The track your browsing history and then suggest appropriate links similar to the ones you have visited.

What have you been up to??????

for sure NOT

I would love to see Facebook go down for an entire month or longer, just so all the heavy FB users' dopamine levels could begin to return to normal and they can realize how happier they are without it once their brains are able to produce serotonin again. That site is literally designed to program people -- to trap users in a dopamine feedback loop.

It is odd what is (and is not) censored on there. Someone can use that site to sway people's votes and the outcome of elections, but god forbid it's used to share an image that contains breasts.

Yeah, well I enjoy my daily dose of Victoriana, my videos from the BBC archive, the photographs of my friends' dogs and kids in their Hallowe'en costumes, the old photographs of my home town, the funny stories, the successes and the life landmarks of friends both new and old.

I spend a fifth of my life commuting. I'd be well pissed off if someone denied me one of my chief pleasures on long, boring train rides in the interests of doing my dopamine good.

Everyone has different experiences with it. But I do think that people should be made aware of what it's doing to their brains. Increased dopamine causes aggression, competitiveness, a lack of serotonin (which in turn causes depression), etc. I've read a lot of studies about it and it's also increasing people's cortisol levels (stress hormone) and also causing the nucleus accumbens in their brains to closely resemble that of a psychopath's. (Psychopaths have overactive reward-centers in their brains, as do heavy FB users). There has also been a dramatic increase in teen suicides in the past 10 years, and it's been attributed to social media. I think the trick with those sites is to be sure to control your use of it rather than letting it control you, because sites like FB are intentionally designed to control their users -- to program their brains via dopamine. The more time someone spends on FB, the more ad revenue goes into Zuckerberg's pocket.

No idea what you do on Facebook but this seems a bit OTT for the normale user.

Where are those studies published that FB/social media leads to near psychopathic behaviour?

Seems one can say the same thing about the incessant constant use of a handy irrespective what one looks at. It channels the peception into something a few centimetres big. When one takes ones attention away from it, then its like being thrown back into reality.

is there a setting where one can turn on or off "adult content"?

I don't use Facebook (and never used Instagram, etc.). Once I began to learn about the ways FB is designed to program people and the effects those sites are having on people's brains, I deleted my account (I also noticed that I began to feel much, much happier after I did). Everyone who uses sites like FB is having their dopamine affected.

Regarding the correlation between psychopathy and heavy social media use, if you take the brain scan of a known psychopath and the brain scan of a heavy social media user, they are very similar. They both have overactive nucleus accumbens -- the reward center in the brain that produces the neurotransmitter dopamine. They also both have impaired decision-making abilities (act more impulsively). I will try to find some links. If you begin to research, online, the studies that have been done regarding social media's effects on the brain, you will see what I'm talking about. It can take up to six months for a heavy FB user's dopamine levels to return to normal after stopping social media (and when the brain produces too much dopamine, serotonin is suppressed. This is one of the reasons why social media is known to cause depression and anxiety, because users' brains are producing so much dopamine that their brains are rendered incapable of producing sufficient serotonin).

Dopamine is the Addictive Little Secret of Social Media

https://www.newsy.com/stories/dopami...make-us-happy/


https://www.businessinsider.com/what...17-3?r=US&IR=T


https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/...ens-8C11036930

New Study Links social media use to less gray matter in your brain

https://medium.com/the-mission/new-s...n-65f1b9256998

Psychopathic Traits Linked To Brain Reward System

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-...-reward-system


Brain Regions Dopamine Levels Linked to Psychopathic Trait

https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/pn.45.9.psychnews_45_9_022

And how concerning this is FB any different from for example EF?

And where is the proof that this is directly related to a growth in Teen suicides? True Teen suicides and FB usage have both grown, but so has environmental awareness and the usage of Electrical bicycles, maybe riding an electrical bicycle makes one more suicidal...

Also FB like other social media is not all bad, it created social connections for socially isolated people, maybe FB actually prevented more suicides than it might have caused.

Thing is some scientists say it is caused by social media, others say it is not, and those who speak the truth simply say "we just don't know"

Not so different than EF then.

Seriously, if you have this opinion about FB, you might want to take a more objective look at all these social media platforms. And btw, I think teenagers are not on FB these days. They have other stuff.

For me it’s an excellent way of keeping up with family and friends around the world. Pictures and news of stuff going on in their lives helps bridge the gap between meet ups and reunions. Even my mum started using it a couple years ago so she can follow all our escapades, as well as the humdrum.

FB is like anything else in that normal usage is not a problem whereas over usage is. To be fair, nobody under the age of 30 seems to use it anymore, either. They may have an account but hardly seem to use it.

i must be the exception then

It's strange how defensive some people become about social media. You say something to criticize it (even offering studies and facts about it), and they act like they've been deliberately offended or something. But people have a hard time believing anything that contradicts their prior beliefs. That's how confirmation bias works. When someone is presented with information or facts that contradict their prior beliefs, it results in cognitive dissonance, and so their instinct is to shut it out and negate its validity. Like trying to convince a Muslim extremist that perhaps their god does not really exist.

You can believe what you want about social media and base your opinions on your own, personal experiences with it. But that doesn't change the outcomes of the many studies that have been done about it or the fact that these sites have been intentionally designed to literally program people's brains. Every thought we have in our brains is determined by a neurotransmitter (e.g. dopamine). That's how consciousness and signal propagation in the brain works.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-h...rs-60-minutes/

The thing is, people have become so conditioned to consider social media such a routine, 'normal' part of their lives that they usually don't even bother to consider what effects it is having upon their minds and/or their lives. I was one of those people for a very long time.

Who here remembers a time when seeing snapshots of so many people's lives every day wasn't a thing? When looking at photos of people's mundane dinner wasn't a thing or posting selfies for compliments wasn't a hobby for some people? When seeking validation in the form of "likes" on social media wasn't a part of people's lives? Or when wasting hours each day scrolling through content that, for the most part, doesn't really interest you wasn't consuming your time?

Again, everyone has different experiences with social media. But that doesn't change the fact that these sites are designed to trap people in a dopamine-feedback loop. 2.2 billion users worldwide and the average social media user spends 2 1/2 hours per day on these sites... Sites that are intentionally designed to be addictive. And those numbers are increasing.

Giving up Facebook leads to a drop in the stress-related hormone cortisol, study finds

https://www.psypost.org/2018/04/givi...dy-finds-50983


Social Media apps are deliberately addictive to users

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44640959

Trapped -- the secret ways social media is built to be addictive

https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-...to-fight-back/

Teens who spend more time on social media have increased depression: Study

https://fortune.com/2019/07/15/socia...en-depression/


Rise in teen suicide connected to social media popularity: Study

https://nypost.com/2017/11/14/rise-i...ularity-study/

I don´t think anyone here was defensive, that is your interpretation. If someone doesn´t agree, they just have a different opinion.

Just realize that there are people who simply disagree with your stories.

I think some people were defending their use of it by stating how much they like using social media. And yes, it was simultaneously offering a differing opinion. And of course, that's fine. I certainly don't expect people to always agree with me.

As I had stated twice, I know that everyone has different experiences with it. And I am in no way trying to attack or accuse anyone for using those sites. I would be a hypocrite to do so, as I had used FB for years before finally realizing what it was designed to do to people and then deactivating and realizing how much happier and at peace I was without it. I do realize that it can be a good tool for feeling connected with friends, but at the same time, I think it's good for people to be aware that those sites are intentionally designed to trap people and to be addictive... and to be aware of what those sites can potentially do to their psyches. I think that anyone who struggles with stress, anxiety and/or depression should consider taking a long break from social media just to see if they might feel better without it. x

This exactly.


But isn't this you just trying to push one POV? Yes there are studies. Yes the internets can be addictive. But, you know, personal choice. Social media may have a lot of negatives but there's a great deal of positivity too. You've exercised your confirmation bias too.

I personally found your posts to have bypassed informative and moved into soapbox spanking territory. But that's perhaps just my interpretation.

And, surely, the irony of posting at such length on a social forum can not have escaped you?

I don't think that the English Forum is designed to be nearly as addictive as sites like Facebook are (though it certainly can be addictive, of course). Yes, it has the "thanks" button, but I don't think that the EF works on people's dopamine levels the same way that FB and Instagram are designed to. You don't receive notifications, etc. to try to trap you in a loop (to try to consume as much of your time and attention as possible), and I don't think people are investing their egos in the EF the same way so many people seem to on Instagram and Facebook. Most people on EF aren't using it to brag about their lives and to seek validation in the form of "likes." (By the way, I hadn't been on the EF in years and just came back to it yesterday).

I'm not trying to push my point of view so much as I am trying to simply convey some facts. That's why I've included the links that I have. People will make what they will of it. If you use FB every day and are programmed by an addiction to it or feel that you can't live without it, you're most likely not going to agree with what I've written. And that's okay.

One of the problems with reading written text is that we read it in our tone, rather than in the tone that it was conveyed with, by who wrote it. So this easily leads to misinterpretations.

My personal 'problem' with social media is due to the studies that I have read about it and the fact that I just know these sites are intentionally designed to be so addictive and the negative affects that they are actually having on so many people. If you are one of the people who it is not having negative effects upon, in some form or another, I think you are fortunate.

Well, it seems for some it doesn´t work that way. I can easily stay off FB or Instagram so apparently either my dopamine levels are satisfied by EF () or it doesn´t work that way at all?

Just sticking my beak in for a moment. I've never found social media addictive. Google...yes! but never social media. Facebook has been a huge boon to my life with regards to keeping in touch with friends and family very easily and regularly. All the best trades people I employed last year, were sourced from a local Facebook group. It was great to be able to trawl through galleries of their previous work and before approaching them.

An aspect of social media that I believe you're overlooking is that, when used wisely, it's not immediate or intrusive. Sometimes you need to pick the phone up and speak to people. Sometimes people are not able to do that. I'm very close to my sister-in-law, but when her son died a couple of years ago, she couldn't face speaking to anyone on the phone for quite some months. Even so, she messaged me and a handful of friends every single day on Facebook messenger, often resulting in hours long conversations. She needed to vent her emotions and feel connected but felt too fragile to do so person.