Social Media Detox; Part 1.

By Manzi Prince Mugisha.

Have you ever heard the word dopamine before? It is going to be the highlight of today's article. In scientific terms, it can be defined as the neurotransmitter made in your brain that plays a role in your body's reward system. In simple terms, it is the 'feel-good' hormone. It gives you the motivation to do something when you're feeling pleasure. For instance, the anticipation you get from eating a burger. You have just ordered a burger in the restaurant and are waiting. This anticipation releases a lot of dopamine into your brain, which is fulfilled once you have that burger, and because it is a feeling that makes you feel good, you will want to repeat it over and over again.

However, it has been made clear that feeding your brain with constant dopamine leads to disastrous effects, like addiction. Today, I will talk about how social media correlates with dopamine. Smartphones have become a part of our daily lives, which is good. Want to have a chat with a long-distance friend? Give them a call. Write them a message. If you want to find out what is happening in the neighboring country, newspaper articles got you covered. It is like you travel the world in the comfort of your room. Initially, it is what these smartphones were made for. However, this is no longer the case.

Let me start with a question. When was the last time you felt bored? I do not mean the boredom where you are done and grab your phone, and you don't have data, so you scroll through your gallery or play offline games. Like the old-fashioned bored where you sit with nothing and are comforted with your thoughts. If you are trying really hard to remember this moment, we have to talk. I first want to highlight how these social media companies have poisoned our mindsets and levels of creativity. People always talk about how social media is addictive, but there's more to it than just spending five hours on your phone, scrolling through Instagram reels or TikTok.

It is the year 2017, and a new app is launched on the international market. It does not gain much traction because it had a predecessor that had played the same role and had yet to gain much fame. A year later, it has amassed over 54 million monthly users, a phenomenal breakthrough. In history, it is the only app that has been able to amass 1 billion users in a span of four years. To the world, it is just an app that highlights famous dances. However, to its rivalries, it would either be the rise or death of them. Ladies and gentlemen, I am talking about TikTok. I will not go into the details politically, but I want to talk about how this app revolutionized social media. After the launch and fame of TikTok, all these other companies failed to bring it down and so decided to adopt its ways. Instagram brought Reels; Facebook adopted Watch and even Snapchat.

You may ask yourself where I am heading with this. For those who know how these apps work, the maximum time limit for TikTok is a minute. Do you know why? They want ( and even have) to control and take over your time. The app that shared the same algorithm before TikTok was YouTube. However, it did not have the same time limit. We human beings naturally have a short attention span, so if it does not increase my dopamine, I will not heed it. TikTok came with uniqueness. You could sit through ten seconds, and in case you find no interest, just move on to the next. Simple as that. With time, based on the videos you have previously liked or watched repeatedly, the algorithm adapts to show you what you want to see. That is why, when you have installed the app, they ask you what interests you, and they try to show you a variety of videos. They want to see what truly satisfies you. The new currency for all these social media companies is time. It is the one you spend more time on that will amass more users; with more users comes more advertisers, and the more advertisers, the more money.

Now you have a brief glimpse of how social media works in the 21st Century. To know how devastating the future is, you have to know where it all began. I want to end it here, but fear not, for there is a continuation. In my next piece, I will be talking about how the constant fast-minute videos feed into your dopamine and have you hooked. Thanks for tuning in, and till next time. Stay blessed.