Contents:
- Medical Video: Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health? | Bailey Parnell | TEDxRyersonU
- Research on the state of the teen brain when opening social media
- The more likes you have, the more you will like
- Do parents need to worry about social media?
- What effect peer pressure also applies in cyberspace?
Medical Video: Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health? | Bailey Parnell | TEDxRyersonU
Did you know that brain circuits respond if you get "likes"The thumbs up in the photo and the status you upload on social media, are the same brain circuits that are active when you eat your favorite food or win the lottery?
Research on the state of the teen brain when opening social media
Scientists from UCLA, United States, try to observe the parts of the brain that are active when receiving a brain rewards. A total of 32 teenagers aged 13-18 years were asked to participate in a social network similar to social media that is currently popular, such as Instagram. Experiments carried out at UCLA's Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center this gives 148 pictures on the computer screen to the teenagers, including 40 images collected by each of these teenage children. At the same time, scientists analyze the activity in their brain using a device called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Each picture displayed on a computer screen is also accompanied by a number of "likes"What they thought was given by other teenagers. But actually, the number "likes"That was determined by the scientists (after the procedure was finished, the new teenagers were told that actually the scientists had determined the number of likes in the picture).
As a result, when these teens see the images they upload get a lot "likes", Scientists see various activities happening in various parts of their brain. The most active part is the part of the brain that is included in the part of the striatum, its name nucleus accumbens. Nucleus accumbens is the part of the brain that is included in the brain circuit named brain's reward circuitry. This circuit is indeed learned to be more sensitive to adults. In addition, the scientists also analyzed the activity in the named part of the brain social brain and parts of the brain associated with visual attention.
The more likes you have, the more you will like
When teens will decide whether they will give thumbs up to a picture, they are greatly influenced by the number of likes in the picture. How can scientists know this? The scientists tried to give the exact same picture to two groups of teenagers, the group of teenagers who first saw the picture with a lot likes accompanying the picture, while the other group sees the same picture, but the number likes in the picture less. As a result, teens will be more interested in giving likes if the image already has a lot likes.
In real life, the influence of friends of teenagers is stronger in giving likes on the uploaded image. In this study, all adolescents did not know each other. Even so, there is still activity in the brain and giving likes on pictures of people they don't know. Moreover, if in real life, they get likes from people who are close to them.
Do parents need to worry about social media?
What is called cyber facilities, including social media, there must always be advantages and disadvantages. Keep in mind that when you are a teenager are times when teens try to find their identity. Teenagers are very influenced by other people's opinions of them. Many teens are friends on social media with people they don't know in the real world. This is indeed a concern for parents, because this opens opportunities for adolescents to be easily influenced by people who make your child easy to make risky decisions.
On the bright side, if your teenage friends upload something positive, it will be amazing if your teen also sees something positive and is affected by it. Therefore, it is very important for parents to keep track of who your teenagers interact with in cyberspace, including the status, images, or videos they often see or give likes.
What effect peer pressure also applies in cyberspace?
In the world of adolescence, peer pressure indeed it is one of the effects that always appears. Apparently, the effect peer pressure this effect is even greater in cyberspace. Scientists try to give images to teens that are neutral (such as pictures with friends or food). In addition, the scientists also gave pictures of "risky", such as cigarettes, alcohol, and teenagers with provocative clothing.
The result is not the type of image that affects the teenager to give likes or not, but the amount likes in the picture that affects teenagers to give likes. Scientists call this the "confirmation effect", which means that the teenagers feel "accepted" by their circles if they give thumbs up to the pictures that are already many in likes, no matter what kind of picture it is.
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