'Social' sites like SR might actually be like crack (1 Viewer)

[superchuck500]

Often, you see SR members liken this site to 'crack' or some other addictive substance. New research shows that sharing our thoughts and views with others - a process that is intensified online, especially in a community you respect (such as your friends and family on Facebook or within a group with a common interest like SR)- actually stimulates the 'reward zone' in the brain.

In other words, posting on SR feels good - chemically, in the brain.

Researchers have previously shown that certain online activities—such as checking your e-mail or Twitter stream—stimulate the brain’s reward system. Like playing a slot machine, engaging in these activities sends the animal brain into a frenzy as it anticipates a possible reward: often nothing, but sometimes a small prize, and occasionally an enormous jackpot.

However unrelated food and Facebook may seem, this foraging impulse sheds light on why, by one count, 96 percent of the country’s online population uses social-­networking sites: we get high from being on the receiving end of social media. But that’s only half the story. The new Harvard study helps clarify why we are so eager to be on the sharing side as well.

At first blush, the notion that the self-disclosure impulse is somehow good for the species might seem counterintuitive. If all we did was prattle on about ourselves, we’d soon bore one another to extinction. Why would we have evolved to get a rush of pleasure from hearing ourselves talk?

A closer look at the advantages conferred by storytelling offers some clues: by telling stories effectively, we gain status, obtain social feedback, and strengthen our bonds with other people. And on the flip side, all of this nattering—­or tweeting—by our fellow humans ensures that we don’t have to discover everything on our own. We have no end of people competing to tell us what’s what. Hence the real paradox of sharing: what feels good for me probably ends up benefiting us all.

Full article at http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-selfish-meme/309080/

 

[Dre]

So when I post on Tigerdroppings does it have the opposite effect? Kind of like stimulating a penalty zone section of my brain because those posters on TD are morons.

 

[efil4stnias]

Often, you see SR members liken this site to 'crack' or some other addictive substance. New research shows that sharing our thoughts and views with others - a process that is intensified online, especially in a community you respect (such as your friends and family on Facebook or within a group with a common interest like SR)- actually stimulates the 'reward zone' in the brain.

In other words, posting on SR feels good - chemically, in the brain.



Full article at The Selfish Meme - Atlantic Mobile

Im now waiting for that Pavlov cartoon...


Dre, the best part of TD is the Fark Board. The Rant is only good in times of darkness for a good laugh.

 

[tenordas]

Posts: 17,824

If this research is true, Superchuck, you must be seriously loaded...

 

[billinms]

Nonsense, I can quit anytime I want.

Really.

 

[dgrant]

Just got my next hit! YESSS

 

[saintcool13]

And we know this mannnnnn.

 

[soupcan dan]

parlorcity green thumbed me! i can sleep tonight!

 

[billinms]

I got his back.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

it's actually why i take Lent off from SR
for various reasons, i'm keenly aware of addictions and try to break any that i notice in myself - and figure 40 days cold turkey has to have some benefit??

 

[parlorcitysaint]

it's actually why i take Lent off from SR
for various reasons, i'm keenly aware of addictions and try to break any that i notice in myself - and figure 40 days cold turkey has to have some benefit??

Yeah. It makes the rest of us read threads like: "I've been away for a while. Whatever happened with that whole Bounty thing?" or "Did we ever resign Drew?" or my personal fave: "Can Payton talk to Drew if he hasn't signed his contract yet?"

Thanks in advance, guido.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Yeah. It makes the rest of us read threads like: "I've been away for a while. Whatever happened with that whole Bounty thing?" or "Did we ever resign Drew?" or my personal fave: "Can Payton talk to Drew if he hasn't signed his contract yet?"

Thanks in advance, guido.

:aargh:
not saying i go into a cave for 40 days
what i do miss is which new overlord i should be welcoming, how people feel about the latest police brutality episode, and buzd patiently answering the 542nd "hey, i'm coming to NO next week where should i eat" thread

 

[buzd]

I guess that explains PUI.

 

[superchuck500]

it's actually why i take Lent off from SR
for various reasons, i'm keenly aware of addictions and try to break any that i notice in myself - and figure 40 days cold turkey has to have some benefit??

Either you're living pretty well if SR is the vice you target for lent - or you set very realistic goals for your own will-power.

Either way, good job.

 

[LonghornSaint]

I know I don't post much anymore, but I definitely have a reaction when this site goes down temporarily (although with Andrus's upgrades this is now a rare occasion). For some reason I'm compelled to hit the refresh button repeatedly for a while when that happens, and then check back hourly until it loads.

Am I addicted?

LS