Social media's impacts on health

According to David Greenfield, a psychologist and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction, social media uses powerful tactics to draw users in and make it harder for them to turn away.

One such tactic is intermittent reinforcement, which suggests that a user could receive a reward at any time, but the timing of the reward is unpredictable — much like a slot machine in a casino.

Although adults are susceptible to these tactics, young people are at particular risk since the regions of their brain involved in resisting temptation and reward aren't as developed. "They're all about impulse and not a lot about the control of that impulse," Greenfield said.

As people become more involved with social media, there is concern over potential addictive behavior or problematic use that may interfere with sleep, school, and other aspects of a person's life. For example, a group of neuroscientists found that teens who use electronic media at night have a higher risk of sleep disturbances and symptoms of depression.

Excessive social media use may also fundamentally change people's brain anatomy and activity. In 2017, researchers from the University of Southern California examined 28 young people who were addicted to Facebook and found that they had reduced gray matter volumes in the amygdala, an area involved in emotion and memory formation.

Similarly, a recent study of over 150 middle school-aged students found that children who were habitual social media users had significantly different brain activity in the amygdala, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and ventral striatum. These areas of the brain are associated with emotional regulation, decision making, emotional guidance of social behavior, and reward.

Researchers also asked the children a series of psychological questions and found that kids who use social media excessively were hypersensitive to feedback from their peers, craving positive reinforcement and fearing any potential disapproval.

Too many young people "can't put [social media] down," Greenfield said. "The internet is a giant hypodermic, and the content, including social media like Meta, are the psychoactive drugs."

Dozens of states sue Meta over 'addictive' features

On Tuesday, dozens of states filed a lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, arguing that the company knowingly implemented addictive features that negatively impact children's mental health.

The joint federal lawsuit was filed by 33 attorneys general  in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. "Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage and ultimately ensnare youth and teens," the states wrote in the lawsuit. "Its motive is profit."

"Meta has profited from children's pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem," said Letitia James (D), the attorney general for New York, one of the states in the lawsuit. "Social media companies, including Meta, have contributed to a national youth mental health crisis and they must be held accountable."

An additional eight attorneys general have also filed suit against Meta in various state courts, and the state of Florida filed its own separate federal lawsuit arguing that Meta misled users about the potential health risks of its products.

For its part, Meta released a statement saying that it is committed to "providing teens with safe, positive experiences online" and has "already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families."

"We're disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path," Meta added. (Richtel, New York Times, 10/25; Arginteanu, MedPage Today, 10/21; Vanian, CNBC, 10/24; Fung, CNN, 10/24)