Marium Ibrahim Ahmed
Oct 23, 2024
Internet Addiction & Dopamine Dependency: The Age of Instant Gratification
Humans have always been wired to connect, it’s only the way they connect that has changed over time. With the advent of the internet and the subsequent creation of social media, the way human beings connect underwent a massive transformation. The internet enabled human connections in ways that no one had ever imagined: over large distances and in real time. With the internet, everything became instant.
However, along with the countless benefits of the internet came innumerable drawbacks. With time, the appeal of the internet began to morph into an unhealthy addiction tailored to each individual. This article looks specifically at internet addiction with respect to social media platforms and their attention-economy business model and design.
The instant quality of social media with the ability to facilitate interactions in real time has made connections accessible to a degree that can be proven to be harmful. With its instant messaging, infinite scrolls, and follow and like features, social media presents itself as an appealing product to the user. But it is these very features which can be detrimental to one’s health. Up until recently, internet addiction was not considered an addiction. But research has led to prove that excessive use of the internet falls into the same criteria as other behavioural and substance addictions and is now accepted as a behavioural addiction.
This behavioural addiction is often spurred by specific design features that dominate social media platforms, taking advantage of the human need for social validation and reciprocity. The amount of engagement on people’s posts in the form of likes, shares, and comments serves as a measure of social validation. This is where the brain chemical dopamine comes in. Dopamine is produced by our brains as a response to beneficial behaviours and motivates us to repeat them.
The feel-good hormone plays a huge role in giving us a sense of pleasure – it is a natural reward system in our body that motivates us to keep doing the things that make us happy. The extent of engagement – and the amount of social validation – on people’s social media accounts serves as a dopamine trigger; the greater the number of likes and followers, the greater the pleasure. The repeated use of social media, combined with the effects of dopamine, causes the platform to become addictive.
Along with taking advantage of the human need for social validation and desire to connect, social media platforms have also removed natural stopping cues by introducing the infinite scroll in their designs. This particular feature has taken away the user’s ability to stop at the end of a page and decide if they want to continue using it or not. Instead, by repopulating their feed every time they reach the end of the page, the platform keeps them scrolling. Social media is addictive by design - the intermittent variable rewards, the infinite scroll, and the notifications which always hold some hope of a positive social stimulus and dopamine influx.
Various researchers have found a correlation between social media addiction and mental and physical health problems. Connections have been found between an excessive use of social media and depression and anxiety. Not only that, but an addiction to social media and in turn to your phone also causes anxiety associated with misplacing your phone. In his article, Trevor Haynes states that around 73% of people claim to experience this unique form of anxiety.
According to Facebook researchers, the features considered as most harmful to the mental health of teens are found at the core of Facebook-owned Instagram. The research reveals that 32% of teen girls said that Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies when they already felt bad about it. From depression and anxiety to eating disorders, being chronically online and addicted to social media can lead to real health issues. It can also lead to cognitive issues such as a shortened attention span and an inability to maintain focused concentration.
While exposure to high amounts of dopamine can make people feel energised and happy – bordering on euphoric – it can also cause sleeping problems and lead them to become impulsive and aggressive. Some diseases associated with high levels of dopamine are addiction, obesity, and mania. The problem with the instant gratification that social media provides people with is that it eventually causes them to become used to the fleeting feeling of pleasure. And just as is the case with substance addiction, this behavioural addiction also raises the threshold to feel pleasure. Hence, people find themselves constantly unsatisfied with the amount of social validation they receive online and they’re always searching, reaching, hoping for more.
Unlike traditional social media platforms, Confinity focuses on promoting mindful scrolling and positive mental health through an efficient use of its legacy building platform. Research shows that a platform designed to promote deliberate actions -- in Confinity’s case these include intentional engagement, legacy building, and memory preservation – can reduce anxiety and enhance mindfulness. Moreover, Confinity builds itself on a foundation of genuine connections which makes social interactions and validations secure and enduring.
A platform like Confinity allows people to slow down and engage with it mindfully instead of scrolling through an endless amount of unfiltered information. By replacing the instant with enduring, Confinity functions as a healthy and mindful sanctuary where people receive and reinforce positivity so people feel the need to come back to it for all the right reasons.