How is Facebook addiction affecting our minds?

Facebook addiction have been documented and is a severe addiction that people cannot stop. Receiving and answering a notification results in a hit of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter associated with the motivation and reward response in the human brain. Dopamine is also released in high quantities when we consume drugs or have sex. Social media notifications can have the same addictive effect. In Asia “Internet Addiction Disorder” is already accepted as a psychological diagnosis. Next year it will be included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. Facebook and Internet addiction can have damaging effects, such as a decrease in our attention span. Since 2000, our collective attention span has decreased by 40%. This statistic is very believable because I find myself not paying attention in class and on Twitter or Facebook trying to keep updated. 

Angeli O'Day
Nov. 7. 2012