Why can you get addicted to video games or social media in general?
In: Technology
And how do you get rid of the addiction?
Because I’ve heard that when you get a x amount of dopamine of doing something multiple times, you demand more amount of dopamine, and that can harm you in a way?
Our brain rewards us when we do things it likes. It has a [Reward System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reward_system). Meaning, you get the urge to do something (like being hungry), then you do that something (eating), and your brain then makes you feel good. When you feel good after eating, it’s not the food that does it, it’s your brain.
The action of wanting something and then being rewarded for that something can become an addictive behavior if it harms the other areas of your life. This is why gambling can be addicting. It’s not the money, it’s the feelings you get (but money helps this. If you remove money, a gambling addict won’t get the brain reward). This is how most addiction, that doesn’t involve putting other substances into your body, works.
Because certain actions in the game, like winning, release dopamine in your brain. Dopamine is one of two main chemicals that make you happy, and your body really loves the stuff, so if you play a game over and over, and just keep winning your body will keep releasing it, and over time it’ll become an addiction, since each “hit” of dopamine increases the amount needed to feel nearly as good.
They release reward chemicals like dopamine very similarly to the way that drugs do
Playing a videogame or getting likes on social media, gives the user a sense of reward, and then in turn creates a craving for more of that feeling
We can technically get addicted to anything we enjoy a lot
Social media and video games are designed to make the consumer feel like they achieved something.
A like on a post or a new item in a game tell the consumer “you’re doing something good” and the brain processes that information and releases hormones like dopamine.
When your brain releases dopamine, you get that proud, achieved feeling and you learn “likes on my tweet make me feel good” and you learn to make more tweets to satisfy the need to feel good.
This goes for basically everything you do and like. There’s a reward for clicking on a YouTube video. There’s one for picking up and reading your favorite book.
And to address your comment asking about how to break addictions, breaking an addiction is typically done through minimizing exposure to the thing in question or by learning to associate it with something unpleasant.
Try to reward yourself for not participating in the activity to which you are addicted. Your brain will learn that not doing X is satisfying, and thus you will experience less of an impulse to do X.
Or you could try to find a reason not to do x. Try to remind yourself that you don’t want to do X because Y. Your brain will learn that X is associated with Y and, since you don’t like Y, you won’t like X.
Latest Answers