And this is a far more dangerous and deceptive space to occupy. nearly all of us will know what it’s like to temporarily occupy the space of being flattered by another person. In T.K Coleman’s article, Growth over Glory, he writes: This is an example of praise interfering with personal growth. Anxious for positive feedback, I care more about putting my work out there quickly than I do about taking my time and developing mastery. In my own personal experience, I have often let the potential for praise interfere with my ability to really learn and grow as a writer. The real problem arises when we rely solely on this feedback, and neglect opportunities for substantial growth. We all want our pictures and posts to be liked we wouldn’t have posted them in the first place otherwise. Most everyone seeks social acceptance on some level. When I obsess over the reactions of others, I negate the importance of my own hero's journey. The more time they spent on Facebook, the more active the nucleus became. The stimulation in this area of the brain, referred to as the nucleus accumbens, actually rose as the participant encountered more praise for their own social media posts. When the study’s participants encountered positive feedback on one of their posts, it activated the region of the brain that is responsible for processing emotions about sex, food, money, and social acceptance. We found that we could predict the intensity of people’s Facebook use outside the scanner by looking at their brain’s response to positive social feedback inside the scanner.” The research was published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and explained the findings by saying: During the study, 31 Facebook users had their brains scanned while they viewed positive feedback given on their own photos. In 2013, researchers conducted the first experiment that sought to understand how social media impacts the brain. And why wouldn’t we? Receiving positive feedback feels fantastic. The more boosts we receive, the more we want to continue chasing that feeling. When others respond positively to our social media posts, our brain’s reward center actually receives a boost. But clearly it does, and not only for me, as research indicates. It seems silly really, that outward validation and acceptance would mean so much to a person. In fact, this praise is often more important to me than real growth. Yet, I often feel like my need for praise is calling all the shots in my life. I have spent years building my social media persona, and I know how to craft my posts perfectly in order to elicit a response from my followers. It is the “likes” and “shares” on social media that I am after. Just thinking about it makes me a bit euphoric.īut watching the traffic on my articles is just the appetizer to the main course. Staring at the website’s traffic and monitoring how many people are reading my articles in real time is an incredible high. And I chase that dragon like a drug addict chases their next high.Īs a writer in the internet age, I get instant gratification for my work on a daily basis. Either way, I have a serious problem: my self-worth is almost entirely tied to the amount of praise I receive on social media. Perhaps it is a side effect of helicopter parenting. Praise is my drug of choice and I can never get enough. Suddenly it dawns on me that I may be an addict. My eyes are fixated on the screen, anxiously waiting for more “likes” to come rolling in. I see the notification pop up on my Facebook screen: three people have liked my post, one person even “loved” it. Without it, reaching personal goals seems almost pointless. I need positive feedback to feel like I have accomplished something. I have a serious problem: my self-worth is almost entirely tied to the amount of praise I receive on social media.ĭid I set the privacy settings wrong? Am I not as funny as I thought I was? Is Facebook broken? These questions swirl around my head as I consider deleting the post before others see it and notice that no one has reacted to it. My latest Facebook status has been up for almost two minutes and not a single like or comment. What is that sound? Oh, right, it’s my foot anxiously tapping against the floor. My hands shake as they break out in a cold sweat. My heart is pounding furiously, as if it might beat right out of my chest.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |