Our Brains on Smartphones and Social Media

"There is now a wide body of evidence that points to the fact that heavy use of smartphones, the internet, and many social media platforms can have debilitating effects on our neural processing, cognitive performance, and behavior. On average, smartphone users check their phones close to 85 times a day and interact with their phone about five hours a day. Increasing evidence is pointing to the fact that our smartphones are not making us so smart after all and are leading us to more unhappiness."

"Specifically exploiting the principles of psychology, Facebook triggers the social validation loop and activates an insecurity, where people are searching for continued validation and reward. When this happens, we fall into a pattern of the hedonic reward cycle, pleasure seeking, for social validation. Much like Pavlov's dogs salivating at the sound of the dinner bell, we are conditioned to check our phone for our satiety of social approval."

Heavy smartphone, internet, and social media use impairs neural processing, cognitive performance, and behavior, with users checking phones roughly 85 times and interacting about five hours daily. Platforms exploit psychological principles to trigger social validation loops, fostering insecurity and hedonic reward-seeking for likes. Such design monopolizes attention and encourages continuous connectedness, undermining mental, physical, and emotional well-being. Research shows mere smartphone presence causes a 'brain drain,' shifting attention away from current tasks and reducing cognitive capacity. Removing phones from sight during social or work interactions restores focus and conserves mental energy.

Read at Psychology Today