![]() ![]() Diminished self-esteem coupled with incessant dopamine stimulation make social media a dangerously addictive pharmacological substance. Yet while social media inspires progression on a societal scale, its individual users suffer. By utilizing social media as a platform for the exposure of injustices, people can effect societal change in unprecedented ways, as was evident in the social media response after the unjust killing of George Floyd in May. Yet there are undeniable benefits of social media as well, such as the rapid dissemination of knowledge across a vast network of people. It is clear that psychological dependence on social media usage comes with a cost to our mental health. According to Addiction Center’s s ocial media addiction page, “Research has shown that there is an undeniable link between social media use, negative mental health, and low self-esteem.” The article notes the concordant rates of high social media usage and eating disorders, as well as the disregard of personal responsibilities in those who excessively use social media. An article titled “ Excessive Social Media Use Comparable to Drug Addiction ” says that “researchers estimate that 20 percent of people with social media accounts cannot go more than three hours without checking them.” The psychological dependence that social media induces does not carry a “low potential for … dependence,” and thus cannot be characterized as a Schedule III drug.Īdditionally, the psychological dependence on social media is not as innocuous as the type of dependence that coffee inspires. ![]() Many of us are familiar with the Pavlovian effects that our notification bells have on us via the rushes of dopamine that they provide. Dopamine motivates us to repeat certain actions, thus serving as an evolutionary reward system. ![]() Much like opiates, alcohol, nicotine and amphetamines, social media influences our dopamine pathways. Drug Enforcement Administration classification as a Schedule II drug, which is defined as: “with a high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.” While Schedule III drugs have “low potential for physical and psychological dependence” and Schedule I drugs offer “no currently accepted medical use,” social media fits the classification of a Schedule II drug. I believe social media usage falls under the U.S. Rather than argue about whether to categorize social media as a drug, I aim to give social media some narcotic context in order to better conceptualize its effects. After all, coffee and tea are “drugs,” but we don’t seem to give them as much weight as, say, LSD or heroin. While many of us have heard before that social media acts as a drug, the term “drug” is dangerously ambiguous. We just happen to call soma a more ironic (yet eerily similar sounding) name: social media. While “Brave New World” is a novel, and soma is not a real drug, Huxley’s dystopian society has never been more familiar. However, it is later understood that soma doesn’t actually induce happiness in its consumers as much as it distracts them from their negative feelings. In his book “Brave New World,” Aldous Huxley depicts a world in which people ingest soma, a drug that induces happiness in its consumers. ![]()
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