If you’re a heavy social media user, it might be because of a particular part of your brain being smaller than usual.
A recent study showed the nucleus accumbens – a region which plays a big part in reward and addiction – was smaller in more frequent users of social media, particularly mobile visitors.
The research team, based in Germany, said the study also gave more insight into the rewards triggered by the brain when you post a well-received selfie.
Instead of relying on self-reported social media use, the researchers used a combination of real-life usage data from participants’ Facebook apps and neuroscientific data from structural brain scans. The comparison did show the volume of gray brain matter (which contains most of the brain’s neuronal cell bodies) of the nucleus accumbens was smaller for heavier users of Facebook.
I reckon I might fall into this category, you know. I wonder if we could study my brain over time to see any changes? Hmmm.