• April 23, 2024

The characteristics of self-promotion offered by one of the most popular social networks, such as Facebook: publish what you are thinking, publish photos of yourself, comment on what others publish through "Like", etc., as well as a whole program of reinforcement of actions and behaviors, is what makes it so addictive.

According to neurologists of the Harvard University , when talking about oneself in social networks like Facebook, key areas were activated in the brain, such as the Accumbens nucleus, the same pleasure zone that is stimulated with money, food and sex.

Pleasant social networks

In the study, researchers analyzed magnetic resonance imaging, which tracks changes in blood flow between neurons, to see which parts of the brain responded most strongly when people talked about their own beliefs and choices, rather than talking about other people.

As part of the results, they observed greater activity in brain regions belonging to the dopamine system, called meso-limbic, which are associated with rewarding sensation and satisfaction of food, money or sex.

Similarly, researchers from the Freie Institute in Berlin They carried out another study in which they measured the brain activity of the participants when they received a huge amount of positive feedback, with which they observed that several zones, like the same nucleus, had a much more intense activity.

However, not only talking about oneself in social networks leads to a certain addiction, but also could generate personality problems, as evidenced by the investigation of the University of York , in Canada.

According to Canadian scientists, users who spend a lot of time immersed in the social network updating their profile and reviewing the comments of their contacts reflect signs of narcissism and being insecure, who can not maintain real relationships.

Therefore, various experts agree that people who are fans of social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, among others, should devote much more time to their relationships in "real life", to prevent the brain from beginning to register a taste. excessive or too pleasant and becomes a habit.