Social Media Dependency

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Social media has always been a great outlet for meeting new people, and expressing one’s own opinion, but students have taken this opportunity too far. Social networking sites are websites created to keep one in touch with friends, and family. They allow students to post statuses, check in at locations, and post pictures. Students can make their own profile special to them by identifying their interests, and personalizing other features. Social media addiction can come in many different shapes and forms. By filling a lonely void in a student’s heart, and providing a feeling of comfort, social media leads students to becoming too dependent on it.
Dopamine the same chemical released in the brain during sex, consuming drugs, and consuming food, is also released when receiving and answering a notification from social media. As Franceshi-Bicchierai shares with us, "As it turns out, receiving and answering a notification results in a hit of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter associated with the motivation and reward response in the human brain." ("How Is Facebook Addiction Affecting Our Minds?"). While consuming drugs, each pill recharges a person’s addictive impulse, and the same happens with each notification, each time a student recharges their addictive impulse.
Researchers at Harvard preformed a study to see what self-disclosure did to the brain. They found sharing a personal experience or a person's own thoughts releases dopamine, which is what social media, is all about (Hawley). When thousands of students wake up in the morning before school, and tweet about how they do not want to go to school, post on Facebook about how late they went to bed, or Instagram the waffle their eating for breakfast, they all have one thi...

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...his source has a wide variety
Laster, Jill. "Students Denied Social Media Go through Withdrawal." The Chronicle of Higher Education. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. . I am going to use this source, because it is a real life study that has been shown to have distinct results which support students dependence on social media, and its addictive qualities.
Mackay, Deborah. "Social Media: The Pursuit of Happiness." TNW. Next Web, 2001. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. . Shows the dopamine effect
Parks, Peggy J. "Current Issues: Online Social Networking." Current Issues: Online Social Networking. 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. This source gives LOTS of information

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