Overcoming Internet Addiction For Dummies. David N. Greenfield

that provide reasoning, judgment, and executive control is temporarily reduced; it is my theory that this occurs to facilitate survival behavior powered by the pleasure center in the nucleus accumbens. Why would this occur? It makes sense, from an evolutionary perspective, that thinking and reasoning behaviors (which are slower) could limit dopaminergic survival behavior; this would be contrary to engaging in the immediate-acting survival behaviors of sex and food. If you are hunting or finding food or attempting to have sex, anything that could slow this process down would reduce the likelihood of survival. It so happens that the same areas of the brain that makes survival behaviors pleasurable are involved with addiction.

Unfortunately, whenever anyone engages in addictive behavior, the body tends to diminish and limit access to the frontal lobes of the brain. Disengaged, the frontal lobes can’t buffer those strong desires for pleasure that are often characteristic of an addicted state. Why the body shuts down access to the frontal lobes when a person is engaged in addictive behavior is not fully understood, but one possible explanation is presented in the nearby sidebar “The evolutionary power of addictions.”

      GABA

Another reason the brain does a poor job of buffering the desire for pleasurable activities in children and teens is that the level of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA is low during this period. As I mention earlier in this chapter, dopamine is like the accelerator of the pleasure drive, and GABA is like the brake. The body uses dopamine and GABA together, like an adaptive cruise control, to modulate pleasure drives. Children, adolescents, and young adults have much more dopamine compared to GABA and therefore are more prone to pleasure-seeking (and hence, addictive) behaviors. Various electronic amusements (Internet screens) can provide the means for satisfying this craving for pleasure.

      

One of the interesting things researchers have noticed about adolescence and addictions is that the prevalence of some substance-based abuse and addictions has declined over the last decade while other indications of reduced mental health have increased. One of the theories noted by Dr. Nora Volkow, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is that perhaps all the exciting innervation of dopamine from screen use has somehow served to substitute the role those various substances might previously have fulfilled. So, although that might be a good thing, there are other mental health markers that have increased, such as depression, during the same period. These observations are correlational, but they pose some interesting ideas regarding the drug-like effects that screen use can have.

      Tossing sex hormones on the fire

      During puberty, the period during which adolescents reach sexual maturity, the proliferation of sex hormones, particularly estrogen and testosterone, accelerates. In males especially, the increase in testosterone increases desire and the potential for taking risks and engaging in pleasurable and stimulating behaviors, all of which correlate with the development of the dopamine pleasure/reward circuits described earlier in this chapter.

      

Several factors are now at work ramping up the desire and capacity for feeling pleasure, while the body’s buffering mechanisms are still in development. The convergence of accelerated development of the brain’s pleasure centers (increased dopamine), underdeveloped frontal lobes, and immature gabaminergic functions, along with increased sex hormones, creates a perfect storm for abuse and addiction in adolescents and teens, which extends through the young adult years.

Seeing the Impact of the Internet and the “Maybe” Factor on the Developing Brain

A susceptibility to addiction doesn’t necessarily result in addiction; there are many factors, including availability, ease of access, and emotions. Something must trigger it — an exposure to something desirable and pleasurable, along with other factors. The use of something pleasurable alone also doesn’t necessarily produce an addiction; most of us can engage in pleasurable activities and behaviors without becoming addicted. Rather, addiction is likely an interplay between opportunity, environment, genetic predisposition, biology, and various psychological factors — a perfect storm of sorts.

      In addition, our brains learn to anticipate a pleasurable experience and to expect another fun time, and it seems this expectation may elevate dopamine even higher than the actual behavior itself. When you engage in a pleasurable activity, such as playing a video game, interacting on social media, watching a video, surfing on the web, or scrolling on your smartphone to satisfy your curiosity or manage your boredom, you’re elevating the release of the pleasure chemical dopamine in your brain. If you find something very pleasurable or interesting while you engage in those activities, then your dopamine level may become even more elevated. You may also be shutting down the connection to your brain’s frontal lobes and suppressing the release of GABA, the brain’s inhibition factor. (See the nearby sidebar “The evolutionary power of addictions.” Dopamine, the frontal lobes, and GABA are all covered earlier in this chapter.)

      

A pleasurable experience alone is probably not enough to trigger an addiction; if you experience a pleasurable behavior consistently, it is likely that eventually, you will become desensitized (bored) by it. Addiction is in part created by intermittent and variable pleasurable reinforcement, or what I like to call the maybe factor, and the brain’s pleasure center loves maybe like nobody’s business. When you or a loved one goes online through any device, it’s like sitting down in front of a slot machine and spinning those reels for the possibility of hitting it big. Every time you see something you enjoy, whether it’s a like on social media, a comment, a news feed, a photo, or a video, you are getting some small hit of dopamine. Notice that I said possibility, because if it were a certainty, your brain would get bored and come to expect the reward. When winning is a sure thing, the game soon loses its addictive impact.

      The power of maybe to light up the pleasure centers of the brain is also observable in the pursuit of likes, comments, or follows on social media. Think of the drive people to get liked on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. Say you posted an amazing photo or video of you petting a baby kangaroo in Australia — the animal is taking the food right out of your hand! You love the photo, and you think others will, too. You’re excited while you wait to see how many likes you’ll get (or if you’ll get any). All this excitement produces a small neurochemical rush, and it’s all due to the power of maybe. If you knew for a fact that you would get a certain number of likes or comments in a certain time frame, you probably wouldn’t post — because it was expected, and less innervating.

      

The Internet, and especially social media, can be a search for our own echoes. A problem with waiting for likes and comments is that there is an unfortunate tendency to base your self-worth on the reflected echoes of how people respond to what you post. This pursuit of the like drives further posting and scrolling to a point where it can become addictive. Waiting for social media likes, comments, and follows can reinforce basing your self-esteem on what others think, and not on your own experience.

Recognizing Lack of Experience as a Contributing Factor to Addiction

      

Addiction initially thrives on inexperience. Through experience, people acquire the skills to maintain balance between purely pleasurable activities and unpleasant activities (delays of gratification) that may be helpful for future success. They learn through the consequences of excess and through negative consequences that result from lost time and life imbalance. Addiction, in a sense, is a form of incomplete learning, as you’re only experiencing the pleasure and often ignoring the negative consequences of your actions and behaviors.