Internet Addiction, Social Media and Desire

In May, the government released a report detailing issues related to social media and mental health. While the report talks about pitfalls and negative consequences of too much screen time, it falls short in contextualizing and explaining the phenomena from a theoretical perspective. Below, we intend to fill this gap by examining social media through four different perspectives: psychoanalysis, critical theory, the Buddhist concept of desire and neuroscience. In doing so, we aim to create a framework that explores the root causes of internet addiction and identifies the shortcomings of current solutions like Google's Digital Well Being.

Government Report Summary

The recent report by the U.S. Surgeon General titled "Social Media and Youth Mental Health" is just one of many alarm bells bringing attention to this issue in recent years. While the report is measured in it's claims, it presents an alarming statistic:

Adolescents on social media for more than 3 hours per day have a 2x higher likelihood of experiencing depression and anxiety. The average daily usage for 8th and 10th graders is 3.5 hours.

One of the proposed reasons behind this observation is that the adolescent brain is still undergoing major developmental changes during that time period, resulting in low inhibition, high risk taking, and a malleable sense of self-worth. The report goes on to say:

Frequent social media use may be associated with distinct changes in the developing brain in the amygdala (important for emotional learning and behavior) and the prefrontal cortex (important for impulse control, emotional regulation, and moderating social behavior), and could increase sensitivity to social rewards and punishments.

And:

Adolescent social media use is predictive of a subsequent decrease in life satisfaction for certain developmental stages including for girls 11–13 years old and boys 14–15 years old.

Despite these concerns, the report goes on to recommend what amounts to "additional scrutiny", which, in our opinion, is too little, too late. The current generation of children is the first to have been raised completely during the age of social media making the actual long-term impact impossible to predict. However, we cannot risk the health and development of our youth on a gamble that the impact may not be that bad, especially when you take into account that such social media platforms have been engineered to be addictive by social media companies themselves with the goal of making profit.

In the current climate, more is needed - in order to get there, however, we must first understand the phenomenon.

Lacanian Theory and Social Media

These days, it seems that social media never truly satisfies. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, this feeling is explained through the concept of the object petit a, which serves as a stand-in for an unattainable desire that both propels and eludes the subject. The origin of this phenomenon comes from a child's development, specifically during the "mirror stage," when they realize that their "image" of themselves doesn't fully encapsulate their lived bodily experience. Put differently, from a young age, we come to understand that there's a gap between how we see ourselves and what we actually are, creating a perpetual chase for something to bridge that gap, something that feels just out of reach.

Aware of this, tech companies exploit users' inability to fully satisfy their desires, amplifying this tendency through various techniques such as infinite scrolling, push notifications, algorithmic personalization, variable reward systems, social validation loops, highlights, stories, live streams, gamification, and content clipping. Expanding from this internal psychological landscape, it's important to broaden the scope of analysis to examine the societal effects as well.

Debord's Notion of 'the Spectacle' in Internet Addiction

It's not hyperbole to say that we often find ourselves embroiled in spectacle, whether it's watching the latest news stories unfold online or getting lost in the endless scroll of social media updates. According to Guy Debord's perspective, these seemingly fragmented and distinct experiences actually form a nearly continuous spectacle. The spectacle, as Debord understands it, isn't a series of isolated events or experiences, but a continuous flow that influences our perceptions, interactions, and expectations. This ceaseless stream weaves a seamless fabric of reality, making it increasingly challenging to separate authentic experiences from their curated representations. In this context, everything from social media platforms to news cycles contributes to a single, all-encompassing spectacle that guides and shapes how we understand and engage with the world.

Contributing to internet addiction, these images are not only easy to consume but also give the illusion of productivity. Guy Debord's concept of 'the Spectacle' asserts that in modern society, genuine social interactions are supplanted by mere representations, an idea strikingly exemplified by social media platforms. Within this framework, the allure of social media resides in these facsimiles of real-life experiences—neatly packaged, readily available, and pleasurable to consume. Debord identified this phenomenon decades ago, but its impact is even more pronounced today.

Buddhist Perspective and Desire

A discussion on addition would be incomplete without mention of the Buddhist perspective on desire, particularly, how it is elaborated in he Buddha's Fire Sermon. Buddhist philosophy posits that desire is the root of all suffering and that ultimate satisfaction or 'nirvana' is the cessation of all desires, yet, we are addicted to images, thoughts and senses:

The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.

Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, he finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in forms, finds estrangement in eye-consciousness, finds estrangement in eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement.

Neuroscience Perspective

Dopamine, often dubbed the "reward chemical," plays a critical role in social media's addictive nature. When you engage with social media and receive positive feedback through likes, comments, or shares, dopamine is released, creating a reward loop that reinforces the behavior. Over time, this establishes a potent cycle of instant gratification. Coupled with the Surgeon General's findings on changes in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex—regions crucial for emotional regulation and impulse control—this loop explains the biochemical foundation of social media addiction.

Conclusion

Our examination of internet addiction and social media through the lenses of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Debord's critical theory, Buddhist philosophy, and neuroscience offers a multi-dimensional understanding that transcends the findings of governmental reports. These perspectives converge on the idea that the addictive nature of social media is not an anomaly, but rather an outgrowth of deeply rooted psychological tendencies, societal structures, and even biochemical factors. By acknowledging these complexities, we can begin to formulate more effective and holistic interventions, going beyond mere "digital well-being" solutions to tackle the root causes of internet addiction.