your eyes and mind open, it’s worth understanding a little about how your brain is being manipulated and how your mood and peace of mind can be affected.
One thing most social media platforms have in common is the constant drip-feed of bite-sized, easily digestible content and random reward. After each refresh and each update to the feed we are not sated, in fact, we want more and so we refresh again. Add to that the rewards we are offered – likes or replies on our posts. Your kind social media provider knows that you want these and they want you to have them – on their terms. They are dispensed in an unpredictable pattern; notifications are given in a way that is not uniform. This is because of dopamine, the brain chemical that is released when something good happens, such as a sudden reward or compliment. Your brain gives you a little hit when your social media notifications are dispensed, you feel good and you want that feeling again, even though your next post does not guarantee it. You might need to keep posting, keep refreshing, before you get the hit you want. In other words, your brain is being taught to want to keep engaging with your app. If that’s starting to sound a little familiar, it’s the same thing that makes gambling so seductive.
This crossover with gambling technology is no accident; we can take the word of the experts on that. As the guy who invented the “pull to refresh” function on social media app explains, it mirrors the arm on an old-school slot machine. You pull down your screen, you watch the refresh icon and you wait to see what you’re going to get. Sitting on the bus looking at your phone might appear a world away from sitting in a casino in front of a slot-machine – a jackpot is surely more compelling than a like, right? – but on one level your brain is experiencing the same thing. The action, the anticipation and the reward. Sweet dopamine. And if you’re reward doesn’t arrive you chase it. The pull-to refresh function doesn’t even really need to be there (data can be refreshed in the background automatically); its purpose is to keep you playing.
This, in simple terms, is how the subtle architecture of addiction can begin to install your apps into the fabric of your life. Of course, not everyone is addicted but arguably everybody IS being manipulated in ways they are not fully cognisant of. So, what’s the harm? It’s perfectly possible to use social media “well”, isn’t it? The purpose of this piece is not to judge one way or another on that (or to argue whether social media, as we currently know it, is a positive influence or otherwise) so let’s focus on ourselves. Ask yourself the question; am I regularly feeling more depressed, anxious, scared or upset because of extended social media use? If you the answer is yes, here’s an insight into why that might be.
The dopamine dynamic described above is a “primitive brain” experience, in other words your need to seek and be rewarded with tasty treats is wired into those parts of your brain that aren’t involved in higher level thinking. You don’t “decide” to feel good when you receive a reward, it just happens. The same can be said of your fear centre; the part of your brain that is always on the lookout for danger and threat. The Amygdala is your brain’s sentry, it’s constantly scanning for threats to your safety and, sitting as it does at the top of your brain stem, is ideally placed to trigger your fear responses. While your higher brain might be very good at distinguishing between what is real and what is not, your amygdala isn’t. It notices negative headlines and images as well as it notices real world threats, so the internet can be a persistent trigger. You can become conditioned to respond to the constant alarms and compelled to keep alert for more – where is the danger, what should I do? This is where the old network news motto “if it bleeds, it leads” comes from – bad news really captures our attention. During the bad weather this winter, Twitter constantly presented users with #REDALERT messages – if this didn’t stress you out the first time, it might have after the 50th. If your news feed is full of this kind of alarm, or the sources you follow confirm everything you assumed was wrong with the world, you get these constant little spikes of anxiety. This can lead to a generally raised level of anxiety or even burn-out – you eventually stop caring and become despondent.
Confirmation bias also becomes a problem; if we view the world as a negative and hostile place, social media can feed us all the evidence we need to confirm that to be true. What we feared turns out be fact, negative beliefs are re-enforced. This kind of black and white thinking, free of nuance or reason, is typical of “primitive brain” fear-response function. It is also typical of the polarised views which seem to characterise internet debate, where infantile and reductive analysis is often accompanied by ridicule and humiliation of the individual.
If we spend too much time in this environment, and therefore less time in “real world” relationships and communication, a hostile way of relating can become normalised. The world of relationships and interaction can become distorted; it appears to be all snarling, shouting and argument. It is important to stay connected to people around you to realise that, in fact, is not how it is.
If this sounds like a familiar experience, it may be time to limit or change your social media engagement. In the future no doubt, the need to moderate time spent in virtual communication and internet use will be important as some level of moderation in drinking or drug use. It will be a mental health matter. Get a head start and decide if it already is for you.
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