Buzz
From emails to falling cat videos and endless listicles—there's no doubt that the Internet has blessed us with some amazing distractions. But all this entertainment comes at a price, and that price is the deterioration of our mental health, social interactions, and overall well-being. In other words, for all the benefits the Internet offers, it can also make us miserable, frustrated, and sometimes even deadly serious.
10. Email Is as Addictive as Gambling
Email is undeniably one of the most revolutionary inventions to emerge from the digital age. Beyond possibly saving millions of trees, it’s provided businesses with efficient ways to communicate globally, while also shining a light on the never-ending saga of Nigerian princes. However, it has also transformed billions of people into unsuspecting addicts.
The problem with email is that it operates on something called the “variable interval reinforcement schedule,” a tactic also used to fuel gambling addiction. In both cases, you engage in an action (checking your inbox or pulling a lever) with the expectation of a reward (finding an interesting email or hitting the jackpot). However, this reward is doled out at random intervals, which encourages you to repeat the action more and more. It's one of the most powerful ways to form habits, and nearly everyone with access to a computer has been caught in this loop for years.
Think about the last tweet you saw that really sparked a reaction in you. Chances are, it was something that got you angry: maybe a liberal demanding stricter gun control, or a conservative attacking abortion doctors, or something else that stirs up strong feelings. According to experts, this is no coincidence—social media is essentially fueled by anger.
We all know the Internet is a hotbed for racism; anyone who disagrees can try browsing through YouTube comments for an hour and let us know what they find. But most of us just chalk it up to a few obnoxious trolls doing what they do best, assuming that the decent people will just ignore them. Unfortunately, this might not be the case.
6. It Could Be Making You Dumber
In 2009, the journal *Science* published a review of research into how new media impacts our cognitive abilities. The studies revealed that while the Internet may enhance certain skills, like “visual literacy,” it tends to diminish others—critical thinking, inductive reasoning, imagination, and “abstract vocabulary” among them. To put it simply, while we may be getting better at some things, we’re losing ground in others. And some of the things we’re losing—like critical thinking and creativity—are arguably the most important. If we trade them for an improved ability to process images, it won’t exactly be a fair trade.
5. It’s Rewiring Our Minds
It’s almost impossible to deny that the Internet is reshaping how we think and behave. But could it be doing more than just changing our habits? Could it actually be rewiring our brains? In 2011, *a study* was released suggesting that this might indeed be happening.
4. It Lets Companies Manipulate Us
“Astroturfing” refers to the practice where companies create fake “grassroots” personas to flood message boards with specific opinions, hoping that the overwhelming number of voices arguing for things like Snooki for president (or whatever) will sway your thoughts. It’s a strategy used by everyone from *tobacco companies to the US Air Force*—and the scary part is, it’s working.
A Canadian study gathered 278 students and asked them to fill out a questionnaire about climate change and their personal views on it. They were then randomly assigned to either view a legitimate climate science page or a fake 'astroturf' page designed to undermine the concept of climate change. The result? Students who visited the fake sites and saw the fake comments were more likely to feel less certain about climate change than before, even if they suspected the websites were deceptive. This is deeply concerning: these students were directly influenced by these misleading sites, and astroturf pages—by definition—are funded by powerful entities aiming to sabotage honest discussions. And these companies are using them to gain illegitimate *influence all the time*.
3. Social Media Might Be Killing Empathy
There's plenty of research showing that today's younger generation is *far less empathetic* than those from 30 years ago—by about 40 percent, according to one study linked above. Today's students are less likely to show concern for others, less likely to empathize, and significantly worse at prescriptive talking—the skill of understanding others' thoughts, feelings, and motives. The cause? No one knows for sure, but many believe the rise of aggressive individualism and the widespread use of social media might bear a significant part of the blame.
Consider this: We’ve all seen videos of someone being hurt or humiliated (often both), and passed them along to our small circle of followers. We've all laughed at that jerk getting what's coming to him on TV or the person struggling with their weight at Walmart. Does that sound like empathetic behavior? No, it sounds pretty heartless. Scientists suggest that this may be due to social media actively *slowing our compassion responses*.
While the research on this topic is still ongoing, it certainly gives you pause: If a decade of social media use has led to this, what might the future hold? Based on the current trend, it seems like the entire Internet will become a chaotic mess of miserable, angry people screaming their opinions at each other and delighting in the suffering of others. So, pretty much business as usual.
2. It’s Even More Addictive Than Heroin
Internet Use Disorder (IUD) is not yet an officially recognized mental health condition, but it describes those who are compulsively addicted to the Internet. At first, it might sound like the sort of excuse a teenager makes when their mom asks why they’ve been online all day, but there’s *a lot of research* suggesting that it’s a very real and very unpleasant issue. People with IUD experience withdrawal symptoms when they can’t go online, and the brain activity they experience is eerily similar to that of cocaine or heroin addicts. Yes, using the Internet daily is apparently rewiring your brain in ways that resemble a hardcore drug addiction.
1. It Fuels Extremism
