MOSCOW, February 26 – RIA Novosti. Long-term viewing of social media feeds provokes dopamine addiction, which leads to increased anxiety, sleep disturbance and decreased performance, said Lyubov Blagodareva, an expert at the NTI Competence Center “Bionic Engineering in Medicine” of the Samara State Medical University, a neurologist, clinical psychologist of Samara State Medical University clinics.
“Social media addiction is primarily a dopamine addiction. Scrolling through the tape, the human brain is looking for something interesting, useful, something that evokes emotion. However, this is a very short-term pleasure … There is a short-term release of a small dose of dopamine, then it also quickly falls and dependence is formed,” Blagodareva said.
The expert noted that while watching videos, the brain does not process information, but seeks to get a short-term dopamine surge. “When the level of dopamine falls and is not replenished, anxiety and irritability increase, especially with apathy and general weakness of the body,” Blagodareva added.
She pointed out that 2-3 hours before bedtime, you should put off the phone and any other screens, and also go to bed no later than 23 hours. “Otherwise, the blue light of the screen will disrupt the production of melatonin and the body will not recover, which will negatively affect the condition of the skin, attention, memory and performance,” explained Blagodareva.
According to her, it is now difficult to say how much you can use the phone a day without harm to health, but “it is definitely worth reducing useless social media views in favor of communication.”
“The Internet has filled our lives. Shops, books, movies, communication – everything is online and you need to use these technological achievements of our time wisely. You can try to use the phone from one to two hours a day to answer messages and chat. Otherwise a person should come to the realization that there is no benefit from constantly watching the tape, information is forgotten, household chores, debts for work and study accumulate, so it’s better to spend your time on something useful or more pleasant, “added Blagodareva.
