The warped self in the social media mirror

  • 📰 BDliveSA
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 52 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 24%
  • Publisher: 63%

South Africa Headlines News

Social media makes us feel terrible about who we really are. Neuroscience explains why — and empowers us to fight back

, the science writer Gary Wilson argues that internet pornography presents itself as dangerously rewarding, an example of a “hyperstimulator”.

What pornography is to sex, social media platforms are to our intrinsic appetite for socialising. Engaging in interpersonal bonding draws on all of the reward circuitry mentioned above: it feels good to socialise, and dopamine encodes learning for successful social behaviours. One similarity between social media and pornography is that both are a powerful vehicle for taking carefully curated fantasy, and presenting it as an attainable reality.

The simple act of pushing a button to reveal information has been shown to trigger arousal and compulsive behaviour. Picture: 123RF/RAWPIXEL Moreover, when feedback does come, it isn’t immediately communicated to the user. Rather, we receive notifications in the form of a shining button or exciting sound that delays the discovery of the precise nature of the incoming content. The simple act of pushing ato reveal information has been shown to trigger arousal and compulsive behaviour, and newly developed features on smartphones add further layers of anticipation.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 12. in ZA

South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Art student's drawings gets attention on social mediaA final year fine and applied art student at the Tshwane University of Technology's Pretoria campus recently posted a drawing of rapper Okmalumkoolkat on social media, garnering more than 12,000 views. I saw several people testifying of making so much money with the help of LisaJackson022 on Bitcoin option trade and I decided to give a try and now I'm glad now she helped me and my colleagues to make $1000 in one week, thank you for transparency and trust. Tears grips my heart knowing how hard I've struggled to find a legit trader. I never wanted to do this but I'll be guilty if i don't share this good news to people to join the best trader have ever know. Thanks for helping me and i will forever be grateful to you LisaJackson022 I noticed a crowd of people giving testimony about Miss LouiseConway86 For helping them earn a huge amount of money from trading. So I decided to give it a try and to my surprise my first investment was just $300 and I received a profit of $3,950 A very reasonable amount
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »

Art student's drawings gets attention on social mediaA final year fine and applied art student at the Tshwane University of Technology's Pretoria campus recently posted a drawing of rapper Okmalumkoolkat on social media, garnering more than 12,000 views. I saw several people testifying of making so much money with the help of LisaJackson022 on Bitcoin option trade and I decided to give a try and now I'm glad now she helped me and my colleagues to make $1000 in one week, thank you for transparency and trust. Tears grips my heart knowing how hard I've struggled to find a legit trader. I never wanted to do this but I'll be guilty if i don't share this good news to people to join the best trader have ever know. Thanks for helping me and i will forever be grateful to you LisaJackson022 I noticed a crowd of people giving testimony about Miss LouiseConway86 For helping them earn a huge amount of money from trading. So I decided to give it a try and to my surprise my first investment was just $300 and I received a profit of $3,950 A very reasonable amount
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »

Nicki Minaj and her son are twinning in rare photo | ChannelWhen it comes to her baby boy, Nicki Minaj tends to keep her life quite private, only sharing a few rare glimpses on social media since his birth.
Source: Channel24 - 🏆 48. / 51 Read more »

POLL | Is it ‘cheap’ to call someone on WhatsApp?WhatsApp’s calling function was at the centre of conversations after a social media user sparked a heated debate around the age limit to use it. This stratcom aka ThumaMinaMediaGroup is so useless xem 🤣🤣🤣
Source: TimesLIVE - 🏆 28. / 59 Read more »

Eastern Cape police look into Motherwell Saps brawl video | The CitizenEastern Cape SAPS say an investigation has been ordered regarding a social media showing two women fighting Motherwell Saps officers. When they are led by a incompenent fool, how do you expect them to be compenent.
Source: TheCitizen_News - 🏆 6. / 75 Read more »