Gen Z is known for its digital nativity, having grown up surrounded by the Internet, social media, and smartphones—in an age of indulgence and dopamine on demand. Making up a quarter of social media users in the United States, Gen Z is generally thought of as happily immersed in the digital world. However, a recent study by The Harris Poll shows us something different: Gen Z has regrets.
The study, run in collaboration with psychologist Johnathan Haidt and his research team, found surprising results. Here are a few key findings:
- 40% of respondents agreed (11% strongly) with the statement that they wish social media had never been invented.
- 59% think social media has had a negative impact on their generation overall.
- 37% think social media negatively impacts their emotional health, while 23% think it negatively impacts their social health.
- 32% want to be less engaged on social media.
- 83% have already taken steps to limit their social media usage.
Those findings may seem shocking coming from Gen Z, but we can understand them by looking at the bigger picture.
The Negative Effects of Social Media
Numerous studies in recent years have linked excess social media use among teens to negative psychological effects. Higher levels of social media use can lead to depression and anxiety, inadequate sleep, low self-esteem, poor body image, eating disorder behaviors, and online harassment.
While researching for this article, I decided to run my own poll out of curiosity to see if my followers’ personal experiences aligned with those findings. When asked, “Have you ever felt that your social media use has negatively impacted you?,” 94% of respondents answered “yes.”
When asked “Why?” many of their answers coincided with common symptoms of excess social media use. For example, multiple people reported a negative impact on their body image and self-esteem. Others related their social media use to excessive worrying, overthinking, and lack of motivation – all symptoms of and contributors to depression and anxiety.
Negative impacts such as those are displayed across the board, and we know that excess social media use is the culprit. But why? Among a plethora of intertwined effects, the answer gets a little complicated. I’m a visual learner, so to better understand it, I made a super simple graphic.
Though not necessarily a direct cause, excessive social media use certainly correlates with increases in depression and anxiety. Several factors are involved. It may be because electronic connections are less emotionally satisfying than in-person interactions, leading to feelings of social isolation. At the same time, people may feel that if they are not active on social media, they are missing out.
Lack of self-esteem may also lead to depression and anxiety. Often, social media portrays false realities—from Photoshopped bodies to luxurious lifestyle facades—which may make viewers feel inadequate. To put it another way, I’ll quote an interesting response I received from my own survey: “People live two different lives, but [it] always seems like the best one [is on] social media.”
Social media can exacerbate physical factors that contribute to depression and anxiety as well.
One of the most common causes of depression in teens is sleep deprivation. Research shows that 60% of teens look at their phones in the last hour before they sleep. Consequently, those teens get, on average, an hour less of sleep than the 40% who don’t use their phones before bed. That may largely be due to the fact that blue light from electronics interferes with the body’s ability to fall asleep.
Whether you take into account the role of sleep deprivation in the ability to concentrate or not, social media also disrupts concentration on its own. A lack of ability to concentrate while trying to focus on important tasks can get frustrating.
Lastly, excessive social media use may take away time that could be used for other fulfilling activities. For example, many teens do not get proficient amounts of physical activity. Additionally, they spend less time pursuing activities like learning new skills and talents and, therefore, lack a sense of accomplishment.
All those things can pile up quickly, especially due to their interrelatedness. Still, depression and anxiety are not the root cause. We need to go one step further and look at what all those negative effects have in common: dopamine imbalance.
The Downsides of Dopamine on Demand
To understand how social media creates dopamine imbalances inside the brain, we must first recognize one crucial fact: it’s addicting. It might be hard to think of it that way; after all, it’s not a “drug.” But anything that causes dopamine release has the potential to become addicting.
Dopamine, aka the “happy chemical,” is released in the brain when we anticipate pleasure. When we log onto social media or create a post, we anticipate a flood of interactions and positive feedback. The thought of all those “like,” “follow,” and “comment” notifications keeps us coming back for more. The uncertainty of how people will interact with us also increases the chances that we will repeatedly log on. Think of why people love slot machines: because each reward is unpredictable.
We live in an extremely fast-paced and digitalized era – which has its advantages – but the normalization of instant gratification, specifically through social media, has gotten out of hand. The problem with the digital world is that it has no limitations. When we turn to social media for constant pleasure, we spiral into a “joy-seeking abyss.”
According to Dr. Anna Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation, when we binge on pleasurable things, homeostasis (the process by which organisms maintain internal balance) causes our brains to compensate by bringing us lower and lower. Our dopamine “scale” becomes unbalanced, and so even when social media becomes less enjoyable and causes those negative effects, our minds remain dependent on the stimuli—this is textbook addiction.
So how do we level our scales and maintain balance? According to Lembke, the process of rebalancing involves abstinence, self-binding, delayed gratification, radical honesty, and embracing the pain.
How to Find Balance
When it comes to social media, the good news is that there are plenty of ways you can monitor and balance your use. Mental health professionals suggest taking actions such as the following:
- Set limits or schedule social media use allowances
- Track your social media use in your settings or with an app
- Avoid social media before bed and when spending time with others
- Turn off social media alerts and notifications
- Prioritize in-person interactions
- Use the block, hide, or unfollow options if you need to
- Think before you post, and be intentional about your social media use
- Make social media harder to use, e.g. delete apps (self-binding)
- Remind yourself that social media is not reality!
Unfortunately, social media isn’t the only perpetrator of instant gratification and dopamine imbalance in today’s world. When it comes to dealing with other addictions, or so to say, there are plenty of ways to produce dopamine naturally and stay balanced.
Naturally, dopamine comes from engaging in activities that make you feel happy, relaxed, or accomplished. Those activities may vary from person to person, but common examples include exercise, meditation, spending time outdoors, learning new things, listening to music, eating healthy, and crossing off things on your to-do list. Essentially, the key is to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, as noted by Lembke, and to remember that we cannot enjoy pleasure without also embracing pain.
For more guidance, you can always refer to Lembke’s “Lessons of Balance:”
Or, you could check out these related articles:
- What Is A Dopamine-Detox, And Why Should You Try One?
- 6 Healthier Ways To Use Social Media
- Is Social Media A Brain-Rotting Parasite?
One Last Note
While researching for this article, I couldn’t help but think about the role that consumerism also plays in our dopamine-addicted society. In my opinion, social media is one of the largest threats to our waning ability to delay gratification and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. But consumerism is, by far, the largest culprit.
In the same way that social media leaves us wanting to come back again, over and over, consumerism repeatedly exposes us to dopamine-triggering stimuli that leave us wanting to buy more and more. However, that’s not the worst part.
To me, the ultimate evil is the way in which social media and consumerism work hand-in-hand, continuously dragging us down into that “joy-seeking abyss.” Think about how many ads you see while scrolling through your feed. Out of curiosity, I did the math. Out of 100 scrolls through my TikTok, 22% of the TikTok’s shown were ads. While eight of those 22 were posted by creators for commission (which I don’t find as intrusive), 16 were sponsored ads.
22% doesn’t seem like a lot, but that’s only because our current era of indulgence has normalized constant consumerism. I missed the 2020 TikTok when there were no ads, and a TikTok shop didn’t exist.
With all that being said, my main takeaway from this article is the following: Mindfulness is the most important thing we can practice in this day and age, Gen Z or not. Be mindful of your media use, your shopping habits, and your body’s need for balance, and you might just find yourself feeling a lot happier.
