{"id":11798,"date":"2023-12-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/?p=11798"},"modified":"2024-08-06T09:09:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T07:09:41","slug":"the-online-brain-opportunity-or-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/the-online-brain-opportunity-or-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cOnline Brain\u201d: Opportunity or Trap?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why do we get addicted to online content so easily? In other words \u2013 is dopamine our friend or rather an enemy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It depends. Dopamine is one of the major neurotransmitters, responsible for motivation, feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. It serves an important function, but this is a compound that is actually slightly addictive in itself. It gives us pleasure, which causes our brain to remember it and which seeks out to repeat it over and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is the catch?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is known as a \u2018forecasting error.\u2019 No matter what kind of addiction it is, behavioral or chemical, the pattern is always the same. With drugs, we get this dopamine rush and we remember that. The same is with internet-based entertainment. Imagine you found a rare token in a game, you feel the pleasure and expect to feel the same next time. But there\u2019s a small trick in the system. Every next time you find a token the pleasure is smaller and smaller. So the brain has to figure out something else to get the same amount of pleasure as before. It needs to get stronger or more exciting stimuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our brain basically functions on this forecasting construct: when reality and what we predict matches, the brain stays in its comfort zone. Everything is in order so it thinks: \u201cI do not need to intervene.\u201d But if something is a bit different, then the brain reacts a lot because it’s about our survival, something changes in the environment, we need to relate it and adjust accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in this way behavioral addictions are very tricky. Whereas in chemical ones there are certain limits, since overdosing basically causes death, in case of internet addiction this is not possible. You always have as much as you want. And this availability makes it so difficult to handle and control it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online Brain vs. Internet Addiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What exactly do you mean by internet addiction? Is it an umbrella topic for online gaming, excessive internet browsing and social media engagement?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, this is exactly how it is viewed right now. Although gaming may not seem in any way similar to social media engagement, the common link here is the dopamine that is released both when we reach a new level in a game and when we get 50 likes on an Instagram photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meta-analysis of available studies found that persistent problematic use of the internet has long-term effects on the way our brain functions, but also on its structure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general conclusion is that our brain, influenced by internet exposure, changes both in negative and positive ways. The first example is related to the prefrontal cortex, the command center of the brain, that is involved in all cognitive functions. Excessive gaming causes thinning of the prefrontal cortex, changing connections, making it less functional. And that’s a big problem, because it means that when we need to take a certain decision or perform a certain cognitive function, we need more energy to maintain it at the level it was before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, our emotional centers that process emotions, but also collect information about the body, its signals, condition and are responsible for emotional self-control, get highly affected. The altered connections among parts of the brain result in a situation where the emotional centers start making decisions on their own, without \u2018consulting\u2019 the prefrontal cortex. As a result we have anxiety symptoms, eating disorders and automatically respond to addiction-related stimuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recommend:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Riddle of Consciousness, or What It\u2019s Like to Be a\u00a0Bat<\/a><\/blockquote>