While the Rich Grow Richer off Facebook and Twitter, Our Brains May Be Growing Poorer, Say Health Experts
It’s always been the case that people have a fundamental need to belong -- to feel that they’re valued members of their social group. But social media is having a distorting, disturbing, and possibly lasting impact on the level of that need, say a growing number of psychologists. “In the past, when you were home alone or at work, you weren’t thinking about interacting and shoring up your social status,” says Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford and a social psychologist who specializes in motivation. “Now, any minute of the day, you can be measuring whether you are a viable social partner and whether people want to be in touch with you. You may feel you have to validate your social success around the clock.” Indeed, despite newly released findings by the Pew Research Center -- its fourth “Future of the Internet” survey found that 85 percent of respondents think the Internet has positively impacted their “social world” -- health experts warn that our addiction to social media isn’t positively impacting us. It’s making us incapable of self-regulation.
