Addiction

Well, according to the American Psychiatric Association, addiction is a complex condition of the brain where a person has compulsive substance use despite there being harmful consequences. People with addiction tend to have an intense focus on what they're addicted to, to the point where it takes over their life. What makes it so hard to break an addiction is that it can change the way your brain is wired, giving you harsh cravings that make it difficult to stop. Studies of brain imaging have even shown changes in areas of the brain that relate to judgement, decision making, learning, memory, and behaviour control. So is this what's happening with Facebook and social media? It's hard to say for sure. That being said, we are starting to give more credit to an addiction that might be pretty similar: video games. That's because the American Psychiatric Association includes Internet Gaming Disorders as disorders that requires further research, but that can result in clinically significant impairment or distress. The World Health Organisation has also added Gaming disorders to their International Classification of Diseases, which is used by medical practitioners around the world to diagnose conditions. Now online video games are obviously not the same as a site like Facebook, yet they do have similar social aspects. It's possible that in the future we'll see health organisations also classifying social media as a type of addiction or disorder. Still, sites like Facebook do have quite a few qualities that make you want to come back to them. Through constant feeds that go on forever and giving you push notifications on your phone, social media sites try their best to keep you on their app or website, and if you leave they want you to come back as quickly as possible. Google and Facebook further their reach by also being commonly used to sign into other sites. Social media sites also seem to have a significant impact on how you feel, furthering your connection to them.