Annotated Bibliography

Addiction to social media and its effects on us are very real. I want to teach people that

social media isn’t bad but we need to be careful and use it properly. There are many side effects

to the addiction it causes and they can be quite harmful. As with anything else we choose to do,

it is important to be informed and make educated choices. I will be explaining the cause and

effects of addiction to social media and what steps can be taken to improve the problem.

Andersson, Hilary. “Social Media Apps Are 'Deliberately' Addictive to Users.” BBC News, BBC,

4 July 2018, www.bbc.com/news/technology-44640959. Ohio Link. Sinclair Library,

Dayton, OH. 06 July, 2019

Hillary Anderson of the BBC wrote in a technology piece for the BBC Panorama about the

addicting aspects of social media and how teens, specifically, are affected. She interviewed former

Silicon Valley “insiders” about tools that were developed and implemented to make people addicted to

social media.

The inventor of the “infinite scroll” and the “like” button discuss what was behind the feature

and the unintended consequences. The article provides detailed information on the addicting

mechanisms used by social media creators and what the effects are on the users. Furthermore, there is

data showing the negative and dangerous implications on the teen population.

The article provides specific reasons for social media addiction and how those reasons

came about to be. I will be using this information to show the effectiveness of social media in
getting people addicted. How and Why the companies use tools created for them to purposely

create a system with intent of addicting a mass population.

Brewer, Judson. “The craving mind: from cigarettes to smartphones to love - why we get hooked

and how we can break bad habits / Judson Brewer; foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn.” New

Haven: Yale University Press, [2017]. http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/record=b38089360~S0

Sinclair Library, Dayton, OH. 06 July, 2019

Dr. Judson Brewer, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has studied the science of

addictions for twenty years, reveals how we can learn the very processes that encourage addictive

behaviors in order to step out of them. He describes the mechanisms of habit and addiction

formation, then explains how the practice of mindfulness can interrupt these habits.

His books ask the question, “where do we find happiness?” Brewer writes that until we

determine where our happiness comes form and can see the difference between joy and excitement it

will be difficult to change habits. He examines the true meanings behind mindfulness and

mindlessness and how they apply to social media and its addicting personality.

The book elaborates some on the idea I found in an article that stated, social media might not

cause the addiction, but rather those prone to addiction are drawn to social media. Of course, the

logic behind this is clear but there are many experts that know and can identify the techniques used

to get us addicted.

Griffiths, Mark D. Ph.D. “Addicted to Social Media?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201805/addicted-social-media. Ohio Link.

Sinclair Library, Dayton, OH. 06 July, 2019

 Mark D. Griffiths PhD, along with Dr. Daria Kuss, Psychologist, discuss in Psychology Today

the signs and symptoms of social media addiction. They detail that most people do not have true

addiction to social media, but rather, habitual habits. Nonetheless, the results are still problematic.

Dr. Kuss has done extensive research on social media addiction and its consequences. She has

developed a questionnaire assessing Internet addiction based on a cognitive behavioral model.

The article provides data and research from her practice as well as independent studies. It

is a critical analysis of the addiction problem and possible solutions regarding social media

habits. These doctors provide a great deal of studies and research into the addiction of social

media.

Haynes, Trevor. “Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A Battle for Your Time.” Science in the

News, 27 Feb. 2019, sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones-battle-

time/. Ohio Link. Sinclair Library, Dayton, OH. 06 July, 2019

Revor Hayens, a researcher in the Neurobiology Department at Harvard Medical School has

studied the dopamine effect as it relates to social media and addiction. He goes into great detail about

how dopamine works in our brain to keep us wanting to come back for more of something.

Social media sites have been relying on this chemical to keep us addicted. Haynes explains the

four dopamine pathways in our brains to help us better understand the process of the addiction.

Furthermore, there is information on how to understand his findings and what we can do to help

ourselves. I can use this information to explain some of the science behind the tools used to feed our
addiction to social media. Additionally, Haynes studies will help explain how the brain is processing

the information that is keeping us addicted.

Pantic, Igor. “Online social networking and mental health.” Cyberpsychology, behavior and

social networking vol. 17,10 (2014): 652-7. doi:10.1089/cyber.2014.0070).

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/ Ohio Link. Sinclair Library,

Dayton, OH. 06 July, 2019

Igor Pantic, M.D. and PhD. Conducted a study on social media and its effects on depression,

self-esteem, and addiction. He points out that his study is not totally conclusive. Pantic explains that

one may have lower self esteem as an avid Facebook user, but it could also mean that people with

lower self-esteem use Facebook more often than others. “In other words, it is very difficult, and

sometimes impossible, to conclude which variable is the cause and which is the effect.”

This study will help me pose to the reader that, although there is a possible addiction quality to

social media, care must be taken to understand that those already predisposed to addictive behaviors

are drawn to social media more than others.

This article reveals that there is another side to social media addiction. It could be that

people with addictive personalities are drawn to social media.

Parkin, Simon. “Has Dopamine Got Us Hooked on Tech?” The Guardian, Guardian News and

Media, 4 Mar. 2018, www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/04/has-dopamine-got-

us-hooked-on-tech-facebook-apps-addiction. Ohio Link. Sinclair Library, Dayton, OH.

06 July, 2019
 Simon Parker wrote in The Guardian that the founding president of Facebook intentionally

wanted to consume as much of our time as possible and did not intend ever intend for the app to keep

people connected socially. Their intention was to make money and if it meant that their marketing of

the app needed to mislead people, Facebook went ahead and did it anyway. Fully aware of the

dopamine release in the brain, they choose to exploit that and use it to keep people addicted.

Wolfram Schultz, a Neuroscientist at Cambridge University began studies in the 1980’s on

dopamine in the brain. Those studies are elaborated on so a better understanding of the dopamine

effects can be applied to social media today.

I plan to use this piece to continue to explain how social media purposely attempts to get

us addicted. Knowledge is power and the more we know, the more we can help ourselves to not

get addicted.

Wågström, Göran. “Is Social Media Addiction Worse Than Cigarettes?” Forbes, Forbes

Magazine, 21 Nov. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/11/21/is-social-

media-addiction-worse-than-cigarettes/#4770dab05d64. Ohio Link. Sinclair Library,

Dayton, OH. 06 July, 2019

Goran Wagstrom of Forbes highlights the intent behind Facebook and their drive to keep

people addicted. He exposes possible legal issues within Facebook for allowing data to be harvested

and sold to manipulate elections. Facebook has intentionally run experiments on its users by

controlling their feed to see how it affects what they subsequently post.

The Forbes article will help me expand on the addiction od social media and how some of the

reasons are unknown to most people and therefore can make it very difficult to treat the addiction or
habit. The question about regulating the industry comes up because of the adverse effects on people as

well as their information being sold so they can be controlled.

This article will help me explain some legal complications with the creators of social media

and what their intents may be.

Brewer, Judson. “The craving mind: from cigarettes to smartphones to love - why we get hooked

and how we can break bad habits / Judson Brewer; foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn.” New

Haven: Yale University Press, [2017]. http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/record=b38089360~S0

Sinclair Library, Dayton, OH. 06 July, 2019

Dr. Judson Brewer, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has studied the science of

addictions for twenty years, reveals how we can learn the very processes that encourage addictive

behaviors in order to step out of them. He describes the mechanisms of habit and addiction

formation, then explains how the practice of mindfulness can interrupt these habits. His books ask

the question, “where do we find happiness?” Brewer writes that until we determine where our

happiness comes form and can see the difference between joy and excitement it will be difficult to

change habits. He examines the true meanings behind mindfulness and mindlessness and how they

apply to social media and its addicting personality.

The book elaborates some on the idea I found in an article that stated, social media might not

cause the addiction, but rather those prone to addiction are drawn to social media. Of course, the

logic behind this is clear but there are many experts that know and can identify the techniques used

to get us addicted.