Social Media and the Brain: Addiction, Reward, and Ethics
Social Media and the Brain: Addiction, Reward, and Ethics
In people who are addicted to social media entertainment, hormones like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins play a vital role. Watching short videos, memes, and reels triggers the release of dopamine, which creates feelings of joy and contentment (Goldman, 2021).
Users' brain reward systems are triggered by using social media through the release of dopamine, contributing to addictive behavior (Goldman, 2021). Consequently, we tend to become addicted to social media-based entertainment.
As a result, we spend longer periods on social media. Why does our brain become addicted to entertainment rather than focusing on learning? The two independent variables,entertainment and learning, function contradictorily.
Entertainment intensely triggers the brain's reward system, releasing the pleasure chemical dopamine. In contrast, learning does not stimulate the brain in the same way that entertainment does.
Naturally, people tend to seek instant rewards rather than long-term learning, as the human brain responds more strongly to entertainment than to learning.
Hence, addiction to social media entertainment can be defined as technology-based moral degradation; it is also a neurological issue, as people are tied to natural brain processes (Simply Psychology, n.d.).
References:
Goldman, B. (2021, October 29). Addictive potential of social media, explained. Stanford Medicine. https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2021/10/addictive-potential-of-social-media-explained.html
Simply Psychology. (n.d.). Brain reward system. Retrieved January 2026, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/brain-reward-system.html
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