The Science of Social Media Addiction

The Science of Social Media Addiction 

In droves, we engage on social media with selfies, Likes, follows, and shares. These are actions that positively re-enforce the idea that social media tools provide us with good feelings. Like any pleasure-seeking activity, social media tools are addictive. With our society’s dramatic shift toward interacting over the internet and social media tools, it is easier than ever to develop an addiction to social media.

The Connection between Social Media and Addiction

If you’ve ever trained a dog, you’re familiar with negative and positive re-enforcement. Such as:

·         Negative re-enforcement uses punishment to stop a habit.

·         Positive re-enforcement encourages a behavior through something enjoyable…like a treat!

Social media tools use positive re-enforcement to drive traffic on their applications.

For instance, imagine you open an app and post a picture. If you’re one of the rare individuals who do not wait anxiously for comments, Likes, or shares – more power to you. You are not an addict. Individuals dealing with social media addiction obsessively check the app, waiting for the influx of “Likes” to create dopamine in their brain. This little bit of dopamine actually creates cravings for the behaviour which caused it.

The Science behind Addiction

At face value, a little bit of dopamine may seem harmless. After all, dopamine and serotonin are naturally occurring brain chemicals that make us happy.

The difference is that dopamine can have both positive and negative effects on an individual. When we receive the anticipated reward, we feel good. When we don’t receive the reward, we feel terrible until we get what we want – the reward. Dopamine-releasing activities (drugs, sex, alcohol, gambling, shopping, social media, etc.) do not provide long-lasting happiness and positive feelings. As a recovering alcoholic, I had to adopt new serotonin-releasing habits and then maintain them while fighting the cravings. In early sobriety, some addicts need antidepressants to manage their mental health while their body adjusts to new serotonin and dopamine levels. So, when we think we’re craving more Facebook Likes, we’re actually craving dopamine.

Shafa Home is a residential treatment facility and nasha mukti kendra offering complete and holistic treatment for social media addiction. We encourage you to contact one of our counsellors today if you are concerned about Social Media Addiction.

Coping with Craves for Smoking in Recovery: A First Person Account by a Recovery Addict

On a warm October day, I hurried to class, manoeuvring around groups of slower-moving students. I checked my phone – fifteen minutes before class started, enough time to buy myself a cup of tea. Approaching the entrance, I smelled the faint scent of fresh cigarette smoke from a passerby. Then my eyes caught the posters featuring cigarette brands on the tea stall. All of the sudden, pleasurable memories wafted over me. I could feel the cigarette between my fingers and taste the hot smoke. I was experiencing a smoking crave.

What is a Smoking Crave?

The dictionary definition says a craving is a powerful desire. For me, craving an addictive substance. is a little different. I have a powerful desire, for example, to be able to support my family with the music I write and perform. But that desire is deep and unchanging. It is a life goal and a fundamental part of my personality and identity. The tobacco craving, on the other hand, is temporary, impulsive and extemporaneous from the rest of my existence.

We know that smoking is highly addictive. Mainstream science holds that cravings are a physiological phenomenon related to dopamine, the reward circuit of the brain and hormones. These powerful urges are also linked to memory and hunger. In fact, recent research suggests the same parts of the brain are active in food cravings and drug cravings.

Fighting the Craves for Smoking in Addiction Recovery

Fortunately, acute cravings do not last long – usually a matter of minutes. Distraction is a crucial tool when fighting the urge to give in. I experience alcohol and nicotine cravings, although the nicotine cravings are stronger. This does not mean it was harder for me to quit smoking (it was not). But for some reason, the short-lived, visceral desire to smoke strikes me more often than the desire to drink. Although I can’t explain the brain mechanisms behind this, to me, smoking felt more like an activity, whereas drinking was a way of life (and nearly death).

In addition, drinking for me was more about escaping and checking out than it was a source of pleasure. Smoking, on the other hand, had pleasurable effects. Perhaps that’s why those pleasant memory-laced thoughts of cigarettes return, even though I know smoking is deadly.

How I Cope With Smoking Craves

When a craving hits me, I like to address it. I take spiritual approach to recovery, but there is a secular corollary to the way I deal with cravings. When I start to think that a cigarette or a beer sound good, I pray to have the craving removed and for that thought to be replaced with a positive thought. In early recovery, when my cravings were more severe, I practiced a lot of distraction too. In effect, I employ a combination of prayer, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and distraction.

Shafa Home is a residential treatment facility and nasha mukti kendra offering complete and holistic treatment for Smoking Craves. We encourage you to contact one of our counsellors today if you are concerned about tobacco addiction..