The Brain Affected By Social Media

The Brain Affected by Social Media
The ideal concept of social media is to build relationships with others even when they aren’t present. 1.96 billion people in our world use social media, and its expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2018. People around the world use it in many different forms, whether it is to talk to friends, do homework, or catch up with the daily news. Social media surrounds us. Social media helps us do all these things, but recent studies have shown it also has consequences which can broadly affect the brain.
The brain is made up of three main parts, the cerebrum, cerebellum, and the brain stem. The cerebrum uses information around us to tell us how to react to actions. The cerebellum, controls our balance and actions. The brain stem controls basic functions such as eating, talking, and walking. The nucleus accumbens, located in the cerebrum, is part of the brain’s reward circuitry and becomes activated when we look at social media.

32 teens were shown 148 photos for twelve minutes.The teens posted 40 of these 148 photos on social media as likes. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers found that the brain’s reward circuitry was being activated when the teens liked the images with many comments. The nucleus accumbens, which is part of the brain’s reward circuitry, is also activated when we get chocolate, win money, get attention, or become awarded. That section of the brain is also activated when we see pictures, comments, and likes on social media. The nucleus accumbens releases dopamine, a chemical that has been shown to be released when we want more of