Sudha Jagatheesh-Jayanand looks into the rise of social media and the impact it has had on our brains and behaviour. This post was originally written as part of PB101: Foundations of Psychological Science, a compulsory course on the BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science undergraduate programme at LSE. It has been published with the permission of the author.

We’ve all been there. Scrolling through our friends’ aesthetic stories on Instagram and reading about their trip to Bali (when we’ve done nothing this summer) setting off a stream of anxious thoughts.

How did you not see this trend? And why is your friend in Bali? More importantly, what are you doing here, stuck in traffic on a Monday morning, shirt stained with clumsily spilt coffee and mood still sour from the row with your partner, instead of tanning at the beach?

Sometimes, it feels like we’re not doing enough to appease our social circle or even ourselves. Hours upon hours of scrolling through social media only add to your headache as you begrudgingly shoot a ‘congratulations!’ to your friend’s job update. Your eyes prick with dejection, fingers spasm, and then in a fit of hopeless rage, you chuck your phone into the back seat and grumble through traffic to work (I’m hoping if you do this, you’re not underage like Baby Yoda).

We’ve all been there. But how did we get to this point of social media-induced life dissatisfaction?

Social Perceptions

Humans are social beings. Twin studies have documented how our interactions are shaped due to genetics and the socio-cultural environments we live in. They reveal that what others do can have a massive impact on how we react.

According to Henrich, we imbibe qualities from people we like while ignoring those we don’t. We know what to imitate by observing what other people imitate, which is a form of social learning. Then, we use cues from more educated, or prestigious individuals than us to inform our behaviour, and seem more prestigious and educated ourselves!

This social comparison is what makes us feel affected by what people post online. And this is exactly what social media companies capitalise on.

Racing to Be Relevant: How Companies Exploit User Interactions

To understand what social media companies are doing now, we need to know what they were doing before the internet explosion. This will explain how social media’s primary purpose has shifted to an exploitative nature.

Initially, networking was text and image-based, with the only users being technology developers and those with internet access. However, the launch of the World Wide Web – changed everything. Every person suddenly had the power to connect to anyone they wanted, anywhere in the world.

It was revolutionary. Texts turned to chatrooms, images turned to video messengers, and people began learning and imitating what others were doing online.

Much like our offline community, social media created a virtual community with social hierarchies that came in the form of influencers, followers, and fans. Users imitated more popular influencers to climb virtual hierarchies and felt ashamed if they didn’t get the same viral response from their followers. Verduyn terms this as ‘upwards comparison’ – weighing ourselves against more prestigious individuals.

More severe cases of social media comparison led to feelings of depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation, predominantly prevalent across adolescents and young adults. The graph below shows how intensely social media platforms perpetuate negative feelings that harm individuals’ mental health and well-being. Lack of sleep, depression, FoMO and body image issues are all exacerbated by social media usage, highlighted in red.

From being curious to learn about the world to wanting to be as relevant as influencers across the globe, our need for using social media has changed.

And social media companies use the shift in our needs to generate revenue! Prominent platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, have been at the forefront of letting hate-speech, cyber-bullying, and radical echo-chambers exist without pursuing immediate action because it generates revenue by increasing user engagement. Facebook knew its idealistic beauty content triggered mental health issues in teenage girls. However, it failed to respond, because they form a large part of its consumer base and regulating their presence reduces user interactions, negatively impacting Facebook’s business.

Essentially, unregulated social media platforms, coupled with the need for social acceptance prevalent in adolescents, cause mental health problems and worsen virtual hierarchies. Companies’ selfish business models hinder positive online interventions, as firms value profits over user safety.

Wow, social media is a recipe for disaster, you might think.

So why don’t we just stop using it, then?

Well, it’s because – we can’t.

Reward Pathways and Addiction

According to Haynes, while less intense, social media is like being high on recreational drugs. Every like, every comment, and every follower we get triggers the release of dopamine in our brain, strengthening our reward pathways and propelling us to engage in reward-seeking behaviour, which in this case, is social media usage.

Let’s dive deeper.

Reward pathways are a collection of neural networks whose primary role is to connect the rewarding activities to areas of the brain that reinforce stimulus-inducing behaviour. In this case, the mesolimbic pathway is the reward-pathway related to social media usage.

Think of it like ringing the doorbell of a neighbour who’s never at home: When you press the buzzer, the bell echoes, but nobody answers. You repeatedly buzz with each passing moment, but aggressive doorbell chimes do not summon your neighbour.

In the context of social media usage, the ‘ping’ of a like, follow, or comment is the doorbell, and the frequency of your social media use, is how often you hit the buzzer, only in this case – the house isn’t occupied, and you keep buzzing in hopes that someone answers.

The more pings we get, the more dopamine – the reward – gets released in our brain, and consequently, the more we buzz. In essence – we’re all hooked, endlessly, unless we consciously decide to break free.

The Need for Regulation

Almost 90% of teenagers use social media. Exploitative companies and neural reward systems are set up to reinforce self-destructive behaviour. Without proper regulation, we could be looking at the beginning of a generation completely addicted to online platforms, getting high from social validation.

Now, more than ever, we need to re-evaluate the legal and psychological dynamics of an unfettered technological revolution. When it comes to engaging with social media platforms – safeguarding users’ mental health and ensuring they have a positive sense of identity should be the rule, not the exception.

The next time you scroll, like, click, or post – remember – what transpires through our silicone studded screens is just half of the story.

(The other half might include Monday mornings stuck in traffic, contemplating life decisions with a grumpy Baby Yoda. *Grumpy, I am not.*)

Notes:

• This post expresses the views of the author and not the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science nor LSE.
• This post was originally written as part of PB101: Foundations of Psychological Science, a compulsory course on the BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science undergraduate programme. The post has been published with the author’s permission.

Figures and Images:

1. by Know Your Meme
2. by webtechexperts on Pixabay
3. by Royal Society of Public Health on The Economist
4. author’s own visualisation created using Canva

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