How Social Media is Giving Us a Big Head

Written By Alexis Loftis

Modeled By Alexis Loftis, Vivian Rodriguez, Kait Patton, Halle Kory, Khennedy Adkins- Dutro, & Sophia Farnan

Photography By Rishita Nannapaneni

Graphics By Desiree Doas

Imagine you stick your hand into your pocket where you normally keep your phone, and nothing is there. You pat all your pockets, frantically looking for your phone as a wave of anxiety flows into your body. You then realize you just left your phone in your purse — now you can breathe.

Saying technology is simply being integrated into our daily lives is an understatement. At this point, our phones are an extension of ourselves. People typically receive around 60 and up to 200 notifications in one day. That is a lot of time spent looking at our phones — no wonder social media is giving us a big head. Narcissistic behaviors are commonly seen through those who use social media in excess. Although social media is a great technological advancement, it can also breed obsession.

Social media addiction is a growing issue that has been shown recently to possess narcissistic tendencies in some young people and increase these traits in those who already display them. Social media is known to be a place where we show ourselves at our best. So, what do we get from this? Validation. We all feel a sense of praise when we post, and receive likes and comments, which results in a boost of dopamine. When people talk and post about themselves, the reward system of the brain lights up. This is what causes social media to become so addicting. Since, users tend to talk about themselves around 80% of the time. With a setup like this, we are bound to all be social media addicts.

Some steps we can take to avoid the grip of social media addiction is to allow time for breaks. For example, you can manage the time you are on social media throughout the day by also using apps to set limits for yourself on how much time you have on chosen apps. Deleting settings time limits on apps. For instance, maybe 30 minutes three or four times in a day. You can also always use apps if you spend way too much time on them already. Social media should be used in moderation. It is all about being mindful when you use it. You do not want to give yourself a big head!