Facebook, Twitter, other social media are brain candy, study says
16 replies, posted
[quote]
Researchers at Harvard have gotten to the bottom of why so many of us are compelled to share our every thought, movement, like and want through mediums like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram and Pinterest.
In a series of experiments, the researchers found that the act of disclosing information about oneself activates the same sensation of pleasure in the brain that we get from eating food, getting money or having sex. It's all a matter of degrees of course, (talking about yourself isn't quite as pleasurable as sex for most of us), but the science makes it clear that our brain considers self-disclosure to be a rewarding experience.
This may help explain recent surveys of Internet use that show that roughly 80% of posts to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook consist simply of announcements about one's own immediate experience.
Lead researcher Diana Tamir and her co-author Jason P. Mitchell devised a series of experiments to measure the reward response that people get when they talk about themselves.
For part of the study they hooked up test subjects to an MRI machine and watched the participants' brain activity as they answered questions about their own opinions and questions about other people's opinions.
The researchers found that the brain regions associated with reward -- the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) -- were strongly engaged when people were talking about themselves, and less engaged when they were talking about someone else.
They also found that the test subjects would turn down money (just a few cents) to talk about someone else, in order to enjoy the more pleasurable sensation of talking about themselves.
For the second part of the study, the researchers wanted to find out how important having an audience is to listen to one's self-disclosure.
"We didn't know if self-disclosure was rewarding because you get to think about yourself and thinking about yourself is rewarding, or if it is important to have an audience," Tamir said.
As anyone with 700 Facebook friends might have guessed, the researchers found greater reward activity in the brains of people when they got to share their thoughts with a friend or family member, and less of a reward sensation when they were told their thoughts would be kept private.
So perhaps all this explains the confounding behavior of people who over-share on the Internet, even to their detriment. (Think criminals who get arrested after bragging about their crimes on Facebook, the teenage girl whose online venting about her chores led to her dad shooting her laptop, the guy who almost went to jail for complaining about his wife.)
"I think the study helps to explain why people utilize social media websites so often," Tamir said. "I think it helps explain why Twitter exists and why Facebook is so popular, because people enjoy sharing information about each other."
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[url]http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-self-disclosure-study-20120508,0,7870124.story[/url]
Slightly misleading title. I was expecting it to conclude that being on facebook or twitter was good for your brain.
Also, this makes perfect sense.
I guess I am more into salty treats, then.
[editline]9th May 2012[/editline]
Actually, thinking about it, no. I am just a rating whore here. I admit that getting all the funnies feels good.
Interesting read.
Lots of the people on it could certainly do with more brain fruits and veggies.
You do get a rush when you get a notification.
Then you find out it's about farmvile and you get angry.
[img]http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4427/braincandy.png[/img]
"Have there been any flipper babies?"
I thought the title meant that it makes you smarter, I can't imagine a world where all those Facebook vegetables are secret geniuses.
So I guess places like 4chan count as hard drugs like Methamphetamine?
[QUOTE=Thom12255;35885965]You do get a rush when you get a notification.
Then you find out it's about farmvile and you get angry.[/QUOTE]
Sweet 'n Sour candy?
Is porn ecstasy or warheads
What type of candy are other websites
Makes perfect sense. Wanting to sharing your tastes and life means wanting others to know which is spreading information which helps form communities.
[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;35886969]So I guess places like 4chan count as hard drugs like Methamphetamine?[/QUOTE]
Facepunch must be a speedball then.
[QUOTE=Appolox;35895815]Facepunch must be a speedball then.[/QUOTE]
Facepunch is Jenkem
So, most of the people who use them have brain cavities
[QUOTE=TheFilmSlacker;35896106]I'll be the first to admit, when someone likes my status, link or whatever, it [I]does[/I] make me feel pretty good.
Getting likes is kind of like getting an Xbox achievement. Completely useless, but when you get them, you feel nice.
That and the fact that nobody cares but you.[/QUOTE]
Same thing with FP ratings.
It makes me feel awesome when I look back at my comics posted in the Stop Bullying Bitstrips thread and see that they have been rated 100-500 funnies and winners.
It's acceptance, not really that surprising.
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