The link between Internet abuse and brain loss sounds like quite a reach; however, Internet addiction is a behavioral addiction. An addiction which triggers structural changes in the brain’s reward system. These changes give the brain pleasure however, this condition can cause damage to the structure in the function of the brains, reward, executive, and decision making systems, so do you still think the link between Internet abuse and brain loss is a reach? (Chen et al., 2023)
In fact, studies have shown that the excessive use of the Internet over prolonged periods of time can negatively affect cognitive function, particularly attention and short-term memory. Using the Internet uses our ability to multitask between different settings, and it trains the brain to shift focus to treat the stream of pop-ups, notifications, and all other things that take place on those devices at once. This may interfere with our ability to maintain focus on a particular cognitive task for extended times. It may at first seem a good benefit— training your brain to multitask efficiently; however, digital- multitasking may be good for shifting focus, but may also weaken your ability to maintain focus on one area for an extended amount of time, it makes you more easily distracted, and reduces your ability to ignore distractions.
And that isn’t even a small portion of what the Internet can do to your brain. In addition to the negative effect it has on cognition. It is also associated with a higher risk for depression and anxiety, and makes people feel isolated or overwhelmed quite often, and we’ll get into why in a moment. (Author: Rawan Tarawneh, 2020)
The use of the Internet has increased drastically throughout the years now that is 2023, nearly 2024, the world is practically dependent on technology. Along with all the benefits the Internet provides us, problems of excessive Internet use have become very apparent. In fact, there is such a thing as Internet addiction disorder, which is a psychosocial disorder. And various sciences, such as medicine, computer, sociology, law, ethics and psychology, have surveyed from different viewpoints. The characteristics of Internet addiction disorder are as follows: tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, affective disorders and conflict within social relations.
There was a study where 18% of the participants were considered to be pathological Internet users whose excessive use of the Internet had caused academic, social, and interpersonal conflict. This only further proves the detrimental aspect of excessive Internet usage. It is also the excessive use of the Internet that may create a heightened level of psychological arousal, which would result in little or poor sleep, and low physical activity levels which could lead to the person experiencing physical and mental health problems. These problems may include, but are not limited to, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, low family relationships, and anxiety. But the most frequently reported psychiatric symptom associated with the overuse of the Internet would be depression. (Alavi et al., 2011)
But why might this be? Well, there seem to be many possible reasons. Some include how social media usage can lead to the feelings of depression, and getting onto social media and looking consciously or not, you’re comparing your life to the lives of others, whether their lives that are being posted are real or not. People will combat this by reminding themselves that not everything they see online is real, and that not everyone is as perfect as they are, as they appear in their social media presence, but that isn’t always an easy thing to do.
Perhaps the reason for the Internet anxiety is because you’ve been reading too much negative news or researching symptoms online because you saw a post about something common being a disorder or because you saw someone post their symptoms to a condition and you thought maybe you had that yourself.
Maybe the disruptions in your sleep are caused by the devices that block melatonin secretion, which is the hormone that regulates sleep. People say not to use your phone right before bed or right as soon as you wake up, and for good reason. You should give your eyes adequate time to rest and allow your body to properly shut down to sleep peacefully. (How The Internet Affects Your Mental Health)
Limiting the use of social media, and the Internet as a whole may be difficult, but it’s beneficial to you and your physical and mental health. You may start small by setting screen time limits, keeping your phone a bit further away from you at night, and reminding yourself that you don’t need to press the Instagram notification you received at 3am from some celebrity that you follow.
—-Written by Joya
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