Contents
Psychology
Social media is designed to give us the hormones of happiness, but it is a trap
Put yourself in a situation: you are in a restaurant with your partner, with friends or family, they bring the food that you are going to taste in a few seconds and suddenly… “Don’t touch anything, I’m going to take a photo.” Who wants to immortalize the table full of delicious dishes? Is your best friend? Your mother? or … Was it you? Like this, millions of situations in which the camera of a mobile interrupts to immortalize what we have before our eyes. It is very common to want to stop certain moments to shoot a photograph that will later be posted on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, even revealing the location where the meeting took place. What happens to many people, having the need to post everything on the Internet, is not only a vice of social networks, it is also an emotional obligation that makes them feel that they belong to a group or community. “Whether you share information on your social profiles or if you receive it, it is very possible that you feel that you are important to someone you follow or with whom you have contact through the networks,” says Eduardo Llamazares, Doctor in Physiotherapy and “Coach”.
And although the so-called influencers may have something to do with wanting to “show off” what we do, Eduardo Llamazares diverts the attention of these personalities, and points to oneself: “It is easier to blame others than to accept an addiction and start a ‘detox’ process. Each one decides who to follow and, more importantly, how to interpret what the person they follow shares, ”he says. However, he confesses that certain profiles do influence our lives in one way or another. «Many times, the idea that influencers have a idyllic life it does not arise from them, who have the task of sharing part of their life and publicizing what they are paid. We are the ones who extrapolate what we see in their profiles, assuming things that no one has confirmed, ”the expert warns.
The internet motivates the hormones of happiness
Companies that social media They have gone from being a contact tool to becoming a place where we can show off what we do, what we live, what we have. That is why while many use them as a source of inspiration to discover new restaurants, travel, or learn about fashion and beauty trends, among many trends, others find the support and recognition they seek, and that has a lot to do with the «likes »And comments they receive through their profiles on the Internet. “When a habit helps you meet certain needs, it is very easy for it to become an addiction because you need to share more and more to feel that recognition and, therefore, stay longer on these platforms,” says Llamazares.
If sharing your life on social media makes you feel good, it doesn’t have to be a alarm signal. But, as Eduardo Llamazares points out, this begins to be a problem if things that were previously a priority are stopped doing. «The solution is to find other ways to generate those hormones that make us feel so good. It is important to set limits on the time they are used (there are more and more tools that warn of the time of use of said social network) as well as changing the way you use them ”, he explains. Otherwise, social networks become a comfort zone in which some needs are met, but which deprives you of many others, such as connecting with people through laughter, looking into the eyes or listening , out loud, any lived story. This helps to reduce room for misunderstandings, since in many cases text messages are not interpreted in the tone in which they were sent.
The standard profile of an internet addict
No, there is no prototype of a person that can be differentiated at first glance because we are all apt to fall for social networks. Eduardo Llamazares does differentiate certain profiles that could be more susceptible: «We should rather talk about the situations that one goes through throughout life. For example, if self-esteem has been diminished, if you want to change friends or feel that the ability to relate to other people is limited, it is very likely that you create a vice towards social networks because they facilitate communication a lot, although I know misrepresent the messages“Says the” coach. “