Julien, an ordinary guy. Only a few hundred followers on What would Julien experience when he saw that this joke suddenly went viral? Or: what would you experience if you made that successful joke? On a gray Thursday in Rotterdam, Roeland Dietvorst told his story about rewards in the brain: the nucleus accumbens, the happy button . The happy button is the reason behind our addiction to social media. And the big problem that comes with it…
A button in our brain?
Just a side note: I am on my guard as soon as it comes to buttons. Using ‘button language’ has in the past spain phone number library led to a quick simplification of reality with unqualified statements. It may be going too far to reduce the nucleus accumbens , a brain area , to an apparent ‘ button ‘. In contrast to colleagues in his field – ‘buy button’ – Dietvorst fortunately guards against sensational claims and his story during the Social Media Week remains captivating until the last second.
Appreciation on social media activates the nucleus accumbens
social media week rotterdam-roeland-dietvorst-2015
Roeland Dietvorst. Photo by Frank Hensen.
Comedian Julien could have been high for two days, so to speak, when he saw the numbers around his successful tweet! When people appreciate something you have posted, it feels like a reward for the brain, Dietvorst explains. A like or a retweet activates the happy button. You can become addicted to that. That show of appreciation gives such a good feeling that you automatically start looking for more, more and more. The desire is awakened.
Social media is like alcohol and drugs? What would you
The addictive aspect of social media was also picked up by the media, where a visual comparison was use email personalization to attract better immediately added. For example, the Algemeen Dagblad started a story about Social Media Week with: ‘Social media have a similar effect on your brain as china numbersalcohol and drugs’. At Evers Staat Op it was formulated even more concisely in the title : ‘Social media are like alcohol and drugs’. Dietvorst: ‘A like on your profile or post gives a small activation to the pleasure centre in your brain and that is why you keep repeating that behaviour. That is why it can become compulsive.’