Issue

What is social media addiction?

Social media has become increasingly popular over the past decade. In today's world, it has become extremely popular to check and scroll through social media. Over 4.5 billion people worldwide use social media or have a social media account. About 10% of social media users are considered addicted.

What is social media addiction you may ask. Social media addiction is a behavioral addiction which occurs when social media is under compulsive and excessive use. It has been reported that large social media platforms such as Facebook have algorithms designed to keep you engaged and make you want to watch more of it. For example, Facebook calculates the user's time periods when they are most likely to leave the platform. Then, they will deliver an important message to the user when they are about to leave, and try their best to keep user on the platform. 

When you watch social media, it releases the feel-good chemical also known as dopamine. Dopamine can come from literally anything. You release dopamine when you run, play, go outside, and even when you watch social media. But when you use social media excessively, it releases too much dopamine, more than you need. This is extremely harmful, and can have many major impacts mentally and physically. Social media addiction can get so extreme, that it can also make you want to suicide. As the social media rates are increasing in the world, so are the addiction rates.

The reason we chose this topic

Social media addiction is a big issue especially in today's world. The main reason we chose this topic is because we want to take action and raise awareness. We want to help others and educate people about social media addiction. With this blog, many other people can get educated about social media addiction. We made marshmallow pops and s'mores as our products, earned a profit, and donated it to a mental health organization called Seribu Tujuan. 

With the money we donated, we can help many people from social media addiction. As our action, we have also raised awareness by presenting to grades 2, 5, 6, and 7. Another reason we chose this topic is to gain a better understanding about social media addiction, how it's caused, how it impacts us, and how we can prevent it. To get more information, we have researched a lot on our topic and also have taken interviews. We have got a better understanding on the key aspects of social media addiction such as how dopamine works and how can a lot of dopamine harm you.