
Overcoming Insta-Brain: a guide to wholesome social networking
You might not have your phone in your hand, but you probably know where it is. Because if you did not know where it is, you might have difficulty concentrating on this article! According to Anders Hansen, the author of Insta-Brain, we touch our cell phones 2600 times per day on average, and check our phones every ten minutes when we are awake. And how much of that time do we spend on Instagram? Some readers may be frightened to learn how addicted they are. Do you not find yourself habitually scrolling down to update new stories and regularly jumping onto Instagram from time to time?So why do we habitually check Instagram? According to the author, the main problem is dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter that tells you what you should focus on (if you look at food when you are hungry, dopamine rates increase to tell you, “Focus on the food!”). Dopamine is released by “expectations” that something might happen. When a little Instagram notification pops up on the screen, dopamine is released as you think: Perhaps I got one more like on my feed! I must check, and you are pushed by a strong desire to check your phone. It is interesting that Chamath Palihapitiya, former vice-president of Facebook, commented that “Feedback loop that provokes dopamine release is having a negative impact on society,” and that he felt guilty when he thought of what social media is doing to people. Justin Rosenstein, who made the “like” feature on Facebook, shared that this function was too enticing, and that he decided to control his Facebook use since he found it as addictive as heroin. This article will analyze the contents of the book Insta-Brain to explain Instagram's effect on our concentration in relation to dopamine release. Then it will go further to discuss Instagram’s effect on our mind and mental state based on my experience as an Instagram user. Firstly, according to Hansen, the excessive use of Instagram diminishes concentration as our mind works vigorously to multitask. Multitasking refers to “the performance of more than one task at the same time. ” The author argues that we can concentrate on only one task at a time. We often believe we are multitasking, but the fact is, we are moving quickly between multiple chores. We can switch from one job to another in about ten minutes, but the problem is that our attention is still lingering in the previous task as it takes a few more minutes for our brains to focus 100% on the present work. (This applies to everyone, unless you are a “super-multitasker” who can actually multitask, which is unlikely because they make up only 1% of humankind!)Now let’s apply this argument to our use of Instagram. Take for instance the words of Chung Na-yeon, an ordinary 22-year-old studying at Seoul National University. In response to a question asked regarding her usage of Instagram, Chung replied, “I do some studying and then look at Instagram for a moment, and then move back to studying, and then check Instagram for a moment. But does it really matter? I only check it for a few minutes or sometimes even a few seconds. ” Her logic may seem reasonable; however, we know that according to Hansen, her brain might be lingering on Instagram for longer than she realizes. This means that even if she thinks checking it for a few minutes or seconds does not really matter, she actually spends much more time on Instagram than she expects. This misconception is in fact a serious problem considering what research discovered about multitasking people -- they have a lower capacity to concentrate and to filter unimportant information since their attention is distracted by too many things here and there. The bigger problem is that many modern people struggle to concentrate on anything, even when they are not using their phone, as their lack of concentration and their vulnerability to distractions have become their attitude of life. For example, many modern people find it difficult to focus on reading books. According to research done by Korea University professor Lee Soon-young, among 1200 men and women aged 10 or older surveyed nationwide, 23. 0% of the surveyees do not read at all, and 15. 4% of the surveyees read once a year. Moreover, according to the research done by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2021, about 43% of the surveyees had reading experience but the average amount of reading was only 2. 3 books per year. This indicates that people tend to read a few pages and do not know what to do, feeling a strong impulse to check their phone just once, to check Instagram just once. This phenomenon also occurs due to their brains becoming used to the information processing activated when they are on social media, which indicates a change in the neural network and leads to decreased literacy. Hansen is not the only one who claims that the use of digital devices changes our brain. Maryanne Wolf says in her book Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World that she was surprised when she found out that she could no longer read her favorite book due to the impact of digital device usage on her brain. She could not stand hard words, complex sentences, and slow development as she lost her patience with reading. In other words, people who are so used to getting instant rewards by constantly checking Instagram cannot bear longer waits when taking part in other tasks. Interestingly, we might not be fully focused even when we are on Instagram! How many seconds does it take to see one story? Some Instagram users, including 22 year-old university student Che Da-Eun studying at Seoul National University, realized that they tend to scroll too quickly through stories. That is, they read all the stories, but they do not pay attention to the content or think deeply of it, often not even remembering what they have seen. The habitual use of Instagram without real focus is probably one of the reasons why users regard being on Instagram a waste of time. Another large category of the impact Instagram has on its users is its mental effect. The main motivation behind using Instagram is to promote an appealing image of ourselves to others. What happens in our brain when we talk about ourselves? According to research explained in Insta-Brain, when test subjects talked about their own thoughts, more parts of their brain were activated compared to when they talked about the thoughts of others. One of the activated parts is the nucleus accumbens, which is usually activated when we experience enjoyable moments such as eating delicious food or socializing with others. This showcases how people love to talk about themselves. So, what a chance Instagram provides! Now, people can constantly appeal to others and talk about themselves to hundreds and thousands of their followers. Let’s dive a little deeper. What does it mean when we say that people want to “appeal” to others? We desire attention from others. We want to show who we are, what kind of person we are, what we are like, what we spend most of our time doing, what we care most about. Some people always post gatherings with friends, others find themselves posting their pets, and some people always post special experiences such as traveling to exotic places. Through their feeds and stories, we can guess what kind of person he or she is, or at least what kind of person he or she wants to represent. Of course, these desires are not necessarily bad. They are instinctive. However, the problem often occurs when we try to satisfy our desires through Instagram. We can show pieces of ourselves through Instagram, but we should ask ourselves if it is a “real” representation of ourselves. We tend to post only the happiest and best moments of our life. . In fact, Instagram can be used as a mere means to show off so that we can be admired by others. Even if we have some desire to express ourselves to others and have meaningful communication, it seems that this kind of communication is rarely achieved on Instagram, when we only show our masked selves. Compare it to personal relationships with others in which we know about their entire life -- not only the “best” parts but also the worst parts -- their strengths and also their weaknesses. In this kind of relationship, we are accepted the way we are. The reason why we feel unsatisfied by the self-expression and attention we get on Instagram is perhaps because both are distorted. Secondly, being active on Instagram does not necessarily mean we are living as more “social” people. In other words, Instagram is not the same as socializing. We desire satisfaction from socializing with others, and this is one of the reasons why people start Instagram and why they cannot erase it. However, the result of this online socializing is quite different from that of socializing with people face to face. We can easily see passionate Instagram users saying they are lonely. Even though the present situation is improving, the COVID-19 restrictions over the past few years have forced many to meet people online instead of in person. The prolonged online meetings made many gloomy and not fully satisfied, as online interactions could not replace the lively offline gatherings. However, apart from the pandemic, maybe we were already too dependent on relationships within Instagram. Kang Min-Seong, a 22 year-old student at Seoul National University, said he hardly checks Instagram for almost a day when enjoying time with his friends. On the contrary, when he is not meeting someone for a long time and feeling lonely, he tends to spend way too much time on Instagram, just looking at the social lives of others, and not satisfying his own desire to socialize. Thus, finding one’s way into Instagram too often can indicate that one is lonely. However, at the same time, scrolling through Instagram paradoxically makes us even lonelier, making us feel “loneliness among the crowd. ” All those social lives we see on Instagram remind us of the connections we wish we had. Finally, the impact of Instagram on our mind is a sense of inferiority and jealousy, which often makes people depressed. This is probably the negative impact of Instagram that most of the people are aware of. Everyone might have experienced that they were pretty satisfied with their own lives, but as they entered Instagram, they suddenly felt less satisfied with their lives. There always seems to be someone having a more exciting and fabulous life than us, traveling around exotic places, having unusual experiences like paragliding (Interestingly, according to a survey in Insta-Brain, most of the Facebook users answered that they were more jealous about the “experiences” of others over things like fancy cars. ), living a more passionate life than we are, doing all kinds of contests, interns, and club activities, posting pictures that might get a series of compliments, being “inssa”(a Korean word referring to a sociable person with many friends) … Suddenly, we feel as if we are getting left behind. Instagram makes us constantly compare ourselves with others, making us feel inferior, jealous, and depressed. But why should we compete with others when we all know that the posts are collections of the “best” highlights of everyone’s lives? We need to take time to really think about how Instagram is influencing us since it has become our habit. Even though negative impacts of Instagram do exist, erasing Instagram might not be the most realistic choice. In fact, Instagram, if used in a new way, can be a positive channel of expressing ourselves or our thoughts. The point is, we should really ponder about “how” to use Instagram. Here are some personal solutions regarding how to use Instagram in a positive way. First, look at your feed and stories -- what do you mostly post? Try to find the pattern. Are those posts really about “you”? For example, if you always post delicious food in fancy restaurants or gatherings with friends, you might think that those posts are showing only “surface” information about you. If you tend to post about special events or trips, you might think that those are precious moments in your life but are too fragmentary. If you are trying too hard to post the contents people mostly respond to, such as well-taken pictures that fit Instagram vibe, and are reluctant to post what you really want to post -- you might feel that your Instagram account is overly controlled by social expectations. Then, how about trying something else? For example, my sister has been running an account that is by far the most groundbreaking and fresh I have ever seen. The biggest difference is that she posts her thoughts and emotions of life such as parts of a webtoon that she was impressed by, the quotes of books ranging from Jane Eyre and Daddy Long Legs to books of Jeong Yak-yong and poems with her literary comments, lyrics of songs, anecdotes of how she observes plants and randomly goes on bus trips around town, and hilarious experiences of getting bitten by a red ant. She also shares her insights from her classes, beautiful scenery, and impressive cartoons her friend makes. From these posts, people can really know what kind of person she is and truly empathize with the feed, as they do not just brag but actually show some pieces of her life that anyone could sympathize with. Her posts encourage and touch them, and make them smile and laugh. Instagram certainly can have some negative effects on one’s concentration and mental health. However, despite these concerns, there is some comfort in knowing that Instagram can be used as a channel of expressing ourselves or our thoughts and as a way to communicate based on the “real” expression of oneself. Instagram does not have to be used in a typical way, like it has always been.