Are social networks addictive? See what science says – 11/04/2023 – Balance

A group of 41 states and the District of Columbia (USA) filed a lawsuit on the 24th against Meta, the company responsible for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. They claim that the company intentionally used resources to make children compulsively use its platforms, even though it claimed that its social networks were safe for young people.

“Meta used powerful and unprecedented technologies to attract, engage, and ultimately ensnare young people and teenagers,” the states said in their lawsuit filed in federal court. “Your goal is profit.”

The accusations in the lawsuit raise a deeper question about behavior: Are young people becoming addicted to social media and the internet? Here’s what researchers found.

What makes social media so attractive?

Experts who study internet use say the magnetic pull of social media comes from the way the content activates our impulses and neural connections, so that consumers find it difficult to tear themselves away from the constant flow of information.

David Greenfield, a psychologist and founder of the Internet and Technology Addiction Center in West Hartford, Connecticut, says the devices lure users in with powerful tactics. One of them is “intermittent reinforcement”, which creates the idea that the user can receive a reward at any time. But when the reward arrives is unpredictable. “Just like a slot machine,” he says. Just like a slot machine, users are attracted by lights and sounds, but, even more powerfully, information and rewards tailored to the user’s interests and tastes.

Adults are susceptible, he notes, but young people are particularly at risk because the regions of the brain involved in resisting temptation and reward are not as developed in children and adolescents as they are in adults. “They are totally impulsive and have little control over that impulse,” Greenfield says of young consumers.

Furthermore, he claims that the teenage brain is especially attuned to social connections, and “social media is a perfect opportunity to connect with others.”

Meta responded to the lawsuit by saying it has taken several steps to support families and teens. “We are disappointed that, instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, attorneys general chose this path,” the company said in a statement.

Is compulsion equivalent to dependence?

For many years, the scientific community generally defined addiction in terms of substances, such as drugs, rather than behaviors, such as gambling or internet use. This changed gradually. In 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the official reference for mental health conditions, introduced the idea of ​​internet gaming addiction, but stated that more studies were needed before the condition could be formally declared.

A subsequent study explored broadening the definition of “internet addiction.” The author suggested further exploring diagnostic criteria and language, noting, for example, that terms like “problematic use” and even the word “internet” were open to broad interpretations, given the many ways that information and its delivery can take place. to assume.

Michael Rich, director of the Digital Wellbeing Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, said he discouraged use of the word “addiction” because the internet, if used effectively and with limits, was not only helpful but also essential to everyday life. “I prefer the term ‘Problematic Internet Media Use,'” he says of a term that has gained prominence in recent years.

Greenfield agrees that there clearly are valuable uses for the internet and that the definition of how much use is too much can vary. But he says there are also clear cases where excessive use interferes with school, sleep and other vital aspects of a healthy life. Many young consumers “can’t let go,” he says. “The internet is a giant syringe, and the content, including social networks like Meta, are psychoactive drugs.”