Dopamine Research Paper

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As Kevin, a nine-year-old boy, returns home from school, he is asked by his mother how school went that day. Kevin replies with an unresponsive, “fine.” Then he goes up to his room where he will spend the rest of the night playing video games, texting his friends, and scrolling through endless amounts of social media. Kevin does not come down for dinner, instead he texts his mom to bring it up to him. His mom wonders why Kevin stopped playing with his younger brother and won’t come out of his room everyday after school. She starts to rethink the Christmas present that she got for Kevin, a brand new iPhone 6. Kevin had begged for a smartphone because all of his friends owned one and he didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t have a smartphone. …show more content…

In many studies, researchers have found that the chemical dopamine is released from the brain whenever an instant alert pops up on one’s own digital device. Dopamine is a highly addictive chemical that is discharged to create pleasure. Too much Dopamine can send social media users into an addiction. The chemical dopamine is also released from the brain when someone undergoes drugs. A drug addiction and an internet addiction can be one in the same with many side-effects. Some of the side-effects of excessive internet usage on an adolescent are described in Frances E. Jensen’s book titled “The Teenage Brain”. He states that “several studies have shown a connection between depression, poor academic performance, and the inability to curb time spent online” (Jensen 207). Think about it, if a child spends more and more time on the internet, the more dopamine the brain has to release in order for the child to be satisfied. That is why it is harder for a kid to stop spending so much time on social media because his/her brain needs a longer time looking at a screen in order to be content. Too much of something can be a bad thing, in this case, too much exposure to the internet can be a very bad thing. Along with an inability to spend less time on social media, children often have a poor academic performance in school. This is because of the many digital distractions that smartphones can have on children. While a child or an adolescent is trying to do their homework, they often are distracted with texts from a friend, likes on an Instagram picture, or a new follower on Twitter. Every notification takes the student’s focus away from the academic task at hand. Students can also forget to do their homework or neglect their homework totally because their social media was too important to them at the time. One way

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