hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about how social media is destroying our brains now let's begin number one editing our lives life is full of important moments think on your favorite vacations on holiday dinners with your family on the biggest stepping stones in your career these are the kinds of moments that you want to remember forever right but for many people just remembering isn't good enough they want a physical reminder of what those moments felt like is so they take pictures they record videos and they keep souvenirs these reminders
transport them back in time letting them relive the joy beauty or surprise of a single moment from their past but when you start posting those photos on social media something strange happens you stop focusing on the moment itself you stop remembering what really happened and you start thinking about what you can change you start cutting photos you don't look your best in even if that photo makes you laugh or cry you start doctoring how your experiences looked or felt why is that because you want other people to see how perfect and powerful your life is
many people on social media are so focused on displaying perfection that their real life gets lost in the mix the person on their profile may resemble an idealized version of themselves they've changed their whole life just to impress a bunch of people on the internet if you start editing your life you stop appreciating how imperfect it can be if you look at a sunset you might focus on taking the perfect picture brightening the colors or creating the right mood instead of actually enjoying the sunset in real time you pay less and less attention to the
powerful moments as they happen and you stop appreciating experiences for what they are each one just feels like another opportunity to brag on social media number two dependence on reinforcement views likes and comments are all different kinds of positive reinforcement positive reinforcement is when someone gives you a reward for doing something good imagine a parent who gives their kid ice cream for behaving at the doctor they're reinforcing their child's good behavior with a positive reward hence the name positive reinforcement now on social media virtual compliments are no different than someone handing you an ice cream
each one makes you feel good about yourself it tells you that someone in the world likes you admires you or even envies you it gives you a boost of self-worth which motivates you to keep going you might feel special after posting a picture online so you post another and then another until you're posting on social media every single day and just like that you've become dependent on positive reinforcement you started relying on these platforms to make you feel good and that can be dangerous if you don't practice appreciating yourself it gets harder and harder to
do it on your own you forget how to value yourself so don't let social media take that away from you the occasional boost never hurt anybody but if you're fishing for compliments online it can really mess with your brain number 3 wasting our time social media is a notorious time waster without even realizing it you might spend hours every single day browsing through different platforms some people lie awake in bed scrolling through page after page until it's suddenly 2:00 in the morning others use social media in small bursts they might spend only five minutes at
a time on their phone but they do this every single hour of the day it seems like they're barely ever on social media but those five minute increments really add up by the evening time you've lost an hour or more of your time which you could have spent on work hobbies or with your family time is one area where social media becomes especially destructive it twists the way you think it distracts you with all those buttons pictures and videos and your brain loses track of time number four the motivation killer social media and motivation are
natural enemies in fact social media is one of the most common ways that people procrastinate when you're feeling stressed or insecure social media offers you the chance to get lost in other people's lives and leave behind the stress of your own but there are plenty of other time wasters that do the same thing take watching TV or playing video games both of these activities distract your mind from whatever it's supposed to be doing but social media hurts your motivation in a way that no other bad habit does it destroys your productivity and your self-esteem each
time you browse through social media you see people doing amazing things maybe they're traveling the world or chasing their dreams now on the surface these kinds of profiles seem inspiring right but deep down they make you feel worse about yourself you can't help but compare your life to theirs so you hone in on all the ways you wish your life were different these comparisons tear your motivation apart not just because you're procrastinating with social media but because you don't feel as satisfied with the life you're living and that makes you lazy so do yourself a
favor cut down on social media so this bad habit doesn't ruin your motivation number 5 blocking our happiness the social media change your mood - most social media seems harmless it's just something you do when you're waiting in line or trying to fall asleep but social media isn't just a way to pass the time it can actually stop you from being happy a 2013 study from the journal PLoS ONE discovered that avid Facebook users feel less satisfied and not just with their jobs or social circles but with their lives in general people who frequently used
Facebook we're lonelier had lower self-esteem and they felt less supported now on the other hand people who rarely used their accounts were more fulfilled and confident oh but it's not just Facebook no no another study from 2017 published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine tested this on 11 different media platforms they tried everything from Instagram to Reddit they even collected data from career oriented platforms like LinkedIn but no matter where they looked the results were always the same social media had a negative effect on people's happiness and avid users had higher perceived isolation in
other words even if you have a lot of friends you'll still feel lonely and less satisfied I know social might seem like a fun way to pass the time but the truth is it can stand in the way of your happiness number 6 the cycle of jealousy every time you log on to your account you participate in a jealous cycle in fact many social media users try to create that jealousy in other people the cycle of jealousy starts when you browse through the profile of someone you admire now in your eyes they're doing something amazing
and you respect or you envy them for it so you try to make your profile look amazing too but that just means someone else is gonna look at your pictures and think wow I wish I was doing that and they're going to carry that feeling into their own virtual lives and just like that a chain of jealousy can span across dozens or even hundreds of people so how does that jealousy impact your brain suddenly you're not thinking about the life you want you're not living for you anymore you're living to make other people jealous you
only feel satisfied when people envy you and you get bitter when they don't my point is social media pulls you into this vicious cycle if you're not careful you'll lose sight of what really matters number seven forecasting errors many people make a basic cognitive error every time they log on to social media they expect social media to have a positive impact on their lives they expected to be fun helpful and satisfying them but it rarely ever is when you expect to feel one thing and then end up feeling another you're making something called a forecasting
error in this case your forecast said you're gonna have fun but reality had something different in store forecasting errors are incredibly common in combination with bad habits you convince yourself this time is going to be different and then end up regretting your decision doing this once or twice as natural but what happens if you make the same forecasting errors over and over again well not surprisingly it's gonna make you feel worse and it'll take its toll on your self-discipline so be realistic with yourself just because something seems like a good idea in the moment it
doesn't mean it actually is number eighths rifts in our relationships social media impacts more than just your thoughts and your move it also damages your relationships it pulls you away from your friends it creates a whole bunch of unnecessary tension and it weakens the bond that the two of you share okay just imagine you're grabbing lunch with your friend you're excited to see them and tell them what's been going on in your life but they spend the whole time taking pictures of their food and updating their story they smile when other people like their post
but they're barely paying attention to you now wouldn't that drive a wedge in your relationship this happens all the time for people who overuse social media their friends feel neglected and social media changes their priorities they start to value virtual connections more than real ones and before they know it they're actual friends start to fade away hey thank you for watching Top think and be sure to subscribe because more incredible content is on the way
