The Psychology of Social Media Use

Introduction

• Topic: Comparison between a Skinner box and social media behavior
• Objective: To explain how behavior is influenced by reward mechanisms

Skinner Box

• Definition: An apparatus used by psychologists to study behavior
• Mechanism:
  • Features a bar for the mouse to press
  • Sometimes food is delivered upon pressing the bar, sometimes nothing
  • Mouse learns pressing bar might yield food and repeats the action

Social Media as a Modern Skinner Box

• Similarity to Skinner Box:
  • Behavior (scrolling) is repeated until a reward (entertaining post) is found
  • Feeds are infinite, allowing endless scrolling
  • Scrolling can become automatic/mindless

Impacts of Social Media Behavior

• Time Consumption:
  • Can lead to spending more time than intended on social media
  • Might cause lateness or neglect of responsibilities
  • Potential to induce anxiety when away from phone
• Data and Personalization:
  • Interaction with posts provides data to the platforms
  • Platforms use data to personalize feed
  • Personalized feed reinforces scrolling behavior

Business Perspective

• Goal: Increase user time on app/website
• Result: Higher engagement, more ad revenue

Awareness and Control

• Difference from Mice: Humans have the awareness to recognize overuse
• Action: Being conscious of usage can help manage time spent on social media
• Conclusion: Awareness is the first step to breaking the cycle of infinite scrolling

Source

• GCF Global: Creating Opportunities for a Better Life