Internet addiction Facebook or Twitter are almost like cocaine in the brain

Social media addiction: Facebook can make addiction similar to cocaine
Scientists from the US found out in a study that Facebook can be as addictive as cocaine. According to the researchers, the brain activity of social media users resembled those of people with drug or gambling addiction.

Great addictive potential through the internet
The question of where the Internet is the border between normal use and addiction, is often not so easy to answer. For example, if it hampers hobbies that suffer from social contact, or if users themselves interrupt beautiful activities to look at the screen, the risk of Internet addiction or cell phone addiction is high. The fact that there is a great potential for addiction in the internet has now been shown in a study in the USA.

Social networks like Facebook have a considerable addictive potential. (Image: Cybrain / fotolia.com)

Facebook can be as addictive as cocaine
As the British newspaper "The Independent" reports, scientists from California State University have found that Facebook can make addiction similar to cocaine. According to the report, the researchers first asked the participants of the study various questions that should show symptoms of dependency. One question was, "Are you getting nervous when you can not use Facebook?" In a second part, the subjects measured brain activity while looking at different images. It showed that the study participants, who exhibited dependent behavior at the first test, also reacted more strongly to photos that were related to Facebook.

For obsessive-compulsive disorder brain regions activated
According to the scientists, two brain regions were activated, which are responsible, among other things, for obsessive-compulsive disorder and in tests also on drug addicts and gambling addicts. According to the researchers, the brain of the corresponding subjects on Facebook responded similarly to cocaine use. However, the study is not representative as only 20 subjects participated. The impact of social networks, especially on children and adolescents, has been the focus of several scientific studies. For example, Israeli researchers reported years ago that they were seeing a tendency to eating disorders from Facebook use among young girls. (Ad)